Board votes ahead overlay map
Six properties totaling 17 acres included in new Sumneytown Pike overlay zone
UPPER GWYNEDD TWP >> A new overlay zone meant to help spur development along Sumneytown Pike in Upper Gwynedd is coming into further focus.
The township commissioners voted unanimously Monday night to advertise an ordinance attaching a map to the new overlay district they’ve discussed since early last year.
“This was an area of land on Sumneytown Pike that we feel could use some development. However, we felt the developments perhaps were being limited by the zoning,” said commissioner Denise Hull.
Starting in February 2018, the board and township staff have held public talks on how to encourage different types of development along the corridor now indicated on the map for the overlay, on the north side of Sumneytown Pike roughly between Allentown Road and Broad Street. The north side of Sumneytown Pike is currently zoned for a mix of R-1 and R-2 residential, with a parcel of institutional zoning just west of Allentown Road and commercial zoning surrounding the intersection at Broad Street.
A hearing was held on the ordinance creating the proposed overlay zone in November 2018, and in December the board voted that code ahead, with talks beginning on the map in April and continued talks on the exact properties within the map, as well as the density allowed within the district, following in May.
“That has already been passed, that ordinance, but we did not specify the map. So now, after some conversations about this, we have decided exactly what that map will be,” Hull said.
As she spoke, Hull indicated on an overhead map exactly which parcels will be included, along the north side of Sumneytown, starting just east of Keiffer’s Appliances and Dunkin’ Donuts and continuing eastward up to, but not including, the cemetery at Sumneytown Pike and Allentown Road.
The ordinance included in the board’s meeting materials packet for June 24 says it will modify Chapter 195 of the township’s codebook, and includes six properties totaling roughly 17.7 acres, including those with addresses of 773, 779, 781 and 783 Sumneytown Pike.
“The motion I’m making tonight is just to approve it for advertisement, because it needs to be advertised for a month,” Hull said.
“Next month, or the month after, we’ll hopefully have the hearing about it, which anyone can come to and talk about it, if they have any questions or ideas. And then we will, hopefully, approve it,” she said.
That area can be changed later on, or other changes made elsewhere in the township, as Upper Gwynedd’s staff and board continue working to update the township’s comprehensive plan throughout 2019.
“We are in the middle of (updating) the comprehensive plan, and we are going to look at all of the zoning in the township,” she said.
Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on July 16 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place.