Newtown Twp. Planners Advance Plans For 100-Unit Apartment Building

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — The planning commission voted 5 to 4 at its June meeting to recommend moving forward with a draft text amendment that could open the door to a 100-unit parking core apartment building in Newtown Township.

Instead of seeking the required zoning variances for an apartment garden use for the site, BET Investments is seeking to create a new use in the Joint Municipal Zoning Ordinance that would allow it to redevelop the Corners at Newtown, a small group of one story commercial buildings
at Richboro Road and South Sycamore Street, with a parking core apartment building.

The proposed amendment will now go before the Joint Zoning Commission for further discussion.

Updated plans show 100 dwelling units with two parking spaces per unit. BET’s original plan envisioned 160 units wrapped around a core parking garage.

At the planning meeting, BET presented its traffic studies for the envisioned building, which showed the impact on surrounding intersections as minimal, however Chairwoman Peggy Driscoll said they did not include data on the approved Steeple View project just across the creek in neighboring Newtown Borough.

Driscoll said despite the commission's recommendation, the developer will face an uphill battle in securing approval for its text amendment from the jointure, noting that Wrightstown has already indicated its opposition to the idea.

Garden apartments are permitted at the site, said Driscoll. “They have created an ordinance that fits exactly what they want because what our ordinance allows isn’t what they want to build.

“This is massive. This building is huge,” said Driscoll. “It’s going to loom over Sycamore Street. There’s a parking garage in the center surrounded by apartments. Is that what we want to do to our historic district?”

Density, building size and height, and traffic continue to be major sticking points with the proposal.

That's also a concern of the Bucks County Planning Commission, which has objected to the plan based on density. The plan proposes a building that is eight times the density allowed in the R2 zoning district and a building length that is two times greater then what’s permitted in the
town commercial (TC) district.

BET pointed out at an earlier meeting that it had initially come in with a four story building with 160 units. After meeting with the township, it scaled its plan back to a three story building with 120 units wrapped around an enclosed parking garage. It is now asking for a 100 unit structure

“We feel the property has the size to support this without looking overburdened,” said BET. “Right now the site is full of single story buildings that are spread out and antiquated. They are very hard to lease. They are not the kind of property people want to rent today.”

Driscoll said she'd like to see "something nice there, but it's got to work," noting that there’s no room around the site to make meaningful roadway improvements to accommodate additional traffic.

“160 was unreal,” said Driscoll. “I think 60 apartments would work. It can be a beautiful thing. You can build something nice. It’s just too big. It’s just too much what you want to do," she told the developers at a previous meeting.

After listening to the discussion at the supervisors' June meeting, Dennis Fisher, the chair of the board of supervisors, concluded, "There's still a ways to go with this project.

"We have a letter from Wrightstown basically negative about this project. And the Bucks County Planning Commission is not in favor. I think we have a ways to go with this project. I think it will be back here numerous times," he said.