‘Don’t let them turn Upper Gwynedd into Philly’ say opponents of affordable apartment complex approved for Montgomery County town

Despite substantial public opposition, Upper Gwynedd has decided to allow residential development in a light industrial zone where a New Jersey firm proposes to build affordable housing.

The Aug. 22 vote by the township’s five-member board of commissioners was unanimous.

Otherwise there seems to be little agreement about the decision and its potential impact on the suburban Montgomery County township of 17,000.

Opponents of the proposed 60-unit, $25 million Cornerstone at Pennbrook Station have filed a legal notice with Upper Gwynedd, asserting that the vote to include the development site on Pennbrook Parkway in an expanded transit-oriented district violates the U.S. Constitution.

Anonymous lawn signs around town warned that the commissioners aim to “turn Upper Gwynedd into Philly.” Other signs paid for by the Upper Gwynedd Republican Committee accused the Democratic-controlled commission with making sweetheart affordable-housing deals that will be a “land mine” for local residents.

The messages attest to how divisive the notion of building an apartment complex with below-market-rate rents can be, even amid a national and regional shortage of not only affordable housing, but housing, period.

“It’s disheartening,” said Denise Hull, the commission’s president.

Some opponents “wanted us to make a moral judgment about ‘those people from Philly’ they said would be coming in [to live in the apartments], as if tenements from the 1800s were going to be built in Upper Gwynedd,” she said.

“Our role is not to make moral judgments. Our role is to listen to all of the residents and take all of the facts and opinions and come up with what’s best for Upper Gwynedd Township,” Hull said.

Opponents said they’re concerned about the future of the township, too. At public meetings, in local media stories, and during interviews, they described affordable housing as unneeded and unwanted in Upper Gwynedd.

“The commissioners failed to take the concerns of citizens seriously,” said Glenn Hatfield, who along with a group calling itself Friends of Upper Gwynedd Township filed a “Brief in Opposition” to the August vote with the township. The group has hired lawyer Christopher A. Papa, of New Castle, Pa., to represent them.

“We believe what the commissioners [approved] was spot zoning, which is illegal,” Hatfield said. “If they can spot zone there, they can spot zone anywhere. It’s setting a precedent that’s going to change the quality of life in Upper Gwynedd.”

Township officials declined to comment on the brief. The Upper Gwynedd Planning Commission had earlier recommended approving the transit-oriented district expansion, as did the Montgomery County Planning Commission. Both are advisory bodies.

Hatfield and other opponents also said the proposal by the developer — the Walters Group of Barnegat, N.J. — has been fast-tracked under partisan political pressure from Montgomery County, which township and county officials said is not the case.

The developer has not yet submitted a site plan application, which will trigger additional meetings and public hearings.

Nonetheless, Hatfield said, “this cake was baked before there were any public hearings.”

Joseph DelDuca, who owns Walters and serves as its general counsel, said the position taken by Hatfield and the Friends group “is totally untrue,” as is the “cake-baking” allegation.

Meanwhile, some advocates of the project claim the opposition has been spreading disinformation.

“When people are passionate about something happening in Upper Gwynedd, of course, we want them to come forward and talk to us. But not yell at us and lie to people,” Commissioner Liz McNaney said. “We’ve all tried so hard to get the truth out there so people can understand it.”

Walters has built about 2,000 affordable apartments throughout New Jersey and uses a federal tax credit program established by the Reagan administration in 1986 to help finance construction.

“We decided to expand our footprint into Pennsylvania two years ago,” DelDuca said. “It’s a long, slow process.”

Walters approached the township informally about 18 months ago, after the commissioners approved Upper Gwynedd’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan in August 2021, Hull said. The plan noted the potential economic development opportunities represented by areas within walking distance of SEPTA’s Lansdale Doylestown Line.

At eight square miles, Upper Gwynedd is mostly developed and has been seeking to add to its open space inventory. The township also is home to a divisional headquarters of the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc., the largest employer in Montgomery County.

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Asking rents for a one-bedroom apartment in and around the township range from $1,240 to $2,440. The median listing price of single-family houses, which comprise about 70% of the housing stock, is more than $700,000.

As proposed, monthly rents at the Cornerstone at Pennbrook Station would vary according to tenant incomes and unit sizes but would start as low as $343 and top off at $1,621. The development would have 27 one-bedroom, 20 two-bedroom, and 13 three-bedroom units.

Some residents who spoke at recent commission meetings contended that affordable apartments would burden the township with crime, overpopulation, and demand on the regional school system. Walters and supporters say there’s no factual basis for those assertions.

And others, like Upper Gwynedd resident Kim Young, are open to the new development. “Some people are passionate about not wanting to have those apartments built, but I think they can bring new people and new life to this town,” she said.

“Affordable doesn’t mean that someone is trying to get over on someone or make the county go down,” Young said. “Affordable allows folks to live in an up-and-coming area, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Affordable-housing advocate Mike Hays, co-director of the Montco 30 Percent Project, said: “We need more housing options throughout the county.” In his group’s name, 30 Percent refers to the number of Pennsylvanians who rent, as well as the number who are “cost burdened” by the amount of their rent, meaning they pay more than 30% of their income for housing.

“If the Cornerstone at Pennbrook Station is approved, it can serve as a model and a template for other municipalities in Montco and show [local officials] that if the political will is in place, there are people who will back you,” Hays said.

Carl Smith and Viraj Jacob, both businesspeople and residents of Upper Gwynedd, are among the most high-profile critics of the Walters proposal. Both have said critics are unfairly characterized as racist for questioning the development.

“They want to take six acres of land that’s zoned for light industry or business and make it high-density residential,” Smith said. “They’re taking away an opportunity for a piece of property to attract a productive business and create jobs.”

Jacob, who described himself as “a brown man who emigrated here from India,” said: “What we need is more jobs. How does taking land away from an industrial area help with that?

“How does building these units and bringing more people into Upper Gwynedd help people who already live here? We’re already got too much traffic.”

McNaney, who has been having one-on-one conversations with opponents, including Jacob, said she hopes to turn down the heat on the issue a bit.

“Let’s be respectful, and honest, and figure this thing out together,” she said.