A family walks past a steel fabrication business on the corner of Valley Forge Road and West Fifth Street in Lansdale on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Photo by Dan Sokil | The Reporter.
Zoning change needed before plans can be finalized
A plan for dozens of new townhouses on Fifth Street near Valley Forge Road has cleared a first hurdle.
Council members voted unanimously last week to schedule a hearing on a zoning change requested by developer W.B. Homes and previewed earlier this month.
“I move that borough council authorize the solicitor to prepare, and the borough manager advertise, a draft ordinance and public hearing to consider the rezoning of the property at 864 W. Fifth Street from the industrial district to residential-C district, per the request of the equitable owner of the property,” said councilwoman Rafia Razzak.
In early May, the council first heard details on a parcel located east of Valley Forge Road and south of West Fifth Street, which county property records indicate is roughly five acres and currently houses Architectural Steel, a steel fabrication business that specializes in steel beams, columns, plates, clips and trusses.
Developer W.B. Homes has proposed a complex of 73 townhouses to be built along several private roads running through the site, and concerns raised by the committee include traffic, pedestrian crossings, sidewalks, and the size of the private roads, all of which would be addressed as plans are refined.
During their action meeting on May 21, Razzak made a motion directing staff to schedule and advertise a hearing on the zoning change at a future meeting, prompting councilman BJ Breish to ask for clarification on the process.
“This is just to approve a conversation, essentially, about making this change? So we’ll come back and have time to really get into the details?” he asked, and council President Mary Fuller answered yes to both.
A car drives along West Fifth Street past a steel fabrication business where a complex of new townhouses has been proposed in Lansdale on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.Breish then asked about the costs of drafting and advertising the ordinance, and Fuller said the costs would be covered by the property owner. Borough solicitor Patrick Hitchens added that he would draft a professional services agreement between the property owner and the borough spelling out those details.
“All you’re doing is authorizing the process to begin,” the attorney said: “You are under no obligation to approve it, but this is the process you have to go through, in order for you to be allowed to consider essentially a map change.”
Council then voted unanimously to do so, with no further comments.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 8:30 p.m. on June 4 and the code committee next meets at 7:30 p.m. that night, both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information, visit www.Lansdale.org.
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