Plumstead upzoning died four years ago; Republicans say don’t revive it

Plumstead Township, the northern tip of the Central Bucks School District, resembles bucolic Upper Bucks County more than it does its southern neighbors. Home to many farms and hilly woodlands including the southern half of Ralph Stover State Park, it has a population density lower than any other CBSD community. It comprises few pedestrian neighborhoods, certainly none as sprightly as those of Doylestown Borough just a stroll down Easton Road.  

Local officials don’t all want Plumstead to stay so quiet. In 2021, those who hoped it wouldn’t proposed a village overlay district (VOD) to upzone the stretch of Easton Road (state Route 611) crossing through Plumsteadville, a calm commercial quarter bordering Bedminster Township to the west. 

When the Plumstead Board of Supervisors brought up the potential overlay at a July 13, 2021 meeting, more than 75 residents showed up to discuss it, mostly negatively, until midnight. Some who couldn’t attend wrote letters opposing the zoning changes that would have added new apartments, shops, live-work units, and restaurants to 611 between Kellers Church Road and Old Easton Road. A divided, GOP-run board voted at that meeting to advance the VOD anyway, but it died that autumn when voters reelected Dan Hilferty and picked his fellow overlay opponent Greg Bankos to serve with him. 

Now, with three Republicans against the proposed district and two Democrats having expressed openness to it, the board could flip to a supportive majority this year. Democrat Ken Lichtenstein, a social worker and business consultant who favored the upzoning four years ago, is seeking reelection alongside Jen Moroney, an insurance sales strategist who has yet to go on the record about a VOD. (A comment request issued to Lichtenstein and Moroney’s campaign committee went unanswered.) 

The two may have a slight electoral advantage. While the township marginally backed Republican Donald Trump against Democrat Kamala Harris last November, Trump’s nationwide popularity has slid dramatically since then. Democrats who turned out to vote in May’s primary, outnumbered Republicans, giving Lichtenstein and Moroney each over 1,000 votes to their foes’ roughly 800.

The Republican candidates, Board Chairman Jim McComb and running mate Lurleen Worthington, have been clear: No VOD if we win.

“Until Plumstead residents speak strongly in favor of a VOD in the area of Route 611 and Stump Road, I cannot support further discussion regarding this proposal,” Worthington, a nurse and medical research associate, told The Independence. “In 2021, Plumstead residents made their voices heard at the polls against a VOD. As a supervisor I feel it is important to listen to the needs and concerns of the people.”

McComb, a retired electrical engineer, said his worries about the overlay — which would allow 8,000 square feet of buildings as high as three stories — include worse traffic, strained infrastructure, and urbanization of a semirural locale. Worthington echoed his misgivings, lamenting the upzoning that occurred four miles westward in Dublin Borough over the last decade. 

“In my opinion, it has lost some of its rural hometown appeal,” she said, observing an “urbanized feel” with more traffic in the half-square-mile town.

Dublin Mayor Chris Hayes, a Republican who oversaw the revitalization planning that began in 2015, agrees his borough transformed itself. That, he said, was the point. 

“Dublin was a bedroom community, a very quiet town, but we had a lot of run-down buildings, we had a lot of ineffective businesses, and property values were stagnant,” he recalled. “So, I would hear from residents and business owners alike, ‘You’ve got to help me. What can we do? How can we make the town better?’ And it was really through this revitalization effort that that happened.”

After borough officials made code and zoning adjustments, a townhouse development and adjacent Dublin Town Center now occupy the tracts between Elephant Road and Main Street (also called Dublin Pike or state Route 313). Just west of the new center, on the south side of Main Street, construction crews are erecting a planned four-story apartment building with retail and restaurant space on its first floor.

Four years after the town square went up, Hayes celebrates a doubling — in some cases tripling — of property values as well as more convenient shopping for residents. But most important to him, he said, is the vibrancy the rezoning spurred. 

“It’s made Dublin more of a destination,” he said. “Dublin was always a pass-through town; there was really no reason to be here other than maybe to go to the [driver license center] or the Dairy Queen or Luberto’s [pizzeria]. But now I meet people all the time that come from outside the borough to enjoy all the aesthetics and services that we provide to people.” 

While acknowledging that development tends to increase traffic, he noted the borough widened 313 and built new turning lanes which he called “a blessing” that has observably decreased bottlenecks. 

Steven Greenhut, western region director at the free-market R Street Institute, said public officials who want to liberalize land use should make these street expansions as needed to minimize congestion. He also dismissed the idea that upzoning burdens local infrastructure since a municipality can require developers to pay for any needs they create. 

If they do that, Greenhut said, they should have the right to build anything on their land within reason. Based in Sacramento County, California, he deplored the building restrictions that caused many metropolitan areas in his state to become cost-prohibitive for the middle and working classes. More permissive land-use rules, he said, make housing more affordable and give people a choice between walkable downtowns and tranquil suburbs.

“I think if we allow the market to work, we would get more of what everybody wants,” he said. “And if you want to live in a gated community on a big lot, God bless you; that’s fine; no one should stop you. But that shouldn’t be the mandate for everybody.”

Many progressive thinkers also desire relaxed zoning, though they place a greater emphasis on fostering transit-oriented, urbanized living. Strong Towns, a Minnesota-based nonprofit that supports high-density development, argues the policy doesn’t always cause more traffic because it lets people live closer to where they work or shop, reducing car travel for some. 

“Instead of saying ‘no’ to growth, we should be asking how to grow in a way that makes our systems stronger,” said Lauren Ronnander, the group’s communications director. “That means incremental, mixed-use, walkable development. That’s what upzoning can unlock.”

A new Plumstead Board of Supervisors may clash on other issues too, especially taxes. While the Republicans haven’t committed to holding property taxes at the current 14.94 mills and the Democrats have not proposed a hike, McComb and Worthington recalled their opponents’ party has a track record of raising taxes in the township. McComb furthermore noted Lichtenstein has proposed a $14 million land preservation fund at municipal meetings, something he said couldn’t get funded without much more revenue.

“Given that the Open Space account currently receives about $155,000 annually, reaching that proposed [$14 million] figure would likely necessitate a substantial tax increase,” he said.

Some subjects don’t rouse much hostility between the candidates. All say a board under their control would prioritize funding first responders and local amenities like parks, roads, and trails.

Bankos, McComb’s Republican board colleague, praised his chairman’s leadership on emergency services, funding for which has gone up without forcing a tax increase. He said Worthington, who is making her second run for supervisor, will also aid what he considers effective Republican governance in a demographically small town with a light staff. 

“Our philosophy is focusing on the needs, not the wants,” he said. 

Bradley Vasoli is the senior editor of The Independence.