Conditional Use Hearing for New Borough Hall Planned

The early sketch plans for a new borough hall in Phoenixville will come before council in March for a conditional use hearing.

The $8 million project may go before the planning commission as early as April, according to Borough Manager Jean Krack, and the preliminary/final plans would then go before council for approval in May.

With conditional use, a simple sketch plan has to be submitted, so there are no other more elaborate plans filed yet. The plan outlines the footprint, which shows that the building will be snug against the current district justice office at 347 Bridge St. The borough hall along with the law offices and magistrate offices currently at the location will appear to be connected from the front.

“It’ll look like one building,” Krack said.

A garage for the police cars is proposed for the rear of the building. The new borough hall, like the current one at 140 Church St., will house both the municipal police department as well as the administrative offices for the borough. The borough manager said while the property is near the French Creek, he doesn’t believe any of the footprint falls within the floodplain.

Council voted to purchase the lot at 347 Bridge St. at its Dec. 13 meeting for $975,000 with a non-refundable $50,000 deposit. Closing was expected by the end of this month.

Krack noted that a concept plan was making its way around the Internet, but he explained that those plans are dated and not the ones that the borough chose to move forward with. He contacted the firm that had posted the plans and had them removed.

In some other municipalities, plans involving the local government are moved forward without going through the formal land development process, but Krack said borough officials wanted to go about building the new borough hall under the same parameters as other developers.

“What’s the harm of running yourself through the same process?” Krack said.

The site sits within the Downtown Commercial zoning district and the ordinance states that professional office buildings are allowed, but municipal uses have to go through conditional use.

“I honestly believe what we’re doing is akin to a professional office building,” Krack said.

However, the ordinance is clear and Krack noted that the police use does deviate from a traditional professional office use.

At its February meeting, council members voted unanimously to hold the conditional use hearing next month. The planning commission’s recommendation was to approve the conditional use with a 4-1 vote, with planning commission member David Saneck casting the no vote.

As for those curious to get a glance at what the new building will look like, Krack said the borough is working on a development page on its website that will go over big projects on tap for the borough, including the borough hall project, streetscapes and some residential and commercial developments planned.

He said the plan is to show where the project is in the land development process, feature photos and plans for residents to check out and give brief overviews of developments planned for the borough.

“That’s one of the things that we want to try and accomplish,” Krack said.