Coming soon: Plant expansion, medical offices
Medical office planned at abandoned restaurant site
HATFIELD TWP >> With a new year just getting underway, Hatfield’s officials and the public have gotten updates on two projects making their way through the township’s land development process.
Planning and zoning officer Ken Amey gave the board summaries earlier this month on two projects that could appear for public discussion and action as soon as next month.
“We thought it would be a good idea, for the first regular meeting, just to bring the board up to date with anything we think might be coming through the pipeline,” Amey said.
First of the two projects is dubbed “Little Round Industries” and is a formal land development application for 2800 Richmond Road, Amey told the township commissioners during their Jan. 8 meeting. The business currently operates a metal fabrication plant with much of their work and storage space outdoors, and moving that outdoor work inside is their goal.
“Their plan is to con
struct an approximately 26,000-square-foot addition, which would move the entire operation indoors, and clean that corner of the township up a little bit,” Amey said.
The property in question is roughly 3.7 acres, with direct access to Richmond Road and a rear access to local railroad tracks. Their land development application will request waivers from township stormwater, landscaping, and sidewalk regulations, and talks are underway with the township about the traffic impact
fee required with the project.
“Other than that, the project is just about ready to go,” Amey said, and a formal presentation and waiver request could be made and approved during the board’s Feb. 12 and 26 meetings.
The second project is based at 150 Bethlehem Pike, just south of a martial arts studio and across from North Penn Imports, where the property owners want to convert a residential home on a 0.4-acre parcel in Hatfield’s commercial district into a medical office.
“The new owners of the property are proposing to build an approximately 880-square-foot addition to the rear of the property, and convert the entire structure into medical offices,” Amey said.
Doing so will require new stormwater management features, a new parking lot, and what Amey called “quite extensive landscaping” which will include a buffer from residential properties at the rear.
“There has been some discussion about that buffer. We believe the discussions are nearing completion, with our township landscape architect,” Amey said, and details should be finalized by February.
The board has also approved a new land development plan for 3120 Penn Street, formerly the site of the Finn McCool’s restaurant and bar.
Plans call for construction of 28 apartment units on the property and required a special exception from the township to allow the apartments on that parcel, according to Amey and township engineer Brian McAdam.
“It’s a very straightforward, fairly low impact project,” McAdam said.
According to MediaNews Group archives, the 2.94-acre parcel and the abandoned former restaurant building have been discussed intermittently since 2013, particularly as one prompt for the township to pass an imminent danger code in 2012 letting staff address problems on vacant properties that could pose dangers to those nearby. In 2013 two men broke into the vacant building and were subsequently arrested; in 2014 township officials said they had heard talks on a potential sale of the property and in 2015, the property sold at a sheriff’s sale after the prior owner, a Joseph W. Canazaro of Bucks County, was killed in a targeted home invasion in Bucks County in 2013.
The most recent plans have been discussed and vetted by the township’s staff, planning commission, and planning and zoning committee, and formal land development approval was granted unanimously by Hatfield’s board on Nov. 20.
“This is a property we are anxiously looking forward to having cleaned up, and getting improved. I know there are not just residents, but also commissioners who are pleased to see this,” said commissioners President Tom Zipfel.
Hatfield’s commissioners next meet at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 12 and 26, both at the township administration building, 1950 School Road.
For more information visit www.Hatfield.org or follow @HatfieldPA on Twitter.