Parking On The Agenda At Steeple View Hearing In Newtown Borough

NEWTOWN BOROUGH, PA — The issue of parking will be on the agenda on Tuesday when the Newtown Borough Council considers a conditional use request by developer Allan Smith for his Steeple View redevelopment project.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Chancellor Center and is open to the public.

To meet the parking requirements for his project, Smith’s lawyer and engineers will be asking Borough Council to allow it to use off-site parking spaces at the Stocking Works office complex on South State Street in its calculations.

With the elimination of a proposed parking garage from the Steeple View plan, the developer has been struggling to meet the parking requirements of the proposed mixed-use project. They have proposed designating parking at the nearby Stocking Works, which is owned by Smith, as part of its plan to meet the ordinance requirements.

The developer is seeking approval for a revised final plan for the largest redevelopment project in recent borough history.

The plan, which Patch has been reporting on since the project was first unveiled, proposes seven new multi-story buildings (four residential and three mixed-use residential, restaurant, and retail uses) on nearly nine acres of land along with the development of a public piazza gathering place on Centre Avenue and a public greenway along Newtown Creek.

The project site extends from Centre Avenue south to the former Stockburger property, part of which has been redeveloped with the Pennsylvania Fine Wine & Good Spirits store, which was phase one of the Steeple View project.

Plans call for a one-way internal roadway from Centre Avenue to a new Center Plaza traffic circle behind the Wine and Spirits store that would direct traffic back onto South State Street or to four new residential condominium buildings planned for the southern end of the site.

At the northern end of the site, a public piazza, or town square, would be framed by two new three-story mixed-use buildings - one with retail on the first floor and residential units above behind the Starbucks and the second overlooking the piazza with a restaurant use on the first floor and living units above.

While the plan calls for a less intense project than what was approved in 2016, with the elimination of a proposed parking garage and several mixed-use office buildings, the revised plan comes up short on parking, according to the borough officials.

The developer’s attorney Tim Duffy said part of the parking deficit could be accommodated off-site at Smith’s nearby Stocking Works complex on South State Street. In addition, they would need to use 2.8 acres of proposed green space at the heart of the project site for parking.

The green space had originally been designated for surface parking in Smith’s revised plan presented in spring 2022. It was set aside on the revised plan as reserved parking.

“Right now they have five parking spaces available for retail and restaurant use at Steeple View. If we take the 60 spaces in reserve, we still don’t have enough. There’s still 79 required elsewhere,” said Planning Commission Chairman Mark Craig.

“This is not something we can hand wave or calculate away,” said planner Matthew Neuman Monday night during another round of reviews by the planning commission. “This is what’s required. We have to stand firm. And say this is what you need.”

Craig, however, noted that the borough ordinance allows unlimited off-site parking. "Stocking Works is the only place they want to put parking so they want to calculate parking in such a way that allows the maximum parking off-site," he explained. “If they can’t find parking off-site, they are going to have to accommodate it on-site."

To do that, the developer may have to revise its plans.

On Monday night, the planning commission recommended the denial of the conditional use because the application does not meet the requirements of the ordinance due to the following reasons:

• Defeats walkability objectives of the borough by adding additional traffic flow and circulation.
• All non-residential parking is being pushed to Stocking Works and in residential areas in front of homes.
• It takes away parking from side streets in the borough.
• Customers and existing businesses will no longer be able to park in lots at the location.
• No continuous sidewalk exists on the east side of State Street requiring the crossing of State Street in the middle of the block.
• Lighting along South State Street is inadequate for a substantial number of pedestrians.
• Traffic looking for parking will create congestion at State and Centre, in public lots, and residential neighborhoods.
• Traffic will likely be backed up exiting onto South State Street from Steeple View.