On the agenda for the March 2nd meeting of Conshohocken’s Borough Council is a presentation on a Main Street Overlay District Ordinance from Judy Stern Goldstein of Gilmore & Associates. Gilmore & Associates provides engineering services to the borough.

We do not have any information on what this presentation will include, so we looked for similarly named ordinances in Pennsylvania.

The Borough of Freemansburg in Northampton County adopted a “Main Street” overlay district (actually two) in 2020. You can view this ordinance here (see page 5).

The Township of Limerick created a proper zoning district referred to as the Main Street District in 2012. You can read this ordinance here.

Both of these ordinances in other municipalities have a focus on mixed-use developments (retail below office or residential), walkability, and architecture.

If this is something similar to what those municipalities passed, it will be interesting to what blocks of Fayette Street (or even side streets) are included. The commercial zoning district runs from the bridge to 8th Avenue. Starting at 8th Avenue, the zoning district switches to the residential-office district, which was created to allow for lower impact commercial uses in the large homes that line the street.

More to come.