HLRA to See Three Air Base Reuse Options

With an for the closing Willow Grove air base, the Horsham Land Reuse Authority will begin deciding what should fill the 892-acre parcel. 

That process gets underway tonight at 7 p.m., when the HLRA's consultants, RKG Associates, present three potential redevelopment plans. The sketches, which could amount to an early blueprint of the base's future, will likely include the the board approved for various requests including to build a school and more.

Other possible redevelopment inclusions could be a mixed-use , a preferred option among community members in attendance at HLRA meetings this summer; and senior or assisted living housing.

HLRA Executive Director Mike McGee has said that the board will share input to allow the redevelopment ideas to “evolve” and that the “final, preferred alternative” will be approved in November and forwarded to the federal government by the December deadline. 

“The board will have time to review and provide the consultants with input,” McGee told Patch. “It’ll evolve. It’s not ‘here are the three, choose one.’ ”

Willow Grove air base redevelopment timeline

• Aug. 17 HLRA meeting, 7 p.m., , 1025 Horsham Road: The HLRA’s consultants will present three redevelopment alternatives for review. 
• Sept. 21 HLRA meeting, 3 p.m., , 1025 Horsham Road: The HLRA will conduct regular business.
• Oct. 19 HLRA meeting, 7 p.m., Horsham Township community center, 1025 Horsham Road: RKG Associates will present the preferred reuse plan in a joint meeting with the  and the .
• Nov. 16 HLRA meeting, 7 p.m., Horsham Township community center, 1025 Horsham Road: RKG Associates will make its final presentation of the preferred base redevelopment plan.
• Sometime in mid-2012, the HLRA expects to have final approval from the federal government on the air base reuse plan.
• From there, an environmental impact statement will be carried out over the next year and a half to two years, McGee said.