Welcome to the September 23, 2024, Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting presentation!

The goal of Meet Mack Monday meetings is to inform residents of township issues that impact them and to get feedback and comments from residents about such issues.

Newtown township's population is currently declining at a rate of -0.23% annually and its population has decreased by -1.11% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 19,875 in 2020.

The average household income in Newtown township is $180,890 with a poverty rate of 3.73%. The median age in Newtown township is 45.3 years: 42.3 years for males, and 47.7 years for females.

Newtown township Demographics

According to the most recent ACS, the racial composition of Newtown township was:

• White: 78.16%
• Asian: 10.23%
• Two or more races: 7.59%
• Black or African American: 2.44%
• Other race: 1.55%
• Native American: 0.04%
• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 0%

The race most likely to be in poverty in Newtown township is Black, with 7.1% below the poverty level.

Much more data here...

This is my personal summery of the 14 August 2024 BOS meeting.

LI/O-LI Overlay sent to Jointure with “Use-by-Right” language – may be modified to "conditional use" later, Business Commons sidewalk project delayed, Silo Dr vs Tara Blvd crosswalk project bid procedure, July 2024 Police Report, more…

UPDATE (6 Sep 2024): The Joint Zoning Council approved this "use by right" amendment to the JMZO.

At the 14 August 2024 Newtown Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Mack had a few questions about the OL-I/LI Overlay Zoning plan developed by the Bucks County Planning Commission. Specifically:

* Residential Density
* Inconsistency with Comprehensive Plan

Lisa Wolf and Jeremy Stoff of the BCPC were there and answered my questions, although NOT to my satisfaction.

In the end, the BOS approved 3-1 (Mack voting nay) sending the amendment – with “use by right” language, which bypasses approval by the BOS, for mixed use apartment buildings to the Jointure. Following that, the BOS voted 4-0 to approve sending the revised amendment – with “conditional use” language, requiring BOS approval – to the Jointure for approval. This means that the first version will be in effect while the revised version works its way through the Jointure for approval. How long that will take is debatable as Wrightstown and Upper Makefield Planning Commissions must review the revision and make recommendations to their Boards who will then vote on it and send to the Jointure for approval. This could take several months during which time developers can come in and propose projects under the “use by right” provisions.

This is my personal summary of the July 10, 2024, meeting of the #NewtownPA Township Board of Supervisors (BOS). This is not a complete nor an official summary.

Agenda/discussions included: stop sign violations, allow billboards in Newtown? LI/O-LI Overlay BY RIGHT vs CONDITIONAL USE, “Dolington Deep Ditch,” Business Commons sidewalk project, June 2024 Police Report, more…

Finding an affordable rental home remains out of reach for most low-income workers in Pennsylvania, according to a new report. In fact, most would need to work more than three full-time jobs just to afford a modest, two-bedroom home in the Commonwealth.

Out Of Reach, a new report released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, looked at data to determine the discrepancy between wages in Pennsylvania and what residents actually need to earn to afford a rental home in the state.

The results are grim. At Pennsylvania's current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, some of the state's 1.6 million renters would need to work 145 hours per week — or 3.6 full-time jobs — to afford a two-bedroom rental home at the current fair market rate of $1,365.

"This year’s report confirms what housing advocates have known for years: we cannot accept our housing crisis as 'normal,'" the report states. "Instead, we must build a nation where everyone has a quality, accessible home they can afford in a thriving, healthy community."

To afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent in Pennsylvania, full-time workers need to earn $26.26 per hour, the report found [more like $40-$60 per hour for Newtown*]. This is assuming the person spends no more than 30 percent of their income on rent.

Many do not earn that much. According to the report, the average worker in Pennsylvania earns $20.11 per hour, making the Commonwealth the 27th most expensive in the United States for renters.

Some parts of the state are worse than others. In Philadelphia, the fair market rate for a two-bedroom rental home is $1,737. For a minimum wage worker to afford that, they would have to work 4.6 full-time jobs.

