Board OKs rezoning for 9-house development
Project would consolidate 40 ‘movie lots’ from 1920s giveaway
Township officials got a good look on Monday night at what could soon be the newest neighborhood in Upper Gwynedd.
The commissioners voted ahead plans for a nine-house subdivision to be built off of State Street, along with set of code changes and lot consolidations needed to make it happen.
“The sketch plan gives you an overall concept of what’s intended. All of the nine lots would have access internally, there is spillover parking, and two potential storm basins,” said attorney Ed Wilde.
Wilde, engineer Rick Mast and developer Rob Wagner of Better Living Homes showed the board the latest version of plans for “Roosevelt Court,” a plan that’s been up for discussion since summer 2019. The latest plans, which Wilde showed via Zoom video conference on Monday night, depict a series of nine houses to be built on a new P-shaped private roadway running roughly parallel to Girard Avenue with an access off of State Street, atop a property currently comprised of dozens of “movie lots” that were once given away as prizes from local movie theaters, and are now too small for any formal development.
“The plan was recorded in 1921. It shows that the nine lots that are on exhibit A1 are comprised of 40 separate lots on the record plan, sometimes referred to or called ‘movie lots,’” Wilde said.
Three houses would be built on each side of the Pshaped private road, which would be named Roosevelt Avenue and only exists as a paper street on current plans, with three more parallel to the base of the P running along State but with shared driveway access to Roosevelt only. Two small private parking lots would be located within the center and at the base of the P-shaped roadway, adjacent to stormwater basins at each, and each house would be buffered by trees from the private road.
“The idea was, rather than figure out how this property would develop over time, it makes more sense to develop it all as one integrated, private enclave, that would be subject to a homeowners’ association,” Wilde said.
Since 1921, the 40 movie lots have been consolidated into a total of 19 different tax parcels, and a zoning change was among the approvals requested by Wilde and the team. Two back-toback hearings were held by the board during the meeting, one to allow the redevelopment via conditional use, and the other to change the zoning on the parcels from R2 to R3 residential. Both changes were vetted and approved by the township and Montgomery
County planning commissions, Wilde told the board, and a concept rendering shows three house designs, each roughly 32 feet wide, with three stories, and driveways leading to two-car garages.
Two residents spoke during the public comment portion of the hearings; neighbor Joseph Devlin of nearby Jackson Street said neighbors in that area had concerns over flood protection, walkability, and the loss of trees from the proposed development.
“People are concerned about what’s happening, particularly with the trees. They like the neighborhood, they like the wildlife it brings to the area, and the property is very well-loaded, shall I say, with trees,” he said.
Resident John Davis of State Street, adjacent to the proposed P-roadway, said he thought the new development had the potential to solve the flooding problems by adding the two new basins.
“I like the idea of what’s going on, and the way he’s going to do it. We do have a water problem, and it appears that they’re taking care of that, to help us out. I just wanted to call in and let you know that I’m all for it,” he said. The board then voted unanimously to approve the conditional use ordinance, and then after a second hearing with no public comment, also approved the zoning changes from R2 to R3 residential.