Talks tabled on Third and Walnut apartments
Details could come in November on parking requirements, size of building
LANSDALE >> Borough residents will have to wait another month to hear an update on one of the biggest projects in town.
Discussion was tabled Monday night on “Walnut Crossing,” the latest version of plans to construct a six-story apartment building on the corner of Third and Walnut streets.
“The applicant has asked to be removed from the agenda this afternoon, and it was at a time where the meeting and the agenda could not be changed,” Planning Commission Vice Chairman Kevin Dunigan said.
“So if you’re here for that, we certainly apologize,” he said.
Since late 2015, borough council and the planning commission have discussed several version of plans to build the apartment building, which originally would have contained roughly 150 units and would have been built on the site of the oldest church in the town.
The original project received conditional use approval at the end of 2017, but since then the developer has acquired additional land to the east of the original site, and showed new plans in August expanding the building to 217 apartment units, then downsized slightly to 210 units on six floors in September.
At that time, the developer asked the planning commission for permission to reduce the ratio of required parking from the 1.2-to-one ratio of spaces per occupant listed in borough codes, to a one-to-one ratio instead. Other issues discussed in September included the shape of the building itself, and whether the six stories would be stepped down to better blend in with the surrounding residential neighborhood, and whether ground floor residential units were allowable within the special overlay district where the property is located.
All of those questions will now not likely be answered until at least November, according to Dunigan and Borough Manager John Ernst.
“The applicant withdrew. They did not provide an explanation, they just asked to be withdrawn from the agenda,” Ernst said.
“We will wait to find out whether or not they want to be added for next month. Time will tell, and if they do, that will be put on for next month,” he said.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 and the planning commission next meets at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 19, both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine St.