Apartment complex proposed at West Norriton golf course

WEST NORRITON >> The owners of Westover Country Club off West Schuylkill Avenue have proposed building a large apartment complex as an alternative to a rejected, all-sports complex on the golf course.

The proposal includes an offer to township officials to locate a new township complex on the remainder of the property, using the existing banquet hall as a new township building and building several support buildings.

The all-sports plan by VRJ Associates was unanimously rejected by West Norriton commissioners two years ago and VRJ filed a lawsuit to overturn the commissioners’ rejection. A resident’s group, Neighbors United, successfully organized opposition to the all-sports plan two years ago and the residents’ group will meet Tuesday night to discuss a proposed, settlement agreement for the VRJ lawsuit.

In the recent past, the commissioners also rejected a proposed, Freedom Valley YMCA plan for the Markley Farms tract that would have expanded the YMCA footprint in the township.

The VRJ Associates sketch plan, reviewed by the Montgomery County Planning Commission in a Sept. 30 letter, contains more than 1,000 apartment units in eight, mid-rise (5 to 7-story) buildings on the 52-acre, “western” side of the 91.6-acre parcel. More than 2,000 parking spaces would be provided, giving a parking ratio of two parking spaces for each apartment, said MCPC Senior Planner Sean Metrick in the letter.

“We suggest a ratio of 1 or 1.5 spaces per multi-family unit,” Metrick said. “Parking could be reduced even further by allowing the applicant to hold as much as 25 percent of the overall required parking in reserve for future inclusion.”

VRJ Associates will present their plan to the public at an open meeting at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, at Westover Country Club, 401 S. Schuylkill Avenue. The commissioners have advertised the meeting as a public, commissioners meeting so more than three commissioners can attend the presentation.

Attorneys for the township and VRJ Associates did not respond to requests for comment.

“The applicant proposes buildings that are significantly taller and more massive than their neighbors,” Metrick said in the review letter. “The buildings have mostly flat facades of greater than 250 feet in length and are arranged on the site in block-like fashion without consideration to slope or aspect or the inclusion of usable open space within the development. We recommend diversifying the housing types to include twins, singles, multi-family and townhouses to lower density and change the character of the development. Lower building heights to three or four stories. Maintain the generous building setbacks in the proposed plan.”

Township staff met with VRJ Associates planner James Faber and attorney Michael Gill on Sept. 8 to review the proposed plan, Metrick said.

The apartment plan would include two new driveway entrances on Port Indian Road and an emergency-only driveway access to the 39.6-acre “eastern” side of the development. The existing driveway on South Schuylkill Avenue would remain and provide access and parking for the two-story banquet hall, which would become the new township building.

Proposed, new buildings would include a 110 by 150-foot recreation building, a 100 by 180-foot public works building, a two-story bank barn for township vehicles and a salt shed. The parking lot has 341 parking spaces.

It was unclear how construction of the new buildings would be financed.

The proposal includes two, 180 by 360-foot soccer fields off South Schuylkill Avenue, a 40 by 64-foot pavilion, a playground and a proposed, “meadow conservation area” along the property line of the Brandon Road homeowners that would vary in depth from 228 feet to 325 feet. The conservation area would provide trees and vegetation to screen out the views of the township facility and the proposed mid-rise apartment buildings and associated parking lots.

The country club is surrounded by single-family homes in a residential neighborhood including condominiums, apartment complexes and the Montgomery County Youth Center.

Commissioner Brian Kennedy pointed out that an open-space covenant for the golf course parcel would require land owners adjacent to the property to agree to overturn the open-space restriction.

“Every neighbor must agree who borders that property,” Kennedy said, “if just one person says no, they can’t do anything.”

The deed restriction to preserve the open space was one of many stumbling blocks for the original all-sport proposal two years ago. Adjacent neighbors include 12 to 14 homeowners on Brandon Road, Montgomery County, which operates the youth center, 15 townhome owners off Yorktown Road and the Westover Crossing Homeowner’s Association, Metrick said.

“It is all up to the residents. We (the commissioners) are only an objective observer,” said Commissioners’ President Ralph Panzullo. “The meeting is to have the people see the plan and come to some sort of agreement.”

Panzullo said VRJ’s lawsuit “has been put on hold. Piazza is trying to get the people to agree to the plan.”

Panzullo declined comment on the proposal to move the township building to the country club property.

“There is a lot to this plan,” he said.

Kennedy questioned how a township move would be financed. “I don’t know how we can afford it,” Kennedy said. “Would it be nice to have the township building up there? Yes. There is no parking at the township building. A lot of the local townships around us have fields and gyms. We have to use school buildings now.”

Commissioner David McKenzie, a candidate for the District 150 House seat, said, “I am interested in having the proposal explained to me and those in attendance as to why it is believed the current proposal is in the best interest of the township and the immediate neighbors. Also, I want to be in attendance so that I can ascertain the pulse of the community.”

Metrick recommended a traffic study because all apartment traffic would have to negotiate the Port Indian Road and Egypt Road intersection, which is controlled by a stop sign.

“The intersection is poorly aligned,” Metrick said. “Under the previous recreation plan, a traffic study determined the intersection operates at a Level of Service (LOS) of E and F ‘during both peak hours due to heavy traffic volumes on Egypt Road.’

The plan does not address sewage treatment for the additional apartments. Metrick said, “the sewage issue is an important variable that has to be considered. The township has to figure out the solution.”

Source: Times Herald