Quoting Julia: "When I first heard about a potential traditional neighborhood development in the center of Newtown Borough, which later became known as Steeple View, I was excited by the possibilities it offered to reinvigorate the business district and address the ongoing lack of parking in town. However, the current plan no longer provides many of the benefits originally touted, and will make the borough’s parking problem worse.
"In a 5–1 vote on Sept. 20, Newtown Borough Council granted conditional use approval for a controversial shared parking plan, permitting up to 40% of the required parking for the Steeple View development to be accommodated remotely at the Stocking Works, 1/4 mile south on State Street. By its own calculations, the developer intends to provide only a few parking spaces onsite at Steeple View beyond those required for the residential units planned.
"A major principle of conditional use approval is that a proposal be in the best interests of the borough, and be a benefit to the community and to the public welfare. Eliminating a popular, heavily used, convenient public parking facility is none of these things. State Street businesses will experience that loss quickly, according to the most recent plans.
"For almost 14 years, I had been one of this project’s strongest supporters. But within the past year and a half, I, along with many Newtown residents, have come to realize that, in its current form, and especially with the approved parking plan, Steeple View no longer offers the benefits to the public and business community promoted by the developer."
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Julia was just elected to Newtown Borough Council.
The Newtown Borough Council has announced a new timeline for the approval of the Steeple View redevelopment project.
With an extension of time for the project set to expire by the end of December, revised preliminary as final land development plans are scheduled to go before the planning commission at its Dec. 4 meeting.
Following that review, the plan is tentatively scheduled to go before the borough council at its Dec. 6 work session. A final vote could happen as early as the Tuesday, Dec. 12 council meeting. The council's other option is to grant an extension of time for project approval.
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