New Medical Tenant Coming to Norriton Square

Tornetta is on a roll, Quest Diagnostics will join Crab Du Jour in East Norriton as they complete the build-out of the small strip on Norriton Square which also contains Blue Fin, American Dental.

The buildout is well underway and the location should be open soon. This will replace the current location in Norristown.

Rapidly Growing Restaurant Chain Opening Two New Locations In Our Area

Quest Logo from: questdiagnostics.com

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Montgomery County Preserves 10,000 Acres of Farmland

NORRISTOWN, PA – During their regularly scheduled meeting, the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners today (01/21/2021) announced the County has reached a historic milestone by preserving 10,000 acres of farmland. Over 30 years, the Montgomery County Agricultural Land Preservation Program has worked to preserve open space and support productive farms in the County, which also provides important open spaces and scenic vistas.

During the meeting, a celebratory video was released featuring farmers who have preserved their land through the program. The Commissioners also voted to authorize $90,575 to support the farmland preservation program in 2021. This County funding leverages additional state dollars to bring total program funding to over $2 million dollars annually.

“We are proud to recognize Montgomery County’s farming heritage, which dates back more than 200 years,” said Dr. Valerie A. Arkoosh, Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. “The farmland preservation program shows not only the importance of open space, but also the vital ways that farms contribute to the County’s economic and sustainability efforts.”

To date, there are 177 farms, representing a combined total of 10,196 acres, preserved in Montgomery County under the Montgomery County Agricultural Land Preservation Program. In Pennsylvania, there are 5,813 preserved farms in 59 participating counties, representing an overall total of 591,819 acres preserved statewide.

“The importance of local food provided by Montco farms cannot be understated,” said Kenneth E. Lawrence, Jr., Vice Chair of the Montgomery County Commissioners. “The growth of the farm-to-table movement has decreased both food miles traveled and carbon footprints to make it a win-win for everyone. Local farms are also critical partners in our anti-hunger efforts to support people in need by providing healthy, local food to our residents.”

Funding for the program comes from both the County and state, and, in some cases, the municipality. The remainder of the funding comes from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through cigarette taxes, the Environmental Stewardship Fund, and other sources. A township or borough may contribute money to preserve a farm within its own boundaries.

Montgomery County thanks partners who have supported the farmland preservation program over the years including the Montgomery County Conservation District, the Montgomery County Farm Bureau, and the Penn State Extension Montgomery County.

To see a map of all preserved farms in Montgomery County, click here. Historic and current-day photos of preserved farms are available upon request.

About The Montgomery County Agricultural Land Preservation Program

The farmland preservation program purchases agricultural easements on productive farms in Montgomery County. When the easement is sold, the owner keeps the land but the land must remain in farming in perpetuity. The farmer may sell the land, but the new owner must continue to grow productive crops or pasture on it. Applying to the program is voluntary. The application period for the current cycle of the program is open through February 1, 2021. For information on the program, contact Stephen Zbyszinski at (610) 278-5960.

Opinion: PREIT's Plan to Allow Residential Living at the Mall is Not Bad, The Plan Just Sucks

OK hear me out, I am totally against an 11-story apartment building at the mall, but what I am not against is people living at the mall. While it may not be something I would ever do, I could totally see people wanting to live in a lifestyle center, the problem is - The Plymouth Meeting Mall is far from a lifestyle center.

The current PREIT plan reeks of a desperate attempt at getting rich quick. Instead of the quick and easy way out, PREIT should actually consider not just what they want (quick money to save a dying business) but what the community needs. Doing so could provide a path forward for PREIT well into the next generation. Their current plan offers the community nothing, except an additional strain on resources in the form of increased school district usage, increased traffic on the roads, and negative impacts on other local resources like our sewage system for example.

The Plymouth Meeting Mall could give Plymouth Township something it does not have, a Main Street, also known as a lifestyle center. What if the 68-acre property was completely transformed? What if PREIT proposed a plan to finish what they started in 2007 with the addition of outpost restaurants and buildings? What if the ring road within the mall became a Main Street for Plymouth Meeting with small retail, office space, shops, residential dwellings, medical facilities, public walking and biking trails, a dog park, and community gathering spaces nicely placed in a planned community? The aim should be to give people other reasons besides shopping to attend the property. The addition of these other non-retail amenities would also give the future residents other people to interact with. Take those kiosks that are in the middle of the mall and place them around a thriving outdoor community to help increase business.

PREIT could literally turn the mall inside out! Take the unoccupied space, shift some tenants around create small hip apartments with the unused space within the mall. Further, they could give all indoor tenants outside access all the way around the building. Every store would be accessible from the outside. They could then add additional stories to the existing mall building and achieve what they are looking for - residential space.

What if they created a semi-outdoor food court with local small breweries and restaurants surrounding it? What if they placed a parking garage behind WholeFoods and the Church on the Mall?

In a recent Township meeting, representatives from PREIT complained they are trying to offset outdated infrastructure and facilities inside the mall with skyrocketing costs all while dealing with the outdated mall concept. Here is an idea - tear sections of it down. Cut a road right through the mall. Divide it up into sections, heck - turn parts of it into a parking garage. People would flock to such a destination, it has already been proven by successful centers as we see in King of Prussia or the Premium Outlets in Limerick.

The proposal is currently being debated over several months in the Plymouth Township Zoning Board meetings. The next meeting is on January 18, 2021.

Be sure to read the entire series on this proposed project.

Part1

Part 2

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