When I first heard about a potential traditional neighborhood development in the center of Newtown Borough, which later became known as Steeple View, I was excited by the possibilities it offered to reinvigorate the business district and address the ongoing lack of parking in town. However, the current plan no longer provides many of the benefits originally touted, and will make the borough’s parking problem worse.
In a 5–1 vote on Sept. 20, Newtown Borough Council granted conditional use approval for a controversial shared parking plan, permitting up to 40% of the required parking for the Steeple View development to be accommodated remotely at the Stocking Works, 1/4 mile south on State Street. By its own calculations, the developer intends to provide only a few parking spaces onsite at Steeple View beyond those required for the residential units planned.
The remote parking at the Stocking Works will also include the public parking spaces currently in front of the old liquor store at 10 Centre Ave.
This 55-space municipal lot was given to the developer by the borough in 2015, with the understanding that those parking spaces would be relocated close by in a multilevel parking garage within the new development, as depicted on the preliminary plans borough council approved in 2016.
However, that is no longer the case, as the developer now refuses to build a parking garage.
A major principle of conditional use approval is that a proposal be in the best interests of the borough, and be a benefit to the community and to the public welfare. Eliminating a popular, heavily used, convenient public parking facility is none of these things. State Street businesses will experience that loss quickly, according to the most recent plans. Demolition of this lot and relocation of public parking will be just two of the initial activities to occur when construction begins. Has the business community been informed about this, and by whom? These factors needed to be considered before conditional use approval, not at some time in the future by a future borough council.
Borough council granted the conditional use request without explanation. The vote was immediate, without a single statement or comment by council members. When questioned by the public at a meeting the following week, responses were inadequate and unconvincing. Questions remain as to the motivation behind approving this scheme.
For almost 14 years, I had been one of this project’s strongest supporters. But within the past year and a half, I, along with many Newtown residents, have come to realize that, in its current form, and especially with the approved parking plan, Steeple View no longer offers the benefits to the public and business community promoted by the developer.
Julia W. Woldorf lives in Newtown Borough.
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