There has been a lot circulating on social media lately about the Comprehensive Plan, and I think its worth some time addressing some of the comments.
As mentioned in my last newsletter, the Comprehensive Plan is a high level (we’ll say 50,000’) view of our community. It addresses quite a bit- environmental and historic resources, community facilities, movement of people and goods, land use, and of note recently, housing. The latter has been the source of much understandable concern, but also the source of much misinformation.
The process of updating the Comprehensive Plan (Vision 2035) started in 2019. We built a team, called the Comprehensive Plan Development Team (CPDT), of nine township residents representing various constituencies across the Township. Those include several at-large positions, a representative of the Board of Commissioners knowledgeable in the PA Municipalities Planning Code (myself), a representative of the education community (in our case, someone from the Abington Education Foundation), someone representing the Environmental Community (either Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) or Shade Tree Commission (STC)), a member of the Township’s senior community (in our case, a senior that was previously a COO at a skilled nursing senior care facility), a member of the Township’s business community, and a member of the Township’s planning commission. All members are township residents, have been residents for some time, and plan on continuing to be residents of our community. None have any personal affiliations with any large scale, residential developers, and none have access to “tens of millions of dollars” as noted by one local blogger.
Per my comment above, its only been the housing discussion that has come up recently that has ignited any reaction in the community, and I should note that the Housing chapter was drafted some time ago- it was only the Future Land Use portion of the plan that has really fired up awareness.
Understandably, there is concern that the Township could see an unprecedented influx in the number of rental units being proposed, but there is also a notion that we are somehow besieged by developers. A map with circles all over it (below) from one of the Comprehensive Plan Development Team meetings has been circulated widely to bolster this narrative (and is inaccurate, as the team has halved the size of those circles, as shown at the end of this post). Without going into housing demand in this particular post, it is worth noting that the Township has not seen much development in the past 10 years… or longer, really.
Draft land use map, as presented to the CPDT by Montgomery County Planning Commission. This map was a first pass, was not approved, and has not yet been implemented into anything, despite assertions to the contrary.
As an example, take a look at Abington School District’s Enrollment Projection study, completed by the Montgomery County Planning Commission in 2016. Page 35 of this study lists the largest multifamily developments in Abington Township (true, it is not all inclusive, but we will get into that in a moment). Apartment complexes in this matrix are diverse, the largest of which is 532 units at Meadowbrook Apartments, which affects a dated Rydal Elementary School, and the newest of which is 224 units at the Plaza Apartments, opened in… 1976. You read that right… the last major, multifamily development occurred in Abington in 1976. True, there have been a few other developments that occurred in that time- these can be found on page 20.
Crest Manor in Willow Grove was rebuilt and there was a net add of units at that development (6 units, per page 20, although I believe it is double that), Rydal Park cottages were added (this was the Rydal Waters development that just opened, and is age restricted which minimizes impact on the school district). Additionally on this page- Baederwood SC, a 224 unit complex that was recently approved but has not yet broken ground, and Foxcroft, listed in the same report at 72 units but in actuality is over 100 units. Foxcroft is now under construction, Baederwood has their land development approvals, but has not yet commenced, and its worth noting that BOTH of these developments saw protracted, decade long legal battles before approvals were settled. Combined, these two developments account for under 400 added units to the township’s housing stock. This is in addition to total units added since 2010 (including recorded plans of fewer than 3 units) of 218. In my next post, we’ll talk about how that compares to population growth and housing pressures felt by the Township and region beyond in terms of population growth, a reduction of density in local households, and outside pressures that contribute to growth, such as the current geopolitical climate and issues such as Ukraine.
Bottom line- know that we do not take applications for multifamily housing lightly, and that your zoning and neighborhoods are not under attack. Our goal is to protect the character of the R1 through R4 districts (the vast majority of Abington), to protect greenspace, but at the same time balance an increase in housing demand. And, one more time, a reminder of what the Comprehensive Plan is not- an active rewrite of the Township’s zoning ordinance. Vision 2035 sets a vision, one that the Board of Commissioners can either legislate for or against later, but one that must examine what could happen, and one that must examine all possibilities.
If you’re still with me after all of that, great! More to come in my next newsletter. In the interim, feel free to reach out to me with any questions- mthompson@abington.org. Next Meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Development Team- March 15.
*Unofficial Map* Based on a meeting several months ago, the mixed use districts proposed were pulled back to a 1/4 mile, not 1/2 mile, radius around town centers. The above map overlays those districts on our existing zoning map. Blue circles are the updated suggested overlay, and consistently align with feature zoning districts throughout the township, such as Main Street, Business Center, and AO districts already discussed in the current zoning. This map was compiled by myself, and is not a work product of Abington Township or Montgomery County Planning Commission.