Following its planning commission’s recommendation, Doylestown Township Supervisors Tuesday approved a zoning change that opens the door to a housing development and potential dog park on North Broad Street.
In a 4-0 vote, with supervisor Nancy Santacecilia absent, the board adopted an ordinance that adds a residential use to its light industrial zoning. Doing so allows Philadelphia-based developers Arcadia Land Development and Pennrose Bricks & Mortar to move forward with plans to build 60 affordable, one-bedroom apartments for senior citizens in a single, four-story building and 18 market-rate townhouses on a three-acre township property that abuts a one-acre parcel in Doylestown Borough.
Tuesday night’s vote came just hours after Doylestown Borough Manager John Davis expressed his displeasure with the planning commission’s recommendation that the supervisors approve the change.
“We remain incredibly disappointed in how this process has unfolded,” said Davis, in an email. “It represents an extremely poor example of intermunicipal planning, or in this case, a lack thereof. While we are proponents of affordable housing and hope that this development eventually fulfills its promises in that regard, it’s worth noting that providing for it is much easier when it is for all intents and purposes in someone else’s community.”
Rents for the apartments, said Arcadia owner Jason Duckworth, will be about $1,100 monthly, for those earning approximately $47,000 annually. The rent can be adjusted downward, based on income, he noted, in a recent interview.
Developers recently proposed building a dog park on the borough’s property that fronts 280 N. Broad St. The public park would be owned and maintained by the borough.
Phil Ehlinger, the borough’s deputy manager, recently said he liked the dog park concept. Not adding housing to the one-acre parcel, he said at the planning commission meeting, “will mitigate almost 300 trips…and will offset tremendously the impact on the borough from that property.”
To accommodate the overall project, the township had to modify its limited industrial zoning, adding a residential use. The change, developers and township officials emphasized, is specific to the 3-acre site, as any future housing project would have to meet a “walkability” standard. That standard is defined as being within a half-mile of the center of the borough, the intersection of State and Main streets.
Three years ago, Arcadia proposed 220 luxury apartments for the property.
Considering that, Davis said, “our planning and legal team has done a remarkable job making the best of a bad situation.”
Duckworth said he’d like to see the project begin in 2025.
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