Upper Nazareth Won't Appeal Zoning Ruling on Heritage Village

Supervisors on Wednesday voted not to appeal a controversial ruling from the township's zoning officer regarding Heritage Village.

wants to build the proposed independent living community for seniors near the township's border with Nazareth borough.

The 3-2 vote -- supervisors Scott Sylvainus and Jim Fahr opposed -- followed a spirited debate on the issue for the .

“I want it on the record that I strenuously object to this,” Fahr said.

The vote means the township's Zoning Hearing Board will not meet to rule on a long-standing dispute between Upper Nazareth Zoning Officer John Soloe and the township's Planning Commission. The crux of the dispute is housing density in the proposed 143-unit Heritage Village, which spreads across two residential zoning districts that have different standards for density, or how many houses may be built per unit of land.

Before the vote, the parties involved re-stated positions they outlined last month, when supervisors tabled a vote on the matter.

Soloe feels that Heritage Village developers should be allowed to “meld,” or average the housing density standards of the two zoning districts -- one an R-2, the other an R-3  to set the density standard for the project as a whole.

He bases his opinion in part on the method supervisors used to determine open space guidelines for the project last year.

“It's my opinion that the density should be melded, just like open space,” Soloe said. “if we melded the open space, we need to meld the density.”

The Planning Commission believes the Upper Nazareth zoning ordinance does not allow for melding of density standards between different zoning districts.

Commission Chairwoman Pam Berlew, speaking from the audience, repeated concerns she broached at the Oct. 19 supervisors meeting.

“We are on a very slippery slope,” she said, adding that if the township allows melding of zoning district standards for Heritage Village, “there is nothing to stop” an unscrupulous developer from twisting zoning regulations beyond recognition on future projects.

“Worry about what's before you, not what might happen (later),” Soloe half-muttered in response from his seat on the other side of the room.

The difference in opinion between Soloe and the Planning Commission came to a head in early October after planners learned that Soloe sent a letter to Moravian Hall Square. The letter stated that the plans meet township zoning standards for housing density.

The Planning Commission asked township supervisors to appeal Soloe's interpretation to the township Zoning Hearing Board -- a quasi-judicial body appointed by the supervisors that rules on zoning appeals.

Supervisors approve a township's zoning ordinance and appoint a zoning officer to enforce it -- but supervisors cannot overrule a zoning officer's decision on a zoning matter. Supervisors may appeal a zoning officer's decision to the Zoning Hearing Board, though that rarely happens.

It won't happen now, based on Wednesday's vote. The intense -- if mostly polite -- dispute over the plan will likely continue, however.

The Planning Commission will continue to consider the land development plan for the project. Unless developers modify their proposed housing density, the planners will recommend the plan be rejected -- probably in a unanimous vote -- Berlew said.

Land development plans first go through a township's Planning Commission, then must be approved by township supervisors.

Supervisors usually follow the planners' recommendation on whether to approve plans, though they are not required to do so. In rare cases supervisors have approved land plans for which planners recommended rejection.

For more on the proposed Heritage Village, go to www.moravian.com.