November New Hope Borough Council Meeting preview

Among the items being discussed at Tuesday night’s Borough Council meeting are a couple of tidbits worthy of attention:

The first is the “consideration of the report of the Borough Traffic Engineer on West Bridge Street pedestrian access,” which some observers are taking to mean that the Borough is preparing to reopen a second sidewalk on the northern side of West Bridge Street between Main Street and the Delaware Canal. That sidewalk had been unsuccessfully converted into a planter, producing apparent pedestrian confusion.

Of larger importance is discussion of a “draft amendment to the Zoning Ordinance establishing a Riverfront Cultural Overlay Zoning District.” The Riverfront District was proposed in August as a means to break the impasse between New Hope’s Zoning Hearing Board and representatives of the Bucks County Playhouse. At stake is the addition of amplified music to an expanded bar section at the rear of the Playhouse, near the banks of the Delaware River. Declaring the area adjacent to the Bucks County Playhouse a new “overlay” or “riverfront revitalization” district, would ostensibly require fewer zoning variances and bring more borough and county planning officials into the process and, in effect, bypass the Zoning Hearing Board.

According to the Borough, “In order to go into effect, a zoning amendment must be reviewed by the borough and county planning commissions, be advertised, be considered at a public hearing, and be adopted by Borough Council. Any part of the proposal may be revised before the adoption is complete.”

The Borough Council meeting is being held at 7:30 p.m.at 125 New Street.