Council approves rezoning on Harrisburg Road to let charter school convert an industrial site

Lancaster County Council approved first reading and the corresponding comprehensive-plan amendment to rezone roughly 32.89 acres at 11632 Harrisburg Road from light industrial to institutional to enable a proposed charter school.

Skip Powell, a property owner requesting the rezoning, said the building — formerly used for light industrial purposes — is now surrounded by residential neighborhoods and is better suited to an institutional use such as a tuition-free charter school. "Today, it's completely surrounded by residential neighborhoods," Powell said, arguing the site’s best use has changed as the area has developed.

Natalia Pansuic, founder of Bridgepoint Charter School, said the school's traffic would occur in two short windows on school days and that site plans include internal circulation to absorb traffic. "For a corridor that has become almost entirely residential, the school is a better fit," Pansuic said.

Council discussion touched on truck-traffic concerns under industrial zoning and the incompatibility of industrial operations near homes; however, several council members favored the change as a downzoning or compatible transition. The planning staff and the planning commission had both recommended denial of the rezoning and the comp-plan amendment, citing the adopted future land-use map, but council members approved the request by roll call (six approves, one member did not answer). The item will proceed to further readings.