On the May 20th agenda for the Lower Gwynedd Township Planning Commission are two items. The meeting is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the township building (the meeting is also available online). You can find the agenda and supporting documents here.

The first involves a waiver of land development sought by Rise Up Towers LLC, which seeks to construct two cell towers in the township, one at the back of the former Andy’s Diner property at 900 North Bethlehem Pike and another at 401 Gwynedd Avenue in a township park. During previous meetings, there were discussions about poor cell reception in parts of the township, which can affect 911 and other calls.

In the supporting documents, Assistant Township Manager Jamie Worman writes about the request to waive land development, “Rise Up is requesting a waiver from the land development process for both projects due to the limited site work associated with the construction of the proposed facilities. In addition, both projects will undergo a comprehensive building permit review and construction oversight.”

The second issue before the commission is a proposal to revise the MF-3 [multi-family] Ordinance and a proposed conditional use application for the partial redevelopment of the Spring House Corporate Center, with apartments and adjacent mixed-use.

The Spring Mill Corporate Center at 321 Norristown Road is currently home to two office buildings. BET Investments is proposing to replace one office building with 278 apartments. The office building that Berkadia is a tenant of will remain. There will also be three commercial spaces (unattached to the apartments and the Berkadia building) that are 30,750-, 4,000-, and 12,000-square-foot buildings.

Attached to the agenda are the supporting documents, including the proposed ordinance, which shows the revisions made to the latest draft.

During a March informal presentation to the community, BET introduced its plan and received feedback, including concerns about traffic, township density, and trail access (desire to not have it) between neighboring properties.

Disclosure – The attorney for Rise Up Towers was a college roommate of the author. BET Investments is an advertiser with Burb Media, the publisher of AroundAmbler.com