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Efficient Growth for Growing Suburbs

Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County: Mixed-Use Zoning Ordinance and Design Handbook for the Valley Forge Corporate Center


Project Location Map
[0.2 MB .pdf]

Overview

Lower Providence Township was awarded a $36,340 EGGS grant to prepare and adopt a mixed-use zoning ordinance, design guidebook, and traffic management plan that will facilitate redevelopment in the Valley Forge Corporate Center, bounded by Trooper Road, Audubon Road, Rittenhouse Road and Egypt Road, in Lower Providence Township. The goal is to encourage a conversion of land use from light industrial to a mix of office, commercial, and residential uses in a revitalized setting with a unique sense of place based on new gateway treatments, internal trails and pedestrian pathways, and attractive landscaping and lighting amenities.

Objectives

Lower Providence Township intends to establish zoning and design standards that result in the revitalization of the project area, creating a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use town center. The project area was identified in the Valley Forge Corporate Center Redevelopment Master Plan as an underperforming growth area that is transitioning from light industrial to commercial. Vacancy rates of up to 40% indicate that this corporate center may become a victim of “leap sprawl” as new commercial and office development bypass older existing facilities, resulting in new land where developers can build to suit. Key project outcomes include:

  • Zoning ordinances creating a Town Center Mixed-Use District;
  • a design standard handbook intended to create a unified sense of place, provide for safe and improved pedestrian traffic circulation, and guide gateway treatment, signage and lighting amenities; and
  • an internal circulation improvement plan for vehicles and pedestrians.

Status

The Valley Forge Corporate Center Implementation Committee utilized CMX Engineering Inc. to follow up on the recently completed Revitalization Master Plan produced by Simone Collins. The EGGS grant work produced new mixed-use zoning language, zoning map changes, the design guideline handbook, and transportation improvement recommendations.

These zoning ordinances and design guidelines were adopted by the Lower Providence Board of Supervisors at their December 3, 2009 meeting. The VFCC mixed-use zoning district ordinances and design guidelines handbook can be viewed through the links below.

Township Contact:
William Roth, Special Projects and Technology
610-539-8020
wroth@lowerprovidence.org
DVRPC Project Manager:
Patty Elkis
215-238-2838
pelkis@dvrpc.org

Grant Products