Lantern Hill Wins Commonwealth Design Award

By Phil Ehlinger, Assistant Borough Manager

For supporters and residents of the often controversial Lantern Hill Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND), the announcement that the new mixed use neighborhood on North Broad Street had won a Commonwealth Design Award for smart growth from "10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania" was welcome news. For over two long years Borough Council and its staff, with input from residents, worked long and hard to promote this novel concept for redevelopment of the former Cartex industrial site.

Now that the residential section is finished and the Commercial buildings are under construction, it appears that the project was well worth the effort. The development is an unqualified success that is being honored by both environmentalists and builders associations. In addition to the "Smart Growth" Award from the land conservation group "10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania", Lantern Hill also has received an Environmental Action Award from the Bucks County Audubon Society. It was also named the Bucks/Montgomery County Builder's Association "Community of the Year". The fact that the project is being celebrated by opposite ends of the development spectrum speaks volumes about the merits of this project. But its success was not assured.

The project met some resistance from neighbors who suggested a conventional subdivision over the new concept of TND. The Borough's 1997 Comprehensive Plan identified the then unfamiliar concept of Traditional Neighborhood Developments (TND) as an alternative to typical suburban sprawl. The Lantern Hill TND was the first in Bucks County and only the second TND in the entire commonwealth. Pennsylvania has recently amended the Municipalities Planning Code to further encourage TNDs across Pennsylvania.

The Borough's second TND is currently under construction on the former Mrs. Pauls fish factory site on North Main Street. This new neighborhood will be known as "Doyle Square" and includes 34 townhouses with traditional exteriors and large public green spaces. This project also includes 8 "live-work" units that encourage home based businesses and help reduce traffic from commuters.

Traditional Neighborhood Developments use many design elements that were once common in American community planning. Elements such as front porches to foster neighborliness and rear alleys and garages to hide automobiles help create strong pedestrian scale and community character. Mixed uses and form-based architecture reinforce traditional town character. In fact, many key design techniques required in the Lantern Hill TND were common in pre-World War II American towns, including Doylestown. It was the rise of the automobile, after World War II, as the dominant force in town planning that created suburban sprawl and the decline of small pedestrian oriented communities.

When developing the Lantern Hill zoning regulations, the Borough Planning Staff looked back at the 1937 Zoning Ordinance to get cues on lot sizes and other dimensional standards. It was these 1937 setbacks and other regulations that provided the "DNA" of the Borough's new TND zoning districts, and assured their compatibility with the older parts of town.

Implementing a TND requires strong leadership from town officials who often face both local opposition to the density and resistance from the builders to high architectural standards. Doylestown Borough is proud that we are home to an award winning smart growth project and are heartened that this new neighborhood is now part of our great town