Seizing an opportunity to gain historic designation for Buckingham Village, which it has longed for at least since the 1980s, Buckingham supervisors have authorized advertising for an amendment to its Historic Preservation Ordinance that would help do just that. The action was taken at their Feb. 28 meeting.
Township Manager Dana Cozza explained that the wish had been stymied for decades by the presence of “noncontributing properties” there. That created problems for the Village to have historic recognition nationally, and especially at the state level, where it could provide critical municipal advantage during development considerations.
But when PennDOT started its “roundabout” project for the intersection of routes 202 and 263, it opened the door for changing the township historic district to get rid of the noncontributing properties, with help from Township Engineer Dan Gray.
“The township opts to negotiate on behalf of its residents when PennDOT has a project,” summarized Paul Calderaio, who chairs the board of supervisors.
Gray added that improvements planned for the intersection of routes 413 and 202 are designed to help “improve the village feel,” and provide for “walkable scale.”
Last fall, as part of moving forward with its 2019 Master Trail and Bicycle Plan, supervisors resolved to pursue a grant from PennDOT, toward providing new, multi-use connections for the Village part of the township (Herald, Nov. 2, 2023).
In particular, the grant would help “provide multi-use pedestrian facilities, to interconnect the intersections of Durham Road (Route 413)/York Road(Route 263), Durham Road/Route 202, Old York Road/Route 202, and Old York Road/Quarry Road, by installing multi-use paths and modifying existing signalized and non-signalized intersections to provide ADA (compliant) pedestrian crossing facilities.”
The project would support the Master Plan’s objective of “improving mobility and quality of life for residents” of all ages.
In addition to creating new support for health and recreation, the plan is to spur economic benefits by improving connections with commercial areas.
The complete plan is available on the township website, via the Parks & Recreation Department tab.
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