A map of Lansdale's proposed downtown business overlay district update, including a new downtown core area proposed along parts of Main and Broad streets.
Code update could allow taller building heights in town
A hearing this Wednesday could help shape the future of Lansdale’s downtown.
And you may have already seen those fliers downtown, with maps showing a possible update to the town’s downtown business overlay district.
“The amendments have been developed over the course of the past two-plus years, and have been reviewed and recommended for approval by the Lansdale planning commission,” said councilwoman Rafia Razzak.
“So in our code committee today, we had a motion to put this in front of council for the next business meeting, and if anybody has any questions, they will be able to ask,” she said.
Council created, then expanded a downtown business overlay in 2016 into 2017 giving certain businesses of up to 20,000 square feet relief from certain parking requirements, so long as they met certain other conditions. In early 2023 the code committee heard details of how the town’s planning commission has been working on an expansion, meant to simplify the zoning map by removing unused areas, and creating a central business core that could allow higher growth downtown, and Razzak summarized the two-plus years of talks in her code committee update on Aug. 7.
"The amendments include: elimination of the retirement village overlay district, which is now in the residential area; removal of the professional office and specialty restaurant overlay district; expansion of the downtown business overlay district; creation of the downtown core business district, to delineate where taller buildings are allowed," Razzak said.
"For the downtown business overlay district, the height of the building would be up to 40 feet, and for the downtown core overlay business district, it could go up to 65 feet with proper incentives or requirements," she said.
The retirement village overlay covers an area north of Hancock Street along the adjacent railroad tracks which has now been developed into the “Andale Green” complex of roughly 180 townhouses, and the office and specialty restaurant district was originally added with the goal of spurring economic development, but is now part of the new overlay that would allow more uses.
A public notice flier shows the map of Lansdale’s proposed downtown business overlay district update, as seen at the corner of Main and Wood Streets on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024.Revised parking exemptions and new residential parking standards are also written into the new core district, Razzak told council, and a dedicated page on the borough website explains the changes, with before-and-after maps showing where the overlay would be expanded, and old codes removed.
"The proposed amendments are available for all to view on the borough website, under the 'code enforcement' department section," she said.
Kindergartners in the class of 2035 walk past the Century Plaza building on Main Street during the Lansdale 150 parade on Saturday, Aug. 20 2022.Fliers posted around the overlay zone give the same info: the hearing date of Aug. 21, during the 7 p.m. council meeting, a summary of the proposed changes, the before- and after-maps of the areas affected, and a QR code linking to the dedicated borough page listing that info. Anyone who would like to attend the meeting and needs special accommodations can contact the borough at (215) 368-1691 for more information.
During her code committee report to full council, Razzak also gave the latest departmental statistics on permits and inspections, and said talks are continuing on a proposed vacancy ordinance for the town, which could require owners of vacant properties to register with the borough and provide contact info for an owner or listing agent, or face a fee or fine that could be applied to economic development initiatives. Staff have recently met with an outside consultant that specializes in vacancy registration, who could speak to the code committee and/or full council in future meetings, and a draft of a possible code has been shared with committee members for further talks.
"We're going to look at it and come up with a little better understanding of the logistics, of how the fee structure could be set up," she said.
Lansdale's borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Wednesday with the code committee next meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 4, both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street; for more information visit www.Lansdale.org.
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