17 June 2024 Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting attendees discuss what's on their minds including:

* Tara Blvd crosswalk safety improvements
* The possibility of Wawa selling beer 24/7
* Problems with the LI/O-LI Overlay proposal
* and other issues

This is a video of the presentation I made at the 17 June 2024 Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting. The contents include:

* Anti Chick-fil-A at the Bypass Update, Including Petition Results
* Wawa Coming Soon – Will It Sell Beer/Wine 24/7?
* LI/O-LI District Overlay Problems: High Density Housing, More Traffic Congestion
* Corners at Newtown “Garage Core” Apartment Complex: Should We Amend JMZO to Allow This New Use in the Town Center District?
* What’s (not) happening with Pedestrian Crosswalk Improvements?
* Indoor Pickleball Club Proposed for Vacant Bed, Bath, and Beyond Site
* “Pollinator Garden” in Roberts Ridge Park

More Apartments, More Restaurants, More Congestion

Newtown Township supervisors will consider enacting an amendment to the Joint Municipal Zoning Ordinance (JMZO) to establish an LI/O-LI "Overlay District" at the 12 June 2024 Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting. Overlay Zoning is a regulatory tool that creates a special zoning district, placed over an existing base zone(s), which identifies special provisions in addition to those in the underlying base zone.

At the February 16, 2021, Newtown Board of Supervisors Work Session, Supervisors discussed an Economic Development Committee memo that proposed zoning changes for the LI (Light Industrial) and O-LI (Office-Light Industrial) districts in Newtown Township. The ultimate goal was to attract new, high-paying businesses to the area.

A lot has happened to change the focus of the Overlay, which now includes uses that are beyond what was originally intended, including multi-story mixed use apartments/high density housing and drive through restaurants. 

Why is this a problem? Read what residents have to say...

This is my personal summary of the January 10, 2024, meeting of the #NewtownPA Township Board of Supervisors (BOS). This is not a complete nor an official summary.

Agenda Items, Discussions, Decisions, and More

• Public Comments
  • Newtown Walk Residents: Tara Blvd Crosswalk
• Reports of Committees, Boards and Commissions
  • Supervisor John Mack – 4 Jan 2024 Zoning Board Hearing of Borscht Belt Deli Appeal
• Engineer’s Report
  • DVRPC Regional Streetlight Procurement Program
  • Richboro Road (SR 332) and West Hanover Street/Entrance to Tyler State Park
  • Newtown-Yardley Road and Tara Drive Crosswalk Improvements
• Solicitor’s Report
  • Schmitz PRD variance hearing – Impervious Surface Increase Concern
  • Send LI/O-LI JMZO Amendment to the Jointure for Review
• December 2023 NTPD Report
• Other Items of Interest
  • Official Video
  • Video Transcript

[Image: Inside a two-bedroom $million Arcadia apartment in Doylestown PA.]

New apartment communities are being built or in the planning stages in Falls, Lower Makefield, Middletown and Newtown. But Doylestown may be a special case.*

"Doylestown hasn't seen a multi-family dwelling in a generation," said Jason Duckworth, president of Arcadia Land Co. He thinks the old courthouse town now has a young, semi-urban atmosphere that makes it perfect for apartment living.

Arcadia developed a community of 60 homes initially called Arcadia Green but now known as Mayfield in Newtown Township and Arcadia and Rockwell Custom of Media plan to build a townhome community of 3,300-square-foot homes called Clear Springs Court in Doylestown with elevators in the buildings. Prices will start around $1 million.

[Although this article pertains to big city centers, the lesson it offers also applies to Newtown Township, which is considering rezoning the LI/OLI Business Commons district to accommodate mixed uses that include new small commercial uses on the ground floor of 3-story apartment buildings.]

City centers may have to be reimagined to solve the problem of vacant storefronts.

“What do people like? They like to look at other people,” said David Baker, a San Francisco architect, citing a popular creed among architects and planners. “People sitting in there eating a burrito are much more interesting than even a good piece of art.”

A related truism: Walking down the street, you never see the empty cubicles on the 18th floor. But you can’t miss the closed burrito shop.

In San Francisco and nationwide, traditional retail was struggling even before the pandemic with the rise of e-commerce. Many cities had also overbuilt ground-floor commercial space.

Mixed Use Spread Like Peanut Butter!

Cities’ enthusiasm for retail had grown out of the perfectly reasonable idea that mixed-use buildings — commercial below, offices or housing above — have many benefits. They enable people to live and work above the things they need to buy. They can reduce all the driving that’s necessary when stores aren’t near homes or workplaces. And they can foster livelier streets than blank facades or parking garages do.

“I was one of those people running around the country saying ‘mixed use!’” said Ilana Preuss, whose consulting firm helps cities revitalize their downtowns. “The problem was we said ‘mixed use’ everywhere. And we spread it like peanut butter.”

To fill vacant downtown storefronts now, cities will have to consider other such uses. Perhaps fewer coffee shops, and more health clinics, day care centers, university classrooms, live/work spaces and fabrication shops. Ms. Preuss today proposes filling vacant spaces with small-scale manufacturing that has the added benefits of paying more than retail and relying less on foot traffic. She doesn’t mean noisy factories, but people producing tangible things, like bottling hot sauce or roasting coffee beans.

