Main Street 900 Block Discussed at Royersford Public Zoning Hearing

Residents on the 900 Block of Main Street in Royersford were invited to attend a public hearing at to voice their opinions on Tuesday night. The discussion was centered around whether the current residential zoning of each property should be changed to office residential.

Section 2304 of the Borough Code states in order for a change to be made in zoning, a petition needs to be signed with 50-percent of the block in favor of the change, which was satisfied by residents in July. Royersford's Planning Commission met in July to review recommendations from the Montgomery County Planning Commission, which recommended against the change to keep with the nature of a borough residential appearance and to prevent extra traffic expected to occur if the zoning change is to be implemented. 

Royersford resident George Ellis of the 900 block acted as the representative of petitioners in favor of changing their property to office residential. The overall feeling of residents that attended the meeting is that due to the changing economic climate and larger businesses such as Wawa and tenants of the Lakeview Shopping Center creating an increase in traffic along Main Street and Walnut Street in the past 10 years, their property value has declined.

"The increasing traffic volume along Main Street has caused difficulty in selling homes due to the passing traffic of 13,000 cars daily," Ellis said. "[A change] would enhance resale values of home and stimulate property sales, as well as commercial business economic activity for the community."

Matthew Cornley of the 900 block stated to the council that "no one can afford $25-30 per square-foot for a lease." His beliefss were that if a change is made to the zoning, he would run his IT business from home, which would "mutually benefit the community by creating more tax base and reinvest in the community."

Martin Korvich of the 800 block also attended the meeting to present a similar petition from residents on his block for council consideration.

"This could be more prosperous for the businesses further down Main Street, if smaller businesses are able to relocate to the 800 and 900 blocks of the community due to this zoning ordinance," said Korvich.

Council Solicitor and legal advisor, Alan E. Boroff, explained options to the council as to how to vote for zoning change and suggested voting to tabling the zoning ordinance change, to be brought up in the future. This way, other considerations and modifications could be made by looking at the 800 and 900 blocks of Main Street for one final decision, rather than multiple meetings and hearings for multiple blocks within the borough.

Residents of the 900 block appeared to have left the meeting dissatisfied after the council voted in favor of tabling the ordinance for an undetermined future date. Residents said they were hoping to find closure or an answer regarding their ongoing concerns of home values dropping as a direct result of the increased traffic and zoning affecting the decisions of potential real estate shoppers.