Back in September of 2020, MoreThanTheCurve.com reported on a proposal to construct a townhouse community at 261-263 East Elm Street in Conshohocken. That property is at the corner of East Elm Street and Poplar Street and is currently home to a few commercial tenants, most notably Prime Intensity Training.

The proposed community from Craft Custom Homes would consist of 21, two-bedroom, units. The property includes what was once a train station (you can see elements of this inside Prime Intensity Training). The developer plans to incorporate these features into the plan for the community.

The proposal is now on the agenda for a conditional use hearing during the May 5th meeting of Conshohocken’s Borough Council. The virtual meeting will be held at 7:00 pm. (details on how to join the meeting).

If you are not familiar with the term “conditional use” its means that while a use (such as townhouses) is not an automatically allowed use within a zoning district, it is allowed with the approval of a municipality’s elected board. For example, this property falls within the limited industrial zoning district and an office for scientific research is allowed and doesn’t need approval as a use.

The conditional use approval process comes into play due to a recently repealed residential use overlay for the limited industrial zoning district. At one point in its history, Conshohocken was encouraging the redevelopment of industrial properties into residential uses. While this overlay has been repealed, the developer, in this case, filed the paperwork prior to the repeal.