Advocates, opponents square off over Pennbrook Parkway project

One of the area’s hottest topics will be up for fresh talks, and possibly a big vote, next week.

Township officials previewed on Monday a hearing slated for Nov. 17 on a controversial project on Pennbrook Parkway.

“Next week, we will have a public hearing regarding 1500 Pennbrook Parkway. There’s two things being reviewed: one is a conditional use hearing, and the second would be — if the conditional use is granted — a land development hearing,” said township Manager Sandra Brookley Zadell.

In August 2023, township commissioners approved a zoning text and map change expanding Upper Gwynedd’s transit overlay district into a roughly six-acre parcel of light industrial land on Pennbrook Parkway, where New Jersey-based developer The Walters Group had proposed a complex of 60 apartment units.

Walters representatives’ first public presentation of the plans in April 2023 showed 60 units on roughly six acres in three-story buildings with some dedicated to what the developer termed “workforce housing,” meant for residents who meet certain low-income qualifications. In the months between that presentation and the vote before an overflow crowd that August to approve the needed zoning change, residents questioned the need for, and motivation behind the project, while the developer, county officials, and a councilman from nearby Lansdale argued that the project would help address housing needs in the county.

Since that zoning change vote, county officials named that project as a recipient of a Montco Forward low-interest loan in March 2024. That November township staff said the township planning commission would be next to see the latest plans, while a resident vowed to challenge the board’s 2023 approval of the zoning change.

The next key date is slated to be Nov. 17, Zadell and township solicitor Lauren Gallagher announced on Monday night, previewing a public hearing on a conditional use application for the site. The property owner is now listed as ‘Upper Gwynedd Family Apartments LLC’ and that owner is seeking approval “for a multifamily residential development consisting of 60 residential units, parking, stormwater management, and related improvements and amenities,” per an agenda item for the commissioners, with township review letters listed alongside as exhibits for the hearing, but not publicly posted.

Resident Carl Smith asked if he and others could make public comments during that hearing and/or seek formal party status, and Gallagher explained the difference.

“Essentially, party status gives a member of the public the opportunity to participate in the hearing. So: put on witnesses, cross-examine witnesses, that sort of thing,” Gallagher said.

“You have to establish that you’re entitled to party status in order to do so. Everyone is entitled to make public comment though: so there is a distinction between party status and public comment,” she said.

    An “Available” sign stands on a four-acre parcel along Pennbrook Parkway where a developer has begun talks on a proposed housing project, as seen in summer 2022.
 By Dan Sokil | The Reporter   

Smith asked if anyone interested in having party status for the hearing would need to declare or notify anyone beforehand, and Gallagher said it could be done that night: “You can assert party status at the hearing,” if they meet certain legal standards that the attorney said she would detail during the hearing. Anyone who needs a special accommodation such as an accessibility need to attend the hearing should notify the township five days beforehand, she added.

Resident Fred Hencken asked if all property owners within 500 feet of the property had been notified of the upcoming hearing, and Zadell said they had, “and the property has been posted as well.”

    A text amendment to Upper Gwynedd’s zoning map shows the prior transit-oriented development zone shaded in grey, east of Church Road and north of Wissahickon Avenue, and a proposed “TOD-2” expansion approved in 2023 of that overlay lined in red and blue off of Pennbrook Parkway. (Credit: Upper Gwynedd Township).
  

Advocates in favor of the project held a rally on Saturday at the township’s Parkside Place complex, voicing their support for the proposed Cornerstone at Pennbrook Station development and calling for more attainable housing for those who live and work in the region.

“This is what community looks like,” said Mike Hays, director of affordable housing advocacy nonprofit the Montco 30 Percent Project, in a press release. “Cornerstone is about dignity and belonging — about making sure the people who keep our towns running can also call them home.”

Emma Hertz, HealthSpark Foundation president and CEO, argued that affordable housing is central to community health: “When we can’t afford to have our 911 operators, our child-care workers, our EMTs and our police officers live in the same communities where they work, our entire community is harmed by that. Projects like Cornerstone are a way to ensure that not just individuals but households and communities as a whole have an opportunity to maintainhealth.”

Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on Nov. 17 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.

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