Borough grants conditional use
Neighbors speak out against planned building at Third and Walnut
Plans for a six-story apartment building on the corner of Third and Walnut streets in Lansdale have received another approval, over objections from neighbors who would live, perhaps literally, in its shadows.
A team of consultants made the case to borough council Wednesday night for conditional use approval, an action Borough Solicitor Sean Kilkenny said may have been more expensive for the borough to deny than to allow.
“Council can only turn down this application by proving that there were concerns, legitimate concerns documented by evidence, related to the public health, welfare and safety,” he said.
“After going through the Planning Commission, and talking to staff, it was not apparent that there were public health, welfare and safety issues, and the applicant has met their burden legally,” Kilkenny said.
The project up for discussion
has been dubbed “Walnut Crossing” and has been discussed at various borough boards and commissions since late 2015, when developer Ross Ziegler first made the case for a building containing roughly 160 apartment units that they say would be one of the greenest in Montgomery County.
Ziegler, attorney Stephen Imms, engineer Jason Smeland, traffic engineer Andy Heinrich and architect Mike Rosen made their case to council Wednesday night, arguing that the project meets all of the conditions set forth in review letters from various consultants, and the criteria set forth in the downtown overlay district that was expanded last year to include that particular block, the next step needed before final land development approval.
“This is not something we brought in from outside. This is a manifestation of what this borough essentially wanted when they adopted that overlay district. We comply in every respect,” said Imms.
“We’re doing everything we can to mitigate the potential impacts on the neighboring properties, but this si something this borough council anticipated, through its legislative process,” he said.
In roughly an hour of testimony, the attorney and consultants testified that the building now contains a total of 145 apartments, in a mix of one- and twobedroom and studio units, in a total of six stories above ground with one floor of underground parking, and
another underground floor available as surplus. Multifamily dwellings are permitted with conditional use approval, Smeland said, before detailing how the project meets lot size and setback criteria.
“The downtown business overlay was created with a fair amount of flexibility, to allow for multiple types of uses. So many of the requirements, such as setbacks and impervious cover, are relatively flexible. And we are meeting the criteria,” Smeland said.
The building’s height is planned to be 77 feet, which exceeds the limit of 65 feet ordinarily allowed within the overlay, but several incentives are included in the code that could allow a building to be up to 85 feet tall, according to the engineer.
“In this case, with the use of a green roof, a particular kind of water collection system, and an alternative energy source which would be
our solar panels, we quality for more than sufficient building height additions,” Smeland said.
“In fact, we could potentially get it all the way up to 85 feet, but in this case, for the six stories, we can stay at 77 feet,” he said.
Further testimony detailed how the project has received permission from the borough zoning hearing board to provide 1.2 parking spaces per unit instead of the 1.5 called for in the code, and Smeland showed maps projecting the levels of shade the building would cast on neighboring properties.
“You can see at different times in June and September, the size of the shadow changes, but the pattern is the same. The person who gets the worst shadow is a parking lot,” Smeland said, on the west side of Walnut Street across from the building.
The borough’s water and sewer supply systems have
more than enough capacity for the project, Smeland said, and the solar panels and energy efficient appliances will minimize electricity use. Smeland said stormwater runoff will be kept in tanks underground between the building and the neighbors, Heinrich said a traffic study proves the project fits within borough limits, and Rosen said the energy efficient features “set a benchmark that is very, very high,” and could approach a net-zero total environmental impact.
“When you do a project like this, there’s always some question as to how to interpret certain criteria. We’ve been through that whole process, and discussed that, and we’re bringing you a plan we believe complies in every way,” Smeland said.
After lengthy testimony spelling out the criteria, and how the new plans meet the criteria, neighbors who live next to the proposed building had their say. Residents Vira Katolik and Shannon DeBellis, who live next to the proposed building, said they remain worried about a loss of privacy from having a six-story apartment building appear next to their two- and three-story houses.
“It’s a twin home, with the majority of my windows facing the proposed apartment building. This includes my living room, bedroom, dining room, bathroom — this would essentially force me to have all of my blinds closed at all times,” Katolik said.
Traffic to and from the building could stack up on Third Street, and cause accidents if drivers turn at Walnut or Broad streets, and apartment residents walking to the nearby train station could be at risk of accidents with no crosswalk on Walnut.
“I’ve lived here just over 13 years, and the feel of the neighborhood will be gone” if the building is built, Katolik said.
“We look out for each other, we take in each other’s mail, walk each other’s dogs, and so on. That neighborhood feel would be gone. It’s one thing for neighbors who know each other to check in on each other. It’s a whole other thing when you have 100-plus people,” she said.
DeBellis said she has voiced opposition to the project since before her son, now 16 months old, was born, and while the project has been scaled down, the impact it could have has not. “The one thing that hasn’t changed is we still love our neighbors. I was playing in my back yard, with my son, and thinking about the shadows,” she said.
The shadow studies show the adjacent house would be almost completely covered in shadows by early evening in the summer, which DeBellis said she had always thought wold be time to play outside with her infant.
“As a homeowner, as a mother, that’s our family time. It’s 6 p.m. — that’s our barbecue time, our swing set time. I think what he’s doing is basically a good thing, but we have major concerns about the size and scale, as the direct next-door neighbors to this property,” she said.
After the testimony ended, council adjourned into executive session for roughly 15 minutes. After they returned, Kilkenny described the criteria of the conditional use hearing, and said “absent any demonstrable public health, safety and welfare” concerns, council was legally required to approve the application or face legal challenges.
“You heard voluminous testimony from the engineer, making sure that this application complies with every paragraph of our ordinance,” he said.
Council then voted unanimously to approve the conditional use request, subject to the applicant complying with the conditions set forth in the various review letters from the borough planing commission and consultants.