After extensive community and planning commission review, Doylestown Township Supervisors last week voted 3-2 for a preliminary and final land development plan for 23 townhouses on a 5-acre parcel at 33 Neill Drive, near Ferry Road and Route 313.
Supervisors Nancy Santacecilia and Judy Dixon cast the dissenting votes.
The plan includes a central courtyard with a pavilion and benches, but lacks a traditional playground or open active recreation space. The developer offered a fee in lieu of recreation land.
Both dissenting supervisors expressed concerns about the absence of open play areas for children, especially given the density and location near major roads.
Attorney Ed Murphy, representing developers County Builders, said the project had gone through four years of revisions, seven planning commission meetings, and multiple neighborhood discussions.
“I’m happy to report that no neighbors are here tonight because I think we’ve got everybody feeling comfortable about the end result,” Murphy told the board at the Sept. 16 meeting.
The plan calls for three-bedroom townhomes with two-car garages, two-car driveways, and basements on a five-acre parcel near Ferry Road and Route 313. Developers proposed a central courtyard with a pavilion, mailboxes, benches, and landscaping as a gathering space for residents.
The entrance to the development would be off Ferry Road, with a roadway behind homes along Tedwill Drive, ending at a cul-de-sac near the Swamp Road and Neill Drive intersection.
Dixon questioned the absence of dedicated play areas.
“If you have children, where are they supposed to go? Maybe not a playground, but at least some land for them to run around on, some space for them to ride a bike, to just play outside,” Dixon said. “They’re going to have to be driven someplace.”
Santacecilia echoed those concerns, noting earlier neighborhood input.
“When the neighbors did come, one of the things they talked about and expressed their concern was that kids were playing and families were together,” she said. “I am concerned because that wasn’t incorporated in any way.”
Developer Kevin Riley said the pavilion area was intended as a “passive” space and noted the project includes landscaping buffers and a potential dog-walk area, near the Total Skills Training Academy. He added that the developer would pay a fee in lieu of recreation space — $1,880 per lot — as allowed by township ordinance.
Chairwoman Jennifer Herring and Vice Chairwoman Barbara Lyons defended the compromise, pointing to the site’s constraints.
“Not every development has the opportunity to provide open space,” Lyons said. “At this point, they’ve done all they can do with this property to provide a central place for the residents to gather.”
