‘Newbury II’ plans headed for another approval

A plan to build 30 new twin houses near Prospect Avenue and Hancock Street will be up for another approval Monday night.

“What they’re going to get first, hopefully, is preliminary plan approval for the subdivision. And that’s Monday,” said Acting Township Manager Mike Lapinski.

Since early 2014 plans have been shown, vetted, discussed and revised to build 30 twin houses on an 8.3-acre parcel next to Sanctuary United Methodist Church

and an existing “Newbury I” development. The socalled “Newbury II” project has received approval for several requested variances over the past year, and the developers behind the projects have agreed to off-site upgrades including measures to increase pedestrian safety along Hancock Road.

Last November the applicants made their case for conditional use approval for the project, and that approval was granted in January, along with two resolutions accepting deed dedications for sanitary sewer lines and the possible widening of Prospect Avenue. Left over at that time was a formal approval of their preliminary land development plan, and Lapinski and township planning and zoning officer Van Rieker gave the commissioners an update Thursday night on that last request, which will be on the agenda of the board’s action meeting Monday night.

Staff have also noted one minor discrepancy that will need to be corrected before final approval is granted, Rieker told the board: a difference of “just a few feet” in the subdivision lines denoted on the Newbury II plans, versus those on official township maps.

“It really is just a correction, it’s a few feet, to make sure that the zoning map would exactly match the

subdivision boundary lines, so there would be no split zoning,” Rieker said.

“It didn’t (match), it was off a few feet, so that’ll be a map amendment” that will need approval by the township, and then county officials — “even though you wouldn’t be able to see it, it’s a technical process, that’s going to take another May or June action item for the board,” Rieker said.

“No one will ever know the difference apart from us, that’s why we asked them to make sure that they match,” he said.

The most current version of the Newbury II plan will be presented in detail to the commissioners and public during the board’s March 26 meeting, before a board vote to grant preliminary land development approval. After that, several more steps would remain before any construction can begin.

“And then, Newbury II will have to come back to the planning commission and the board for final plan approval, before they can start working. Monday is just, they asked for preliminary plan approval,” Lapinski said.

Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7:30 p.m. on March 26 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.

“It really is just a correction, it’s a few feet, to make sure that the zoning map would exactly match the subdivision boundary lines, so there would be no split zoning.” — Township planning and zoning officer Van Rieker