Borough to Vote on New Height Ordinance

The West Chester Borough Council will vote on a new height ordinance Wednesday that would change borough code creating zones that would allow buildings of 60 and 75 feet.

The current borough codes allows buildings of 75 and 90 feet.

Borough council originally proposed the height ordinance change after the sale of the county buildings to Eli Kahn in downtown West Chester in 2011.

Talks of changing the ordinance began in Sept. 2011.  At that time they were pushed back until Jan. 2012 to allow the newly elected borough council to make any decisions on height.

In Jan. 2012, council agreed to push the ordinance back until at least June to allow Eli Kahn to submit a plan for the buildings in the downtown he had purchased and slated for redevelopment.

At the time, Kahn did not believe it was fair for the borough to change the rules when he spent nearly $3 million to purchase buildings under a different set of rules.

During his negotiations to purchase the county buildings, Kahn said that he could potentially build a nine-story apartment building on that land.

Once the sale went through, council began discussions about limiting building heights in the downtown area.

The new ordinance would limit building heights in the downtown to 60 feet by right and 75 feet by special exception.