Senior facility moves forward
Plan formally splits senior center from adjacent parcel
One more approval has been granted for a proposed senior living facility in Towamencin, and representatives of that project say they hope to start work on it soon.
“They want to start as soon as possible. They’re anxious to put a shovel in the ground, so we’re working hard on finalizing the next piece of it,” said engineer John Anderson.
Anderson spoke on behalf of developers Columbia/Wegmans Acquisition during the supervisors’ Aug. 23 meeting, requesting one further approval for a project that has been up for discussion, in different forms, since 2014. The original proposal was for a roughly 140-bed senior assisted living facility, which was first proposed for a site on Forty Foot Road, but after roughly a year of talks on that site, a newer version of the project sited it instead on Towamencin Avenue, near the entrance to the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The board approved several waivers requested by the applicants in March, granted preliminary land development approval in April, granted final plan approval in June, and Aug. 23 formally separated the senior center from a planned office project on an adjacent property.
“A condition of that approval included the submission of a subdivision plan to reconfigure the parcel that was the site of the Philadelphia Suburban
Development Corp.’s Towamencin Town Square stage 2-C office and retail development, to create separate parcels for the Towamencin Senior Living facility and the Town Square stage 2-C project,” supervisors Chairman Chuck Wilson said.
“The action requested by the board is to authorize signing and recording of the subdivision plan, as required by the Towamencin Senior Living approval resolution,” he said.
The supervisors voted unanimously to do so. Wilson then asked Anderson for an update on when work could begin.
“They want to put a
shovel in the ground immediately,” Anderson said, to which Supervisor Jim Sinz replied: “Hurry up.”
Other approvals Aug. 23 included a waiver for Christ United Methodist Church to skip the township’s formal land development process for an addition of a storage shed to their church complex at 1080 Sumneytown Pike. Township Engineer Tom Zarko said the addition would only cause a minor change to the building footprint, and the board approved the request with a condition that updates be made to a storm drain in the area where the shed
will be added.
The board also voted to approve the ninth annual “Ride Ataxia” bike ride, a fundraiser scheduled for Oct. 15. No road closures are scheduled and no police assistance has been requested, Wilson said, but fire police have been requested to man a crossing at Old Forty Foot Road and Rittenhouse Road.
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 13 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Towamencin. org.