Kutztown >> The motion for Overlay Districts failed to pass Tuesday night, shelving the Silk Mill District land development proposal.
A motion made by Kutztown Borough Council member Peggy Devlin to recommend for the Planning Commission to move forward with developing an overlay district in the industrial zone, most commonly known as the Silk Mill District with restrictions on student housing, was not seconded on Tuesday night, effectively ending the Silk Mill District land development proposal for now.
The motion came after a lengthy discussion that consumed the majority of the Council meeting in which Council members, representatives from the Planning Commission and Kutztown citizens alike all gave their opinions on the subject.
The discussion started with an original motion that was approved for the sake of discussion, and then later withdrawn. Devlin made a motion to approve the item as it appeared on the Council’s agenda, which was less specific than her revised version. It stated that Council take action on the recommendation for the Planning Commission to move forward with developing overlay districts within the Borough of Kutztown. Nowhere did it make mention of where these overlay districts would be placed.
According to Planning Commission member Andy Arnold, this was a purposeful move to solicit guidance and direction from the Council before the Planning Commission took further action.
“It was intended to be plural… the sense of the Planning Commission was that it [overlay districts] was not limited to this single property [the Silk Mill District],” Arnold said.
Unlike Devlin’s revised version, however, which was targeted specifically at the industrial zone in downtown, the first motion failed to address the Silk Mill District, which has been the catalyst for the entire overlay debate ever since College Town Communities approached the borough with plans to revitalize the area, which Mayor Sandy Green, Devlin and others referred to as an under utilized part of town.
“Kutztown is a stagnant community,” Devlin said. “I think the borough needs to start thinking in a more flexible manner.”
The purpose of an overlay district is to provide such flexibility, as it allows more than a single, set zone. Using the example of the Silk Mill District, which is an industrial zone, creating an overlay would have opened up the area to proposals for various uses, including commercial and residential.
The land development proposal from College Town Communities, which was first presented to Council on April 15 along with Muhlenberg Greene Architects and Bogia Engineering, was to build residential apartment complexes and create a new town center in the Silk Mill District by Willow and West Main Street. Since the area is designated as industrial, an overlay district was requested to permit the company’s plan for residential development.
Although the first motion was not specifically for the Silk Mill District, when asked by Council, Arnold said that the motion was created with the Silk Mill District as the “primary objective right now.”
The plan has been debated at both Planning Commission and Council meetings in the past, with no definitive solution. Concerns such as student housing and gutting the section’s industrial capabilities were once again raised, which ultimately led to the sentiments behind not seconding Devlin’s motion.
By letting the motion die, this puts a huge roadblock in the way of the land development proposal from College Town Communities for the Silk Mill District, which requested an overlay to permit residential building.
Despite denying the motion for an overlay in the Silk Mill District, the Council did provide the Planning Commission with a new direction for improving the borough.
Council member Rachael Martin contended that Council was responsible for looking into other areas of redevelopment even if they did not support the overlay district in the Silk Mill District, and made a motion to approve Planning Commission to identify other specific areas in the borough that need development to improve their current standing.
Council member Derek Mace seconded the motion, which was then unanimously approved.
“We need to be proactive with what we want to see [done],” Martin said. “I think Kutztown is worth investing in.”
The motion provided Arnold and the rest of the Planning Commission with a sense of direction, and did not rule out the possibility of overlay districts in other sections of Kutztown.
The next board meeting will take place on Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Kutztown Borough Train Station.