Lansdale votes ahead floodplain map change for Fifth Street townhouses

A project to build a complex of roughly 70 townhouses near Valley Forge Road and Fifth Street in Lansdale has cleared another hurdle.

Council voted unanimously in mid-March to back a floodplain map update needed for that project to proceed.

“We have proposed a stacked-townhome-and-townhome development on what is the Architectural Steel and self-storage facility,” said Chris Canavan, President of local developer W.B. Homes.

“This is a very discrete item for discussion this evening,” he said.

In May 2025, 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.

At that time, the code committee heard an outline of a proposed complex of 73 townhouses to be built along several private roads running through the site, and concerns raised by the committee included traffic, pedestrian crossings, sidewalks, and the size of the private roads, all of which would be addressed as plans are refined. Later in May, they voted to set a hearing date on the zoning change requested for that project, and in June, they approved the zoning change from industrial to residential, while hearing neighbors’ concerns about flooding there.     

The next update came on March 18, when the developer asked the council for their next needed approval, to submit an updated floodplain map for the site and detailed why that update is needed.

“The storm tunnel that comes through the borough of Lansdale discharges right outside of Third, and then will come through in a stone-walled channel through this site, and goes underneath Fifth Street,” Canavan said.

“It is an area where there is a floodplain that is identified within the borough. We have gone through the effort to re-map the floodplain, based on a very detailed survey and analysis,” he said.

That process requires a conditional letter of map revision application to FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which creates the floodplain maps, he said, but also requires approval from the local municipality, since the floodplain map had previously been adopted by the borough.

“For us to submit an application to remap that (floodplain), based on the survey data we’ve done in a rather detailed hydrologic and hydraulic study — that has been reviewed by your engineer — we need authorization,” he said.

“The purpose of the request tonight is for you to authorize staff to execute the document,” Canavan said.

The borough’s engineering firm has reviewed the suggested map revision and gave minor feedback, which the developer has “no issue with,” he added, and the map revision should not substantially change the amount of floodplain there: “This is not removing floodplain, it is accurately mapping it.”

“When FEMA does it, they do it at a very high scale, with less detailed survey. We take that data, and then run the hydraulic calculations of what comes out of the tunnel, what the elevations are,” and the updated map widens in some places and narrows in others the designated floodplain area.

“We believe this is an accurate representation of where it will be,” Canavan said.

Regarding stormwater and flooding from that site, any project to redevelop it should be an improvement, the developer told the council.

“We will be taking a site that has absolutely zero stormwater management controls on it, and bringing it up to current standards for stormwater management control, which will also be beneficial to the borough,” he said.

The developer has also started talks with borough staff on what to do with part of the parcel that won’t be developed and would be left as open space in the current plan, and further stormwater management features that could go there, in order for the borough to meet state and federal pollution removal mandates.

“We’d be happy to provide easements and access to that, for that purpose,” he said.

Council has questions

Code committee chairwoman Rafia Razzak said she recalled talks on the project at the town’s planning commission that prompted neighbors to bring their own feedback.

“They’re objecting to this, because they’re concerned it’s going to create more issues with their basements flooding. Last year, we had a flood situation going on, and (concerns were) brought to our attention after that,” she said.

“Is that going to help the situation that area is having?” she said, and the developer said it would.

Any stormwater that falls on the site now via rain or snow immediately heads into the stone channel with no storage or detention to slow the flow or help it infiltrate, the developer added, so any new work on the site will be required to reduce that flow.

“We’re creating stormwater management facilities on this site that will detain that water and release it over a period of time. That will specifically help” reduce that flooding, Canavan said, and approving the floodplain map update “has no benefit or hurt to what those folks are experiencing.”

Razzak added that she also has a house in that area, and has seen the flooding firsthand.

“It’s not fun, when your basement gets flooded with literally ten minutes of rain,” she said.

Canavan answered that in addition to new stormwater management upgrades, the latest version of the plan also reduces the total impervious coverage on the site, allowing for better infiltration there before water flows off-site.

“That site is basically all impervious, between the roofs of the buildings, the self-storage facilities, the driveways, and all the crushed stone parking lot that’s there. There will be opportunities to introduce grass and landscaping here, that will all help, along with our basins,” he said.

Razzak then asked if she and the code committee would be able to see and vet revised plans before any final approval, and Canavan said once the floodplain map is updated, the developer will resubmit revised plans to the town’s planning commission first, likely in April or May, then the code committee before final council approval.

“All those items we just talked about, the stormwater management, will be thoroughly vetted, then it’ll come to Codes, then it’ll come to council,” he said.

Councilman BJ Breish added that he thought the plans indicated “wonderful improvements,” and asked Canavan if he thought the updated map would have any unintended consequences or problems for nearby property owners.

“If the floodplain gets rezoned, and it has a negative insurance impact, or something like that, on a neighboring property? Can you confirm that will not happen?” he said, and Canavan answered: “Yes.”

One auto body shop near the site on Third Street is also located along the current stone channel, and an apartment building and parking lot on the other side; the developer has talked to those owners to let them know of the update.

“The floodplain changes on his property, but it removes the parking lot from the floodplain, but puts some of the rear yard into the floodplain. But it doesn’t put any structures there, so it has no impact on the flood insurance in the area,” Canavan said.

Councilman Garry Herbert asked if the proposed stormwater improvements would be geared toward meeting requirements for a ten-year, 30-year, or more rare storm, and Canavan said early requirements are to manage for a two-year event, “which is the most prevalent,” and details will be spelled out during future reviews.

Council President Meg Currie Teoh then asked if the group could take action immediately on approving the letter, and solicitor Patrick Hitchens said they could do so after asking for public comments first. None were made, and the council subsequently voted unanimously to authorize staff to back the map update.

Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 8:30 p.m. on April 1, 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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