What the five variances for the Assembly Academy project would allow

The zoning application for the Assembly Academy site at 2025 West Church Road requests five variances the applicant says are needed to accommodate a gym, a two-story parking structure and driveway improvements.

Matthew McHugh, land-use counsel for the applicant, summarized the requests: a front-yard setback reduced to 41.5 feet where 50 feet is required (ultimately tied to a retaining wall), building coverage of 22.4% where 15% is permitted (an increase of roughly 32,000 square feet of coverage claimed in the presentation), an impervious surface ratio rising to 44.3% from the property's current 40.6%, an internal driveway width increased to 24 feet from 18 feet to mitigate bus queuing, and relief from a surface-parking cap tied to a 1999 Zoning Hearing Board decision that had set a parking requirement around 124 spaces while the applicant proposes 178 spaces with the garage.

On impervious surfaces and stormwater, the applicant said stormwater-management upgrades (including an MPDS permit) will be designed during land development and argued those measures will reduce flow to the street compared with current conditions. "As part of the land development process here, there will be stormwater management, upgrades compliant with township stormwater ordinances and MPDS permit required, we think which will be an overall improvement to the existing stormwater in the area," McHugh said.

Commissioners pressed whether alternatives had been fully explored — for example, whether existing paved areas or the front loop could be reconfigured to reduce the need for extra impervious coverage — and requested technical studies demonstrating that the proposed changes would actually reduce on-street parking and resolve bus-queueing issues.

The committee did not decide on the variances; it tabled the matter to allow the applicant to return with traffic-engineer findings, more complete stormwater designs and documented neighbor outreach.