WEST POTTSGROVE — Regional planners had more than a few questions about a development proposal to erect 252 apartments in 10 three-story buildings on just over 18 acres across across the street from the Upland Square shopping center.
Although the property is located in West Pottsgrove R-1 zoning district, it also located in the “Route 100 commercial overlay district” in which apartments are allowed “by right.”
The project appears to have no open space set aside for use by the public of the project, said North Coventry Township Supervisor Bill Soumis. “That clubhouse and playgrounds do not look like they are for the public, they are for the residents. Amenities that are not open to all are not open space,” he said.
“This would be a tough sell for our planning commission,” said New Hanover Supervisor Kurt Zebrowski, who is also the chairman of the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee, which is comprised of eight municipalities — Pottstown Borough, the Montgomery County townships of West Pottsgrove, Lower Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgrove, New Hanover and Douglass and the Chester County municipalities of North Coventry and East Coventry.
The regional planners also noted on Wednesday that a sizeable proportion of the residents of the new apartment complex might opt to avoid the busy intersection of Route 100 and Upland Square Road and instead “slip out the back way” to Sell Road and then south to Manatawny Street.
One problem with that route of travel is that the intersection of Manatawny Street and Sell Road sports a blind curve just west of the intersection. In fact, a study Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission which the regional planners commissioned and which was released in 2019, listed it as one of the most dangerous intersections in the area. Sending more traffic into that intersection with out improvements would likely lead to more accidents, said Pottstown Borough Councilman Ryan Procsal.
The project is significant in more than just its own right, as it would be directly adjacent to a proposal to develop a commercial project on 23 acres to the east. About 17 of those acres sit in West Pottsgrove Township, with the remainder in Upper Pottsgrove Township.
Both projects are on the north side of Upland Square Road on land that is currently vacant. The commercial project was last before the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee last October, according to Montgomery County planner Marley Bice.
According to the minutes that that meeting the portion of the proposed development in West Pottsgrove included a 55,000 square-foot retail building, a 23,348 square-foot grocery store, a 3,908 square-foot car wash, a 2,715 square-foot restaurant with drive-through, and a 5,385 square-foot restaurant with double drive-through off of Upland Square Drive.
According to the minutes of that same meeting, the commercial portion of the project in Upper Pottsgrove included proposed development of a 29,229 square-foot church, an 8,124 square-foot automotive garage, and 1,671 square-foot restaurant with double drive through off of North State Street near Upland Square Drive. That was being planned in conjunction with “State Street Commercial Development” in West Pottsgrove Township above.
Wednesday night, the planners criticized the lack of connection, either pedestrian or automotive, between the two.
“We do want to see mixed-use development in this area, but we want to see that connected,” said Montgomery County planner Marley Bic. any connection between the two is just non-existent,” Zebrowski said.
In October, a letter from the regional planners to Upper Pottsgrove and West Pottsgrove townships, citing concerns regarding the proposed commercial developments (i.e., parking, traffic, State Street access, need for a traffic impact study) was sent. The plan could be at odds with the Upper Pottsgrove Township’s stated insistence that traffic to the site not be allowed through State Street, as it would increase traffic on that residential road.
The regional planning commission does not have approval power for either project, a power which remains with the local governments in both townships.
However, they are tasked with declaring whether or not the proposals are consistent with the regional comprehensive plan, which is currently in the process of being rewritten. To date, they have not made any such declaration for either project.
