Housing Vote is Promising; Reinforcements Needed

An affluent community in Montgomery County is one step closer to approving a development that would provide much needed affordable units to workers and their families.

On Wednesday night, the Upper Gwynedd Planning Commission endorsed two zoning amendments by an unanimous 7-0 vote that sends a 60-unit proposal by the Walters Group to the full Board of Commissioners. Last night, I was joined by Lansdale Councilman BJ Breish as we listened to one speaker after another who opposed the proposal. We did get a handful of supportive comments toward the end of public comment (including my own).

I endorse BJ Breish’s thoughts on next steps and the fight ahead. I encourage you to sign onto his letter of support for this project by emailing votehousing@gmail.com. More information on the project is below.

BJ:

“The PCs strong approval is great progress, but to receive the approval from the Board of Commissioners we would be best served to find support from within the township to drive the conversation. Each meeting to date advocates have been met by a louder, vocal group of opposition driven by fear and hate. These individuals claim to be representative of the township and now aim to discredit me personally based upon the fact that I reside in Lansdale, and the very false implication that my advocacy is disingenuous due to some projects completed in the borough during my tenure as Councilman. They also continue to cite reasons all of which have been debunked by facts. The top 5 "Facts over Fear" Can be found here.

The facts clearly overrule their false narrative, now we just need to show the Board of Commissioners that this group is NOT representative of the township and great people that call Upper Gwynedd home.”

So, it is our understanding that the next meeting on this topic will be in August. If you live in Upper Gwynedd and can help out, reach out to us at montco30percent@gmail.com. A recap of the June UG meeting is here.

Let’s set an example for the rest of Montgomery County. Everyone deserves an affordable place to call home!