Horsham Dissolves Initial HLRA Board

Good-bye HLRA … Hello HLRA. 

The Horsham Township Council this week voted to formalize the termination of the planning arm of the Willow Grove air base redevelopment. That board, the 7-year-old . 

Though the board’s names and members are similar, the new HLRA is tasked with picking up where the original HLRA left off. In essence, the new body, which the council formed this summer, will act as the implementation arm for the massive, 862-acre reuse plan.

During the - including $340,000 in debt - to the new board, which will oversee development of the reuse plan that the original HLRA adopted in March. 

The first board’s dissolution stemmed from the Office of Economic Adjustment’s recent designation of the Horsham Land Redevelopment Authority as the implementation authority.

Horsham Township attorney Mary Eberle said the council had to approve a certificate of termination, which will be forwarded to the secretary of the Commonwealth, which she said is the final step in dissolving the original HLRA. 

Many more steps remain for the former military base’s redevelopment, which is expected to take about 25 years to build out. The Navy is carrying out an environmental impact statement, which is expected to take another year to complete. Land transfers could begin in 2015, officials have said.