Medical office, housing plans approved

Two development plans are moving forward after each received conditional preliminary/final approval at the Aug. 17 Franconia Township Board of Supervisors meeting.

One is for the former Biggee’s Place property at County Line and Township Line roads.

A one-story medical office building is planned for the site, township engineer Doug Rossino said.

The facility is being built for use by Children’s Hospital of

Philadelphia and will look similar to an existing CHOP facility in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, development representatives said when the plans were initially presented last year.

The other plans are for the Allebach tract at Cowpath and Forrest roads.

That plan includes the existing farmhouse, which has four apartments in it, and 10 new single family homes, according to information in the minutes from the June 1 Franconia Township Planning Commission meeting. The new homes will be on a culde-sac.

In another matter at the meeting, Township Manager Jon Hammer was authorized to sign record plans showing the existing features at the JBS Souderton meat packing plant on Allentown Road.

The record plans are to show what’s already there, Rossino and Hammer said.

“They agreed to create a record plan for the entire site since one has never been prepared or is on record,” Rossino said.

“We still have a few items to address in our review letter,” he said, “but for tonight what we’re asking for is for Jon to be able to be authorized to sign the record plan once it is complete and deemed ready for recording.”

Franconia Township Police Department Chief Michael Martin’s report at the meeting included that the department received “many, many calls in a short period of time” during the Aug. 4 Tropical Storm Isaias downpour, but that there were no reported injuries.

“We had a lot of flooded basements, flooded roadways, trees down, but everything worked out. We got lucky,” he said.

Martin also said that a movie in the park is being planned since this year’s Fall Festival was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.