Horsham Envisions a Town Center

Picture Peddler’s Village style amenities plus a variety of housing, jobs and recreation options.

In less than a month, Horsham will have a clearer image of what the bulk of could look like. If Wednesday’s joint meeting between the Horsham Land Reuse Authority, its subcommittees, as well as the Horsham Township Council and the Horsham Planning Commission is any indication, that final sketch could include all of the above and more.

During a two-hour meeting, officials provided direction to the , to sketch what is expected to be the final reuse plan for 860 acres of the former military base.

It was clear Wednesday that a roughly 70-acre “signature” town center will be a central element – even if its location is not in the middle of the base. Horsham Township Councilman Gregory Nesbitt and a few others suggested that the town center be centrally located, but consultant Russell Archambault of RKG Associates said it would be more successful and businesses would be more likely to locate there if it was visible from the road.

“I think you take a big risk by putting it in the middle,” Archambault said. “I can’t guarantee that we’re going to come up with a perfect solution for you. You can only see so far.”

State Rep. Todd Stephens, (R-151) a member of the HLRA’s subcommittee, said signage could be incorporated to direct people to the town center.

The town center’s eventual locale, like the being woven together – including 1,400 to 2,000 residential housing units, a school, parks and open space, a potential sports complex, a hotel/conference center, a congregate care retirement community, an office/industrial park, all tied together with a – would be finalized in the plan that Archambault and his team will pull together and present at the Nov. 16 HLRA meeting.

The focal point for all of it, second only perhaps to the town center itself, is walkability. Archambault defined walk-able as various developments being situated three to four blocks from one another, which he said, amounts to about a five-minute walk.

The yet-to-be-sketched “alternative D” will “borrow elements from all three” of the , Archambault said after the meeting.

“It’s not going to be perfect,” Archambault said of the forthcoming plan. “It’s either what they’ve asked for or the best we can do.”

The final reuse plan will outline where the will be located, how much space is allotted and the method of land conveyance. Archambault said it would be late 2012 before the land is transferred to the various entities, mainly nonprofit groups, which requested acreage for homeless housing; a school and athletic fields for Hatboro-Horsham School District; and parks and roads. The blueprint will also take into account three “hot spots” still undergoing environmental cleanup, officials said, noting that developments would not be situated at the base’s two former landfills until they are remediated.  

HLRA Chairman W. William Whiteside, who also serves on the township council, said the board might not make the Dec. 8 deadline for submitting a final plan to the federal government. While RKG’s plan is supposed to be final, Whiteside said the board may want to “fine tune” it.

“We’re not going to submit a plan we don’t want,” Whiteside said, adding that it would be no problem to get an extension. “It’s not the end of the world if we don’t make it.”

Aside from public officials present Wednesday, only about three dozen citizens turned out – a far cry from the 200-400 who filled the room when an airport was still part of the equation. Now, instead of worries over air traffic, residents have turned their attention to vehicular traffic.

Paul Gallagher, a Democrat running for Horsham Township Council, said he’s already concerned about how the existing traffic will be addressed.

“It’s not clear how putting more traffic on there is going to help us,” he said.

HLRA board member Steven Nelson – the lone airport proponent on the board – said that creating such a large development would generate a lot of vehicle trips and asked what’s being done to reduce them.

Archambault said he wouldn’t have a firm handle on traffic until a reuse plan is accepted. At that time his team would look at traffic impacts. Current plans call for Privet Road to connect to main gate No. 1; Precision Road to connect with Moreland Avenue; and Norristown Road to connect to Maple Avenue.

Consultants said at previous meetings that traffic would likely worsen unless improvements were made.