Planners Back More Development at Upland Square

Photo by Evan Brandt

Ed Reitz, a planner from Douglass (Mont.), left, and Kurt Zebrowski, a planner from New Hanover, take a closer look at the site plans for the commercial expansion off State Street, opposite Upland Square, in West Pottsgrove.

Although Wednesday night's meeting of the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee lasted barely 30 minutes, it did manage to generate some news.

Plans for the development of nearly 20 acres across Upland Drive from the Upland Square Shopping Center and behind the recently constructed Citadel Bank building are moving forward.

Owned by the Gambone group, the first concept plan was submitted to the township in 2011.

That plan, completed by Kennedy and Assoc., included a 100-room hotel; 105,000 square feet of retail space; 11,000 square-feet of restaurant space; a 4,000 square-foot bank, a gas station/convenience store and a 918-space parking lot.

Some of uses have been pared down and the plan presented to the regional planners Wednesday night calls for two retails buildings, one of which will be a grocery story, several restaurants, including one that specializes in Chicken Wings, and a dentist's office, said West Pottsgrove Commissioner Dominic Gentile.

The current plan shows no development plans for the 

Upper Pottsgrove portion of the site, shown on the right.

The grocery store has previously been identified as Lidl, a German-based chain that offers food similar to the Aldi in Lower Pottsgrove at the Home Depot off Armand Hammer Boulevard.

Upper Pottsgrove Commissioner Elwood Taylor said his township has supported development at the site, but wants to ensure that access remains solely off Route 100.

"Upper Pottsgrove has been very supportive of development in this area from the git-go," said Taylor. "There was controversy int he comminity about expanding commecial development in this area and UP stood up and defended that decision and so we're excited to see this happen," Taylor said.

"Our concern is that access to the Upper Pottsgrove parcels be maintained through the new development," given that there are currently no plans to develop those parcels.

"The crux of the issue is State Street to the north is residential, and for the last 10 years, we have been very careful about not allowing State Street to become a throughway to a commercial center," said Taylor.

With those concerns expressed, the regional planners voted to allow Montgomery County Planner Donna Fabry to write a letter declaring that the project complies with the regional Master Plan, which targete commercial growth for that area.

And with that, here are the Tweets from an otherwise very short meeting:

Expanding New Hanover Project Traffic Study?

Wednesday night's meeting of the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee was mercifully brief.

The agenda was light and probably the most interesting thing about it was talk of traffic.

As many have read here and in The Mercury, a proposal in New Hanover to build offices, retail and a new supermarket, along with 760 homes on 208 acres up against the Douglass (Mont.) township line has caught the attention of many.

The potential to increase traffic on Swamp Pike, Route 663 and Philadelphia Avenue has caused much concern.

It has generated initial estimates of increases in traffic by more than 5,000 vehicles per day, a 50 percent increase.

Wednesday night, Montgomery County Chief of Community Planning John Cover suggested that a $60,000 traffic study Douglass has plans to undertake for its Act 209 traffic impact fee could be expanded, and thus paid for with grants.

It might also get some road improvement projects outside the legal requirements imposed on the development funded by PennDOT.

Here are the Tweets and relevant links.

For Whom the Plan Tolls

So once again, tolls on Route 422, as dead an issue as you can imagine, was debated by representatives of the eight municipalities which comprise the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee during Wednesday night's meeting.

Forced to the floor for debate by a resolution from East Coventry Township and a pending one from Lower Pottsgrove Township, the planners tossed the issue back and forth until a compromise was reached.

In the end, everyone agreed on a single sentence which satisfied all the concerns expressed.

(You will have to read the Tweets to learn what it is! :))

Also discussed was another $200,000 in regional recreational grants from the state; a regional train and open space stewardship plan and a development project off Bleim Road in Lower Pottsgrove.

Read and learn, and look for full stories on these issues in upcoming editions of The Mercury.

New Hanover Gets the Twitter Treatment

Columbus Day meant no borough council meeting Monday night.

(It will be held today, Tuesday, Oct. 14)

So that left me with the choice of East Coventry whose meeting agenda, no offense, looked like it could put frenzied wolverines to sleep, or New Hanover.

There was no agenda posted, so it was a total crap shoot.

But we know our way around crap here at the Digital Notebook and we're nothing if not willing to take a chance. So we did.

Was it the right choice? You be the judge....

Regionalizing Animal Control? Crowd Control?

Photo by Evan Brandt

The Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee is comprised of eight municipalities.

So a couple of nuggets out of Wednesday night's Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee (boy that's a mouthful):

• The TSC Tractor store is moving out of the old Giant Plaza on State Street because, according to Borough Council President Stephen Toroney, the roof is leaking and the landlord won't fix it.;
• The regional comprehensive plan, not to be confused with the Montgomery County Comprehensive Plan or the Pottstown Borough Comprehensive Plan, is almost ready for official comment, to be followed by public comment, to be followed by adoption, to be followed by preparing for the new comprehensive plan....;
• Toroney floated the idea of some kind of regional animal control officer, still early;
• Upper Pottsgrove Commissioners Chairman Elwood Taylor floated the idea of other township police departments in the region helping out with the Pottstown Halloween Parade as a way to keep costs down...keep talking....

Anyway, here are the Tweets from the meeting..

Comprehending the Region

Photo taken in the dark by Evan Brandt