Comcast in Horsham Eyes Building Expansion

The Comcast facility located in the 12-acre Pennsylvania Business Campus on Dresher Road in Horsham is looking to double in size, officials said.

Representatives from Liberty Property Trust, the campus' management company, came before the Horsham Township Council this week for review of six variances requested from the zoning hearing board. The variances, attorney Howard Brown told the governing body, are precursors to the submission of land development plans.

Currently, Comcast is situated in half of 700 Dresher Road and the other half is vacant, according to Horsham Township Manager Bill Walker. Walker said Comcast moved in in November 2011 and employs 500 workers.

Zoning relief stems from parking at the campus and the owner's intention to accommodate Comcast as it eyes an expansion to fill the 110,000-square-foot space, Brown told the governing body. Currently, 521 parking spaces are on the site, an "inadequate amount given Comcast's desire to take the balance of the building," Brown said.

"We view this as a good problem to have," he said.

Brown said 143 parking spaces would be added to bring the total to 664.

Other zoning relief requests revolve around the applicant's plan to create parking spaces at dimensions different from those mandated under the township's regulations.

In addition, the added parking would transform the site's impervious surface coverage from its present 59 percent to 68 percent, Brown said, adding that the ordinance requires no more than 65 percent.

The township council said it would take a neutral position on the application, which would be considered during the zoning hearing board's Feb. 12 meeting.

Walker asked if the applicant would be "agreeable" to relocating landscaping and trees "somewhere else in the business park" if the site itself could not accommodate it.

"We hope to work with you," Walker said, as Liberty Property Trust representatives nodded affirmatively.