Upper Gwynedd Parks Plan Prompts Questions About ‘Martin Property’

Dan Sokil | The Reporter•

Signs posted along the “Martin Tract” on Allentown Road encourage passersby to voice their opposition to Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners about their pot

A new parks plan in the works has brought back a familiar topic in Upper Gwynedd.

"Are you going to be studying the Martin property, for open space?” said resident Linda Smith.

Located just off of Allentown Road and west of Broad Street, the Martin Tract was the subject of lengthy debate between the board and residents starting in September 2021, when the commissioners proposed, and then tied on a vote to, acquire the property by eminent domain to develop it as a township park.

That use had been recommended in a township comprehensive plan update approved in August 2021, but in the weeks following the vote, the property owner and tenants of a house on the site urged the board to reconsider, and leave the board as-is for continued talks about future development.

Since that first round of discussion, the commissioners voted in October 2022 to apply for $1 million in state grant money that could be used to acquire the property, while residents and the board have largely gone quiet on that topic, debating instead the impact of a proposed development on Pennbrook Parkway.

In the commissioners’ Oct. 9 meeting, Smith brought the topic back before the board, asking for details about a proposed contract with an outside consultant to develop an updated township parks and recreation master plan.

"A lot of the work will be focused on our current parks, existing parks. Should we have more pickleball courts? Should we have more tennis courts? Should we rebuild the castle?” said township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell, the last a reference to the castle-shaped playground at the township’s Parkside Place complex that was built in 1995.

"There will be a review of our parks and rec department, and how it functions, as far as staffing goes, and programming, and recreation. There’s a lot that goes into it,” she said.

As she spoke, Smith showed a sketch plan prepared by developer Pulte Group and subsequently shared with The Reporter, which shows the proposed development on the 32-acre parcel on the southwest corner of Broad and Allentown. In the sketch plan, a total of 90 twin homes would be built along a pair of private roads with access to Broad, and along two cul-de-sacs, with the western side of the property shown as a grassy parkland with trails, a pavilion, a picnic grove a wildflower meadow.

Smith asked if the consultant would be provided with an earlier parks master plan developed for the township, and the manager said they would, and would be provided with the 2021 comprehensive plan update too. The resident then asked about the cost, and Zadell said the total was roughly $95,000 with half covered by a state grant. The manager said open space would be addressed, but the exact scope has not yet been finalized with the consultant.

"I don’t know yet if that will be part of the scope, but the Martin project is part of the comprehensive plan,” Zadell said.

Smith then said she "came across” a plan from early 2022 that would have developed the property under the Martin family’s ownership.

"It was submitted for the Martin property, with 90 twins, and it had a pavilion picnic area, walking trails, meadow lands, woodlands. Has anybody seen this?” she said.

Solicitor Lauren Gallagher answered that the document Smith presented was discussed internally by the township’s plan review committee, which is comprised of staff, outside consultants, and some of the commissioners, but never presented publicly for full vetting and approvals.

"That’s really just a concept plan that was submitted — it was given to the township as part of one of the plan review committee meetings” as a discussion, but was never formally submitted, Gallagher said.

Smith then outlined her preferred path forward: "If you’re able to get these open space acres for free, that would save money. You wouldn’t have to spend $5 million-plus on a park,” she said.

Commissioner Liz McNaney said she was unclear whether the parts of the Martin property that the owner had offered for donation were comprised of wetlands or other types of land that must remain natural, and said she didn’t know if the land had ever been formally surveyed. Zadell said the sketch plan had "no final engineering” done, and McNaney said that step would be among the many needed before any board approval.

"Then it would go through the whole, formal process,” said board President Denise Hull, and Gallagher added: "They could choose to submit that plan, or a different plan, or no plan at all. That’s certainly up to the property owner.”

Later in the meeting, Zadell summarized the details of the contract for the new park and rec master plan, noting that the township’s earlier version dated back to the late 2000s, and is "quite aged at this point, so it’s time to revise the plan, and make sure that it complies with our regular comprehensive plan, and update that, and see where the future will go.”

"There is a committee of residents involved in this project. They live all over the township, it’s a wide-ranging group, and they will be a steering committee, with the consultant, along with staff,” she said.

"There will be a series of public meetings held about it, the consultants will appear at events in the township, and will put plenty of effort into gathering lots of resident input,” Zadell said.

Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.

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