Springettsbury supervisors advance zoning change to clarify flexible development overlay

The Springettsbury Township Board of Supervisors opened a special hearing and then advanced an ordinance to clarify how the township’s flexible development overlay interacts with other zoning overlays, saying the change will remove legal uncertainty for proposed redevelopment at the Galleria Mall site.

Attorney Tom Nahila, representing Gallery Apartments LLC, told the board the applicant is proposing a 98-unit, three-story multifamily building on a 2.5-acre parcel within the mall. Nahila said the applicant used the flexible development overlay because the town center overlay does not list multifamily as an allowed conditional or permitted use. "The flexible development overlay is completely 100% in your sole discretion," Nahila said, adding that without the overlay the draft town center language under consideration — which he said would allow 20 units per acre — would limit his client to roughly 50 units on the site and render the project economically infeasible.

The amendment adds a paragraph to the overlay section stating that when the flexible development overlay is applied by the Board of Supervisors it will serve as a supplement to, and take precedence over, any applicable underlying district provisions; if a provision is later declared inapplicable by legislative, administrative or judicial action the underlying district provisions would remain in effect. Township staff and the applicant said the change remedies an omission in the overlay text that left ambiguity over which standards should control when multiple overlays apply to the same property.

Board members questioned how long an applied overlay remains in effect and whether future ordinance adoptions could change the outcome. Township staff said plans are governed by the ordinances in effect at the time a plan is submitted and described the measure as opening a limited "flexible development window" until any new town center ordinance is adopted. Staff emphasized that applying the overlay remains a discretionary, case-by-case decision by the supervisors.

The board voted to move the text amendment forward from the hearing for a vote at its regular meeting. During the regular meeting the board subsequently advanced Ordinance 2025-10 amending the zoning ordinance to clarify the interaction of the flexible development overlay with other districts.

The zoning change clears an administrative hurdle for the Gallery Apartments proposal but does not itself approve the land-development plan; the project must still satisfy the township’s land development process and any site-design criteria imposed by the supervisors.

Next steps: the ordinance amendment was moved forward by the board and will be processed according to township procedures; separate land-development approvals and any required site-level permits remain outstanding.