Board OKs update to 1991 development plans

A plan that’s been on the books for nearly three decades has just been updated for a possible upcoming development in Montgomery Township.

A team of applicants made the case for the supervisors to approve updates to a plan for “Detwiler Manor,” a subdivision off of Lansdale Avenue in need of several waivers to move ahead, so a family can care for a member in need.

“They need to sell this land so they can give him the best care possible,” said Realtor Victoria Camuso.

“We understand that, but it is our job to make sure that property is safe for whoever lives there,” supervisor Candyce Fluehr Chimera replied.

At issue is a roughly 1.65acre located off of Lansdale Avenue just west of Sycamore Drive, in the rough shape of a “flag lot” with a corridor of property running from the street heading east for roughly 325 feet, where it then expands into a rough trapezoid shape.

Camuso and Engineer Jason Smeland outlined for the board how plans were originally filed for that property in 1991, but were never developed, and have been revisited by the family who owns it now that the owner, a longtime township resident and Korean War veteran, has little time left.

“He is in hospice care, and it was hard for the family to make the decision to sell the land, but it came to be that he needed more care than the family could provide,” Camuso said.

“At this point, his health has declined, and he needs the proceeds to pay for care. Right now he’s staying in his daughters’ home, and they’re just not equipped. They’re just doing the best they can,” she said.

Smeland and township planning and zoning officer Bruce Shoupe described the plans filed in 1991 for a single-family home to be built on the property, and the changes and waivers they’ve identified as being needed now.

“A condition of that approval was the widening of Lansdale Avenue, for the width of the property, and also the installation of curbs and sidewalks,” said Shoupe.

“Upon submission to PennDOT, they said, ‘We don’t have a requirement to widen the road,’” he said.

Curb and sidewalk requirements for the frontage of the property were “sticking points of the original approval resolution,” Shoupe told the board, as are setback requirements dating from 1991 when a possible widening of Lansdale Avenue was envisioned.

“It’s a flat lot, it’s going to be a nice house, it just sits back from the roadway,” he said.

The road widening, curb and sidewalk requirements were among the conditions from 1991 the applicant asked the board to waive with an update, and Smeland raised another: that the driveway width specified on the plans be modified from 15 to 12 feet wide.

“The width the township requires is 15 feet wide, which is very large for a single family driveway, and also with a very thick paving specification,” Smeland said.

“We would like the ability to talk to the fire marshal about providing that width in certain locations, but not the whole length of the roadway,” he said.

As he spoke, Smeland took a three-foot-wide poster board depicting the plans and laid it, face up, with one edge touching the podium facing the supervisors, then lifted it and moved it three feet left, with the right end now placed where the left end had been; he then did so four more times, to indicate the total 15 foot width, ending up at nearly the opposite side of the meeting room.

“That’s how wide it would be, and that’s excessive, I believe, for a single family home,” he said. “We do want it to be safe, we want to be able to get a truck in there, but we don’t think it needs to be 15 feet for the entire length.”

Shoupe said his department would accept a 12foot width, with specifications that certain materials be used that would be capable of holding the weight of a roughly 80,000-pound firetruck. Smeland said the standard width of alleys in towns like Lansdale tends to be 16 feet, and those are usually meant for public access, while farms in more rural areas can be narrower, down to 12 feet, and unpaved. Shoupe said his rough estimate of the widening cost would be about $30,000, and Smeland didn’t specifically agree with that figure but said the amount was “significant.”

“I’ll sleep at night with 12,” Smeland said.

Smeland also asked if the board would require the property meet current landscaping standards as opposed to the 1991 levels currently indicated on the plans. Shoupe said “we think you’re OK with what you have,” but added that the plan had not yet been formally reviewed by the township’s landscape architect.

Camuso said the family had already reached an agreement with a builder in October, but found further township requirements that would be needed, and agreed to a reduction in price to help facilitate the sale.

“We just had a little conference, and we’re OK with the landscaping, so I think the modification of the driveway is the only thing we’re looking for tonight,” Smeland said.

Board Chair Tanya Bamford then read a formal resolution modifying the 1991 approval to adjust the driveway width requirement and specify that it be made of a material approved by the township engineer, and the broad approved the update unanimously.

“And please extend our sympathies to the family,” Bamford said.

Montgomery Township’s supervisors next meet at 7 pm. on Feb. 10 at the township administration building, 1001 Stump Road. For more information visit www.MontgomeryTwp.org.