The Main Street North Wales Board. From left, Board Member and real estate agent Katelyn Mathe, Secretary Dan Levy, President Justin Copenhaver, Treasurer Elliot Sadlon, and Board Member and Little's Ice Cream & Water Ice owner Star Little.
Anyone interested in helping revive downtown North Wales, keep the night of Aug. 21 free.
That’s the night the new “Main Street North Wales” nonprofit plans to host a public meet-and-greet meant to field feedback on how to turn around the town.
“The event is free, and open to all business owners and residents. We’re looking for input, and community engagement,” said borough Manager Christine Hart.
Since early 2023, council and residents have discussed how to revive the borough’s former business alliance, which had advocated for revitalization efforts in the 2000s through 2010s before largely falling silent after the arrival of COVID-19. In a series of public meetings, the organizer fielded feedback meant to develop a set of goals for a new organization and presented a possible brand identity for use downtown — featuring a new logo depicting a stylized “NW” in the shape of a flower meant to evoke a local greenhouse that grew roses in town in the early 1900s — with input sessions held throughout last summer.
Those efforts led to an announcement in June of “Main Street North Wales,” a new nonprofit tasked with enhancing North Wales Borough “through collaboration, promoting economic vitality, and ensuring a vibrant, inclusive environment for all through community engagement.” During their July 23 meeting, Hart told council about that group’s first formal event: a kickoff happy hour and info session, scheduled for Aug. 21 at 5:30 p.m. at the North Penn Volunteer Fire Company’s social club at 141 Main Street.
“We have shared this, and we will continue to do so, but I just thought I’d make it a personal invitation to all of council and the public,” Hart said.
‘Parking lot’ for ideas
Council also continued talks in mid-July about their committee structure for the next year, including a ‘Parking lot’ of ideas that could be kept on standby for deeper discussion.
“If we have a council meeting, or an issues is brought up, we simply say ‘OK guys, do we want that put on the parking lot? If we haven’t got time today, it’s not on the agenda in time, and it’s not really legal to talk about things that are not on the agenda, we need to give residents an opportunity to come forward and hear what we’re talking about,” said council President Sal Amato.
The parking lot idea was first discussed in March along with a revamp of several council committees and how they operate. Staying the same will be the current employee relations, public safety, and finance committees, which will include members of council along with staff and will report back to the public on their discussions with as much information as can be made public. No longer needed are the prior technology, communications and building and grounds committees, which Amato said can be replaced on an ad-hoc basis as needs or issues arise.
“As a group, we will say ‘can we deal with this issue,’ or that issue, get a volunteer to lead that issue, and then that person is responsible for bringing together a document, even one page, or a couple of paragraphs, to generate our discussion for the next council meeting,” he said.
Hart added that the new parking lot item would be added to council’s formal agenda for upcoming meetings, likely alongside the discussion line item for old business, committee and board reports, and zoning applications.
“It doesn’t mean we have to do something, but it’s there, and gives us an opportunity to remind ourselves,” she said.
New role, new title
Council also approved a new title for Assistant Manager Alex Turock, who’s now taking on the role of zoning officer for the town.
“In the original job description, zoning officer duties were a part of that job description. That does require some training, certifications, education, what have you,” Hart said.
“Alex has been very proactive, and started attending classes as quickly as he was able,” and has now completed all of the necessary requirements to fill the role, she said.
Turock’s predecessor Alan Guzzardo held a similar dual role before his departure in 2023. An outside firm hired to handle zoning responsibilities in the interim period will no longer be needed, the manager told council.
Community day plan
Hart also gave an update on the planning for the town’s Community Day event scheduled for Sept. 28, telling the group that vendor registration is almost full.
“It stays open until we have to shut it — we can handle about 105, the five is really pushing it, so typically around 100. We’re at about 70 now,” she said, and 15 to 20 sponsors have already signed on.
“We’re looking forward to another beautiful day. Like I always say, just pray for nice weather,” Hart said.
On that day, downtown North Wales will be full of food trucks, craft vendors, live music and a beer garden from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a free kid zone running until 3 p.m. For more information, search for “North Wales Community Day” on Facebook.
