Narberth is rewriting its zoning code
Council has a draft. Here is what it changes.
Borough Council is rewriting the rules for two districts: 4a, the blocks around the SEPTA station, and 5b, the Montgomery Avenue commercial strip. The current draft changes what can be built there, how tall it can go, and how much parking it has to provide.
Council is working from Draft Revision No. 9, which supersedes the Planning Commission’s February recommendations. Council dropped the height bonus for apartments and condominiums, declined the general parking reduction, and tightened the buffering standard for fifth stories in 5b. Two questions in the draft are still open: whether apartments and condominiums are permitted by right in 4a, and how the historic-lots provision works in 5b.
A later Council can amend the code, but it cannot un-build what the code allowed. The time to shape this is before adoption.
Start here
- What the draft actually changes — current code, the Planning Commission’s February recommendation, and Council’s June 18 draft, side by side.
- How the density compares — Narberth against neighboring boroughs, on the same measure.
- What happens to the rentals — the historic districts overlay covers most of the older stock, which leaves some buildings genuinely exposed.