New Hope Council Votes Not To Oppose Zoning Relief For The Landing

NEW HOPE BOROUGH, PA — The New Hope Borough Council will not oppose a request for zoning relief for the redevelopment of The Landing on North Main Street.

After listening to public comment for more than an hour and hearing from the developer during a standing room only meeting Tuesday night, the borough council voted 4 to 3 to remain neutral on the developer’s request for upwards of 40 variances for the project.

"We are not here approving this project as it's being shown. Our job tonight is do we support this application to go to zoning or are we going to oppose it," Council President Connie Gering told the audience prior to the vote.

Voting for the motion to remain neutral were Gering, council vice president Laurie McHugh, Dan Dougherty and Peter Meyer. Voting against the motion were Ken Maisel, Louise Feder and Tina Rettig who favored sending its solicitor to the zoning board meeting to oppose the relief.

New Jersey-based real estate developer Landmark Developers is seeking zoning relief to build a 44-room hotel with restaurant, pool, and artist-in-residence quarters at the site of the former Landing restaurant and Fred’s Breakfast off of East Randolph Street and North Main Street.

The plan also includes enhancements to the borough’s pocket park at the foot of East Randolph Street and a boat launch for the Eagle Fire Company.

Landmark acquired the three properties that make up the site from their previous owners in early 2021 and plans to consolidate them into one lot if the project moves forward.

Most of the residents who spoke during Tuesday night's meeting voiced opposition to the size and scope of the development. They also raised concern over traffic, noise and parking, particularly on Randolph Street, the smallest street in town, which would serve as the main entrance and exit into the site.

A few spoke in favor, including Steve Darlington, a real estate broker and former president of the New Hope Historical Society, who said a hotel would bring in guests who will shop and dine at the establishments in town "and will keep this a viable riverside town."

The project is being proposed by longtime Logan Inn owner and Landmark founder Frank Cretella, who has built a reputation in town for working with the community.

“We’re here in this town because we love this town,” said Cretella, responding to comments on social media painting him as an outside investor here for the money.

"It’s different for us," he said. "We’re not going to build a bunch of homes and then say goodbye. We operate businesses in the buildings that we build. We want to be part of the community. The last thing I want to do is to make enemies out of people who I hope will be customers and friends."

He said that the redevelopment of the Landing would have a positive impact on the town by attracting both business and leisure travelers in the slower Monday to Thursday time frame when the small businesses in town need foot traffic the most.

"Everybody does great on a beautiful Saturday. It’s the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday that really matter. We’re trying to level the playing field," he said.

Cretella said while people were posting on social media concerns about the massing of the building, height, traffic and noise, no one pointed to the part of the plan he is most proud - the artist-in-residence.

Incorporated into the project are artist-in-residence units which would offer artists a place to live for a few months while they display their work on the hotel’s ground floor. The plan proposes to repurpose several existing buildings fronting on North Main for the use.

"New Hope shouldn't just be a place where art is for sale. It should also be a place where there are artists like it used to be," said Cretella. "I think we're helping the character of New Hope or at least helping to preserve it."

The project is a hard sell for residents of North Main Street, like Councilwoman Feder who opened her remarks by expressing appreciation for Cretella's close working relationship with the town.

"I know that you care so deeply about it. Just know that my criticism is with the plan and has nothing to do with you, your business or your family," she said. "I know how much all of you care."

With that said, Feder, who has lived on North Main for the past decade, raised concern with East Randolph Street, which she said is a challenge for vehicles without a hotel and restaurant there. "It is the smallest street in the borough and just having regular traffic is a challenge. Adding a business of this size, no matter what you do you're going to have challenges. It's a severe concern."

Feder also raised concern over the s of the size and scope and the impact it will have on North Main Street, a mostly residential neighborhood which enjoys its Delaware River views.

"I echo some of the sentiments that have been said in terms of massing," she said. "The sight lines when you walk down North Main are so important. And we would lose so much because of the building scale of this project. I appreciate you lowering the roof line, but it is still so high. We'll still see that roof line. North Main is so important to have the presence of the river. It will be nice for the people who use your hotel, but for residents it will be a severe distraction.

"I also believe 44 hotel rooms is the biggest of any hotel in town. The idea of putting a hotel of that scale, no matter how beautiful it may be, and expecting a business of that size not to irrevocably change the character of that section of town, is a mistake.

What the new Landing would look like from the Delaware River . (Landmark Developers)

"To say that our only option is a three story hotel with a pool and with all these parking spots on the river on our tiniest street, is just not the path forward that makes sense for this section of town," she said.

Councilwoman McHugh said the Landing "desperately needs something. I'm not here to say what
that is, but I trust you more than another developer," she told Cretella. "We need to trust our zoning board and our planning commission and the staff that this borough has put in place to get this to where it needs to be," she said.

The project is scheduled to go before the borough's zoning board sometime this spring. If it secures the zoning relief it needs, the project will still have to go through HARB process for design and also the planning commission and ultimately borough council for land development approval.