New Ideas for the Ground Floor

Or maybe the empty storefront becomes something else entirely.

“What if there were just more public bathrooms?” said Kim Sandara, an artist living in New York. Or spaces for free cultural programming or city services, or artist studio space.

There are signs that cities are starting to experiment, pairing vacant storefronts with pop-up galleries and businesses, courting college campuses, creating new grants and tax credits.

Fundamentally, Mr. Kickert said, cities need to see the street level as less a place of transaction, and more one of interaction. And perhaps the people interacting aren’t buying anything at all.

“We are looking for ways to revitalize the Newtown Business Commons, to both preserve the business office district and address the recent changes in the business environment, where workers are increasingly working from home,” said Peggy Driscoll, Chair of the Newtown Planning Commission NTPC, at the April 26, 2023, Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting.

The most recent proposal by Bucks County Planning Commission (BCPC) laid out the details for “Mixed Use” newly constructed apartment buildings in the OLI/LI Overlay Zones; e.g., in the Business Commons area, like the ones shown here in this video (source: BCPC).

“We are optimistic that we will be able to add some residential uses to the Commons to help us attract and retain younger residents to the area,” said Ms. Driscoll.

The problem, however, is that the NTPC and BCPC seem to be at odds about how to implement “mixed-use” residential/retail in the business commons.

LED Street Light Program, Deluca Construction Proposal Violate CM District Zoning, Mixed-Use Residential/Retail Mix-Up, more…

This is my personal summary of the April 26, 2023, meeting of Newtown Township Board of Supervisors (BOS). This is not a complete nor an official summary.

Access the 2023 BOS Chronicle for detailed summaries of all 2023 BOS meetings plus the BOS voting record (UNOFFICIAL) for 2023.

Agenda Items

• DVRPC LED Street Light Procurement Program Presentation
• Planning Commission Report [SYNOPSIS]
  • Deluca Construction at 70 Twining Bridge Road
  • OLI/LI Overlay “Mixed-Use” Residential Proposal Mix-Up
• My Detailed Meeting Notes
• Official Video
• Video Transcript

642 Newtown Yardley Road, part of the corporate campus of Newtown Commons West, on the edge of Newtown Business Commons. 642 is a brick & steel building, approximately 15 years old, 3-stories and elevator-served. 15,000+ SF on each floor.

For lease is Suite 205 is 5,397 SF on the second floor. Some custom fitout* possible. 

Plenty of parking. $23/SF annual rental rate. The only additional costs are $2/SF for electric and the tenant's own in-suite janitorial.

Welcome to “The Year 2022 in Images."

There were many unique and interesting issues that I and other Newtown Township supervisors confronted in 2022. This is a selection of images and stories that document what I consider the most important news items and issues of interest to Newtown residents.

Images include the following with links to more information:

• It Took a Pedestrian Death
• No Gun Shows in Newtown!
• Newtown Says NO to Wawa
• Stand With Ukraine
• OLI/LI District Overlay Plan
• Did Anti-DEI Activists Drive Fraser Away from CRSD?
• 5G Antennas - Are They Safe?
• Shots Fired!
• NAS Asks for More AID
• It's Time For Solar Power!
• Bucks County Sewer Sale Stymied
• Lower Dolington Road Trail - The Longest DELAY!
• Women's Right To Choose
• Not On My BYpass!
• Movie Controversy
• "Historic" Resource Re-Discovered
• Why Did Charlie Feuer Cross the Road?

More...

News of Interest, aka NOI, is a monthly collection of summaries of articles curated from various news and other sources focused on a range of topics of interest to local residents. News of Interest is available via email to subscribers... Subscribe: https://bit.ly/SubscribeNOI 

This is my personal summary of the September 28, 2022, meeting of Newtown Township Board of Supervisors (BOS) based on review of the agenda and video archive (I was unable to attend this meeting due to COVID). This is not a complete nor an official summary.

Includes:

• Resolution Supporting A Woman’s “Right to Choose”
• Review of Changes to the LI/OLI Zoning District
• Review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan - Nine "Guiding Principles"
• Provco Pinegood Newtown LLC (Wawa) Land Development Application

More...

On September 20, 2022, Jeremy Stoff and Lisa Wolf of the Bucks County Planning Commission (BCPC) presented their concept of an LI/OLI district overlay plan to the Newtown Township Planning Commission (NTPC).

Also attending this public meeting were members of the Newtown Economic Development Committee, which originally proposed that an Overlay be implemented to allow more uses for the Business Commons area of the township.

View the video...