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Upper Gwynedd confirms North Penn pulled application for proposed bus garage site

The district was eyeing a site on Church Road, but has now turned its search to Montgomery Township.

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The district was eyeing a site on Church Road, but has now turned its search to Montgomery Township.

  • Government

Upper Gwynedd Township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell confirmed last month that an application from the North Penn School District for a proposed new bus garage site on Church Road has been withdrawn.

“We just got their notice that they’re going to be pulling the application,” she said.

The property at 203 Church Road in Upper Gwynedd has been discussed publicly, but not by the district, as North Penn’s officials have sought a new site for the district’s transportation needs.

In late February, administrators said they were in talks on a site, and in early March, Upper Gwynedd’s board heard that the district was interested in 203 Church Road, a former warehouse and office site formerly owned by aircraft component manufacturer Triumph Controls which is located next door at 205 Church.

In late March, both district and township heard questions about the traffic and road impact of the site, and who would pay for any needed road upgrades to handle the increased traffic, and that the district would need permission from Upper Gwynedd’s zoning hearing board to allow the transportation center use there.

In late April, Upper Gwynedd announced that the North Penn item had been postponed from the zoning hearing board’s meeting that month, and on May 6 the district announced that the site under consideration “has not turned out to be a feasible property” and that they were investigating a site in Montgomery Township instead.

During the May 13 meeting, resident Carl Smith asked if the township had any update since that district announcement and if the bus request would be heard at Upper Gwynedd’s May 28 zoning hearing board meeting. Solicitor Lauren Gallagher confirmed the district’s application had been withdrawn, and Zadell added that the applicant did not have to disclose a reason for withdrawing the request, and said it would not be on any future meeting agendas for the zoning board or commissioners unless or until a new application is filed.

“It won’t be on the docket unless they reapply,” she said. “At this point, I would say it’s not happening, because they withdrew it.”

This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit www.thereporteronline.com.


author

Dan Sokil | The Reporter

Dan Sokil has been a staff writer for The Reporter since 2008, covering Lansdale and North Wales boroughs; Hatfield, Montgomery, Towamencin and Upper Gwynedd Townships; and North Penn School District.