Officials give updates on Royal Farms, Newbury II, Martin projects
Developments moving through approval process
UPPER GWYNEDD » Three much-discussed projects are moving ahead in Upper Gwynedd, and township officials heard updates Tuesday night on the progress of each.
Planing and Zoning Officer E. Van Rieker gave the commissioners fresh updates on several ongoing projects, including a proposed Royal Farms station on Sumneytown Pike, a proposed “Newbury II” development adjacent to an earlier one, and plans for new houses on an Allentown Road property known as the Martin Tract.
ROYAL FARMS
Developer Hartford Properties is still working their way through the approval process for a proposed Royal Farms fuel station and convenience store on the northeast corner of Sumneytown Pike and Church Road. In early 2015 a former GIANT supermarket on the site closed its doors, and starting in May 2016 township officials have discussed plans from the developer to build the fuel station, convenience store, and several retail buildings on that site instead. In May 2017, the township approved a plan with four small retail buildings surrounding the convenience store, and a proposed hotel on earlier versions of the plans has been removed.
Their latest step, Rieker told the board, has been to apply to the township zoning hearing board for a variance to permit a canopy above the fuel pumps in front of their convenience store building, and the project is on hold at that step.
“They have asked for a continuance: they started their hearing, it was determined that they needed some more information that was requested by the zoning hearing board, and in order to provide that information, they asked for a continuance,” he said.
The Royal Farms project will next be discussed at the zoning hearing board’s next meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sept. 26.
NEWBURY II
Since early 2014, plans have been discussed and developed for “Newbury Two,” a complex of 30 houses to be built on an 8.3-acre property near Prospect Avenue south of Hancock Road and adjacent to Sanctuary United Methodist Church and a previous “Newbury One” development.
The applicants behind that project have been to the zoning board for approvals of several variances needed, as structures that are currently in the parking lot behind the church would need to be moved for stormwater facilities required with the new development, according to Rieker.
“The dimensional variances that they were requesting were approved, with conditions, and the Newbury One residents were in attendance at the zoning hearing board, and made some suggestions relative to moving some things around on the site, and the board and applicant agreed to them,” Rieker said.
Having passed through the zoning board, two steps are left for the commissioners to consider, according to Rieker and Solicitor David Onorato: a conditional use hearing to approve the style of twin houses the applicant has requested, and preliminary and final plan approval.
“We can do it either way. I would prefer to have the conditional use first, separately, so that we can focus in on any issues” that arise, said Onorato.
Depending on the applicant’s timeline, Rieker said, the conditional use request could be heard by the township planning commission as early as Sept. 6, and any issues that arise from that discussion could require talks at subsequent public meetings, or could be worked out internally in talks with the township’s Plan Review Committee.
“There may be some conditions that come out of the conditional use (hearing) that we want to think about in their land development plan,” Onorato said.
MARTIN TRACT
A 26-acre property north of Allentown Road and west of Green Street known as the Martin Property has been the subject of talks since January, with a developer proposing to build 27 new houses on that tract. That project now has a new name, Rieker said: “Gwynedd Ridge,” and can be done by-right as single family residential construction.
“The plan has been examined in great detail but staff and other consultants, and in effect they’re now working out the details of getting it ready for preliminary plan approval,” Rieker said.
The new houses would be built along a new roadway existing onto Allentown Road at Oxford Circle, and the timing changes needed to the traffic signal there have been studied by the township for several months; Rieker said the talks on that project will likely continue for several months more.
“I expect that to have its first hearing, but not the final hearing, at the planning commission on Sept. 6. They’ll be in for a couple of meetings there, and I wouldn’t suppose, for an action item, you would see it much before November or December of this year,” said Rieker.
Upper Gwynedd’s zoning hearing board next meets at 7 p.m. on Aug. 22; the commissioners next meet at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 28; the planning commission next meets at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 6, all at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.