Conditional use approved for Mainland Point

Decision allows for drive-through with retail and offices at development

LOWER SALFORD » The planned Mainland Pointe development can include a drive-through in a retail/office building and have five apartment-only buildings, Lower Salford Township Board of Supervisors’ said in granting conditional use approval at its June 7 meeting.

Conditions placed on the approval include that the business with the drivethru window cannot use more than 2,500 square feet of the first floor of the 8,800 -quare-foot retail/office building, that signs be installed in the drive-thru area to direct safe and efficient traffic circulation and that a condominium association be created for the property’s maintenance.

The site, on Main Street (Sumneytown Pike) between Quarry and Clemens roads in Harleysville, was originally approved for a mixed-use development including 39 singlefamily homes and 100,000 square feet of commercial/ office space with about 500 parking spaces.

The homes were built on Buckingham Circle in the early 2000s, but the commercial/office portion was never completed.

The Mainland Pointe plans are for the section of the property in which the commercial/office use of the mixed-use development was initially planned.

The new plans for that section, outlined at the conditional use hearing in April, include 18 single-family homes; five three-story apartment buildings with 12 two-bedroom apartments in each, for a total of 60 apartments; a maintenance garage; and a retail/ commercial building with a drive-thru. Additional commercial space is planned in the future but not a part of the current application.

The conditional use hearing was for only two parts of the plan — allowing the drive-thru and for the apartment buildings in the mixed-use development to be apartments only, instead of having retail space on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors.

Land development review of the plans is done separately. Buckingham Circle residents who, at the April meeting raised concerns about the plans, were told the issues being raised would be addressed in the land development process.

In other matters at the June 7 meeting:

• The board approved a revised lighting code.

“This has been in the works for quite a while,” board Chairman Douglas Gifford said. “I think we’re finally at a point where we’re ready to enact it.”

While there are not a lot of changes, there is at least one of note, he said.

“The big one is athletic fields, and this ordinance provides that any lighting of athletic fields would have to come before this board for a conditional use approval, so we’re not approving in advance any lights on athletic fields,” Gifford said. “That was a hangup for awhile, and we basically punted and kicked it down the road.”

• The board accepted the high bid through the Municibid online auction site for the sale of a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe 4x4 that was initially used by the township’s police department, then the code enforcement officer.

“This little beauty has 109,000 miles on it and it needs its ball joints replaced for sure, but it does run,” Gifford said.

“Anyone want to guess what we got for it?” he asked. “The high bid was $7,900 and we’re thrilled.”

The buyer was from a car dealership in Connecticut, he said.

• Ron Righman was appointed the Lower Salford Township Park Board to replace longtime park board member Joe Sykes, who has resigned. The appointment to fill the remainder of Sykes’ current term is through Dec. 31, 2019.