Property was discussed by school district in spring
A much-discussed property in Upper Gwynedd could have a new use soon.
Township officials have voted ahead plans for a new warehouse at 203 Church Road, at a property residents may remember was up for discussion for a different use earlier this year.
“After we originally submitted, as I’m sure a lot of you are aware, the (North Penn) school district expressed some interest in the property, as a potential transportation facility site,” said attorney Joe Kuhls.
“The applicant held back, and put on stall, everything they had done, while the school district began to explore that possibility. They decided that the site does not work for them, and that’s when we reactivated our application, a few months ago,” he said.
North Penn officials and board members have discussed plans for major renovations to North Penn High School in Towamencin since early 2023, and as part of that process had investigated moving their transportation center – a maintenance garage, dispatch offices, propane fuel station and parking for roughly 100 district-owned buses, away from the high school to a site elsewhere in the district.
The district investigated a site on Church Road in Upper Gwynedd this spring, ultimately announcing that site was not feasible due to costs, then voted in June to perform a traffic study on a second unnamed site in Montgomery Township, before announcing in July that the Montgomery site also fell through and the transportation center would stay on the high school campus.
During Upper Gwynedd's work session meeting on Sept. 10, attorney Kuhls presented an alternative for the Church Road site, detailing for the board how it totals roughly 13.7 acres, and is in the limited industrial district.
Daffodils grow in a planter in a parking lot of 203 Church Road in Upper Gwynedd on Tuesday, April 9, 2024."The proposal is to redevelop the parcel for a flex space warehouse use. The actual development will consist of two buildings: one is 70,000 square feet, the other is 96,625 square feet, for a total of 166,625 square feet," he said.
As he spoke, the attorney showed a site plan of the property, with the larger of the two warehouse buildings oriented perpendicular to Church Road, and the smaller parallel, and access roads and parking spaces surrounding both. Two driveways onto church would provide entry and exit access, and the building coverage on the property is about 28 percent, where township ordinances allow up to 40 percent, the attorney said.
"The application has been in the pipeline for about two years. It was about a year and a half ago that we did submit a zoning hearing board application, because there was some zoning relief that was required," regarding variances from parking requirements and setbacks, he said; those variances were granted in 2023 and recently extended.
A mailbox reads “203” in front of a vacant former office building at 203 Church Road in Upper Gwynedd on Tuesday, April 9 2024.Because of that delay, the attorney said, the development has been the subject of numerous review letters, which he summarized and are included in the board's meeting materials packet for Sept. 10. "Everything is a will-comply, except for the waivers," the attorney said, before asking that the board grant waivers to allow preliminary and final land development approval at the same time, to depict existing features nearby, and a waiver to allow grading within five feet of the property line "which is necessary, given the conditions out there." A traffic report was also generated as part of the approval process, the township's traffic engineer has vetted that report, and "we have no problem with any of their comments," Kuhls told the commissioners.
"There's no degradation in service at any of the nearby intersections," he said.
None of the township commissioners asked questions about the project, but resident Mike Fellmeth asked what would be in the building.
"The buildings are being built to spec right now. We have no ultimate user right now. I can't tell you exactly who the user's going to be," Kuhls said.
"Any content is obviously going to conform with all of your regulations regarding storage in the township. This is not being built as any sort of e-commerce distribution center, and it's not being built for any specific purpose, other than spec, right now," he said.
Another resident then asked how the township would know what was being kept or stored inside the building, and who determines what that would be. Kuhls answered that any user would need to obtain a use and occupancy permit from the township, and township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell said the tenant would also need to meet the township's fire safety code, property maintenance code, and the uniform construction code on the township's books.
"We don't have the right to regulate that. Applicants have the ability to come in, in a warehouse or limited industrial, and say I'm building a building this big. At the land development stage, we don't have the ability to regulate what they put in there," Zadell said.
Kuhls added that any presentation made during the land development process could also change by the time construction is done.
"But each time that user changed, the new user would have to come back to the township, and submit at least a use and occupancy permit, and whatever other permits are necessary, in order to assure the township that all the regulations are being conformed with," he said.
How often is that checked or enforced? Township solicitor Lauren Gallagher said regulations for storage of hazardous or combustible materials are more strict, and the township has an annual fire safety inspection program that the owner must comply with.
"A lot of what we do as far as enforcement is complaint based. And believe me — neighbors know, they notice and tell us things," Zadell said.
The commissioners fielded no other questions or comments on Sept. 10, and granted the preliminary and final land development approval and the requested waivers during their business meeting on Sept. 17, with no further discussion. Upper Gwynedd's commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on Oct. 7 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.
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