New Hanover development returns for review after losing suit over racist zoning

The developer of the New Hanover Town Center is back before municipal planners after losing a lawsuit over allegations of racist and classist residential zoning. 

First proposed 20 years ago, the latest designs for a colossal mixed-use development along Swamp Pike would span 203 acres and include 754 housing units, a majority of which would be “village houses” and townhouses, according to the agenda packet from the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee. There would also be 103 apartments, as well as twins, “atrium houses,” and 169,000 square feet of commercial and office space. 

The PMRPC, composed of municipal representatives from eight townships in Chester and Montgomery counties that encircle Pottstown Borough, took no formal action on the application at its July 23 meeting. 

Earlier this year, U.S. District Court Judge Joel Slomsky dismissed a $150 million lawsuit filed by RP Wynstone and several land owners in New Hanover. The suit alleged, as reported by WHYY, that township officials reviewed development applications in bad faith and passed restrictive ordinances designed to make construction of the town center unfeasible. 

“These extreme measures are motivated by unconscionable and unconstitutional income discrimination and racial bias, designed to stop the construction of new affordable housing that in turn increases housing density and attracts new residents to the Township, and to prevent any increase in the population of racial minorities in New Hanover Township, which is currently 95% white,” the complaint read.

Town Center, proposed where the old New Hanover Airport was located, is bounded by Swamp Pike in the north, Route 663 in the east and Township Line Road to the west. It was first proposed in 2005, under zoning created just for the project and received preliminary approval in 2007, according to the Mercury. 

The next regional planning meeting is scheduled for Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. (virtual and in-person).