Wrapping Up — 2023 Development Activity
Posted February 29, 2024
In 2023, the Chester County Planning Commission saw a rebound in proposed residential development activity, when compared to 2022. This statistic, along with many others about Act 247 reviews in 2023 on subdivisions, land developments, conditional uses, ordinances, and comprehensive plans, was presented by Paul Farkas, one of CCPC's Senior Review Planners, at CCPC's February board meeting.
Following a dip in proposed residential units in 2022 due to the pandemic, Paul noted that the county reviewed many more in 2023, just over 4,008 residential units. Of these proposed units, apartments were the leading residential use with 1,865 proposed, followed by single-family homes, and then townhouses.
When it comes to non-residential structural square footage proposed, there was a slight upturn in 2023 with just over 2.7 million compared to 2.3 million in 2022. While the largest non-residential land development was a one million square foot data center in East Whiteland Township, the County saw the highest institutional use since 2016 with 11 developments proposed. This was followed by industrial, commercial office space, and agricultural.
In terms of how development was designated within the county's growth areas, Chester County had a very high figure for residential development (97%); while non-residential remained consistent with previous years (88%).
Throughout Chester County, Phoenixville Borough lead the way with the most proposed residential units from 2021-2023, followed by East Whiteland Township and West Chester Borough.
There were a number of new Elementary Schools proposed in 2023 — one in East Pikeland Township, one in Kennett Township, and one in New Garden Township. Additionally, there were several major projects approved and endorsed for recording in 2023 that were reviewed in prior years. These include the Sadsbury Commons Development in Sadsbury Township; 113 mobile home units in Honey Brook Township; the Langston Subdivision in East Nottingham Township; a turnpike industrial park in Uwchlan Township; and a three-story self-storage facility in West Goshen Township.
Finally, there were a total of 105 ordinance reviews in 2023, including 80 zoning ordinance amendments or map amendments/updates, 15 SLDO amendments/updates, 1 official map, 7 miscellaneous ordinance amendments/updates, and 2 comprehensive plans. Of these ordinances, topics frequently focused on signage standards, accessory dwelling units, historic preservation, and keeping of animal standards.
Find more information about CCPC's Act 247 Review process or current figures.