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City of York zoning board approves conversion of 601 Madison Avenue into 41 apartments
Summary
The City of York Zoning Hearing Board unanimously approved variances and a special exception to convert the former Madison Avenue school at 601 Madison into 41 one‑bedroom apartments, though neighbors raised persistent parking concerns during public comment.
The City of York Zoning Hearing Board on a March 2026 meeting unanimously approved variances and a special exception to allow the conversion of 601 Madison Avenue into a 41‑unit apartment building.
Dylan Bauer, president and CEO of Royal Square Development and managing member of Madison West LLC, told the board his company plans to retain the gymnasium, add windows and renovate the interior to create 41 one‑bedroom units of roughly 500 square feet each. “We are looking for 41 apartment units,” Bauer said, adding the project mirrors a recent downtown building the company finished with a similar parking ratio.
Tom Englert of Site Design Concepts presented site and engineering details, saying the developer is reducing a previously proposed 43 units to 41 and reducing required parking from 53 to 50 while maintaining a 1.2 spaces‑per‑unit ratio. Englert described the 0.94‑acre site, a new entrance on Madison Avenue that the fire department approved for turning templates, and a parking study that counted on‑street availability during Thursday evenings, early Friday mornings and Sunday services. Englert entered a TRG trip‑generation letter and an RDA letter into the record supporting the project's permitting steps.
Neighbors acknowledged support for rehabilitation but emphasized parking worries. Jo Wagaman, a nearby resident, said she was “impressed” with the proposal but remains concerned about the availability of street parking and suggested cutting two units would help. Richard Rishel, who attends the adjacent church, said prior informal overflow parking arrangements have ended and questioned whether the new entrance would eliminate additional on‑street spaces.
Board members moved and voted to approve a dimensional variance to permit conversion to 41 units, a variance to set off‑street parking at 50 spaces, a variance to waive certain interior parking‑landscape requirements, and a special exception to allow multifamily use. Each motion was seconded and the board recorded unanimous ayes from the members identified in the hearing as Lester, Blake, Adam, Nick and Cena.
The board's approval clears the zoning approvals needed to proceed; applicant materials include submitted land development and traffic studies, and the developer said plan review is under way. The developer said final permitting and building approvals remain next steps.
