Montgomery County to withdraw permit to raze Airy Street prison in Norristown

NORRISTOWN – Another chapter was written in the story of the Airy Street Prison on Thursday when Montgomery County officials announced intentions to withdraw an existing demolition permit.

Director of Planning Scott France addressed county commissioners during a Thursday morning board meeting giving a status report to the structure at 35 E. Airy St. The building has drawn controversy in recent months. Plans to raze the building were previously set in motion, but staunch public opposition led to elected officials calling for a pause to proceedings.

“I don’t want to rehash the discussion and efforts toward redeveloping the site during 2023 – other than to clearly state that the county has heard the concerns expressed during that time period, and it is engaging a process that will determine if there is a development-driven option to repurpose the site with the goal of preserving at least some of the historic architecture of the prison that still exists on this site,” France said.

Airy Street Prison saga

The primary focus of residents and historic preservationists is the building described as a “castle on the hill,” the circa 1851 portion designed by architect Napoleon LeBrun. Two other structures were added to the 1.1-acre parcel back in 1890 and 1910 to make up the roughly 40,000-square-foot structure.

The site ceased operations as a prison in 1987 and was later sold to the county. The county set a course toward razing the building after applying for a demolition permit back in August 2023.

Representatives from the county attended meetings of the Norristown Historical Architectural Review Board where the application was tabled twice over a two-month period before board members ultimately issued a formal recommendation denying the application on Oct. 25, 2023.

Former Norristown Historical Architectural Review Board Vice Chairman Doug Seiler previously said the county lacked some sufficient paperwork including an engineering report and enough evidence proving the need for demolition. He did include a caveat in his motion at the October 2023 meeting to “fight for LeBrun.”

Following the November 2023 postponement announcement, Norristown council members granted county officials a six-month continuance on the demolition permit, which is set to expire on May 21.

However, France stressed that following the lead of county commissioners in this endeavor is crucial as elected officials “unanimously directed us that that suspended permit application may be withdrawn from the Municipality of Norristown.” Notification is expected next week in the form of a letter to municipal officials.

“It does not indicate any ultimate final end point, but it does remove that from the table, which I know much of the public has asked for, and it makes sense I think from our standpoint,” France said.

“If a solution can’t be found over the extended time period in front of us to figure this out, and we have to go back to a demolition approach, that is … in the universe of possibilities, my sincere hope and many in this room that we will not go to that point, but if we do, then we’d have to reset the process and go back from the beginning with the HARB, and the Norristown council,” he continued. “But I do feel we’d be in a much better position in having exhausted hopefully a lot of effort and strategies to avoid that.”

‘This is clearly an important site’

As the county planning commission heads up these investigative efforts, France outlined several goals as representatives move forward. Behind-the-scenes work has involved delving through best practices, documents and other preservation presentations. Meetings with Norristown staff, historical preservation specialists and prospective developers have also taken place, but France did not specify which firms were involved.

He outlined several priorities, which included “combining (the) prison and adjacent parking lot,” both county-owned, which would expand into a 2.5-acre parcel “in the heart of Norristown.”

“This is clearly an important site that has tremendous value to the municipality and the community,” France said.

France also underscored the need for transparency, outreach and compromise when it comes to the search for balance between development and preservation.

“This is why we’re here. We’re trying to set the stage, create a process, use every mechanism that is available to see if we can find a solution and work together with a private-public partnership,” France said.

County officials are also working to develop a “full structural assessment report” in order to give prospective developers a better picture of the property. Those findings will aid the future requests for expressions of interest, which France said would allow for a public process where developers could submit proposals or ideas related to the project.

He then outlined a few conditions associated with the request for expression of interest, or RFEI, which required the inclusion of “approximately 40,000 square feet of county office space” and to “maintain (the) provision of parking.” Another caveat was discussed regarding “exploring the notion of a new firehouse for Norristown.” He referred to desired plans to consolidate the Norristown Fire Department into a single firehouse, but France added that “I think we do have options.”

“We’ve all wanted someone to step up. Now we’re going to give everyone the tools and the mechanisms to do so and see what that turns out,” France said.

Additionally, the property is currently zoned “town center,” France said, per the municipal zoning function, which offers less stringent guidelines when proposing solutions through the RFEI. Referencing the code, he said the maximum building height is 10 stories and there aren’t strict requirements for parking or setbacks. But France focused on the possibilities associated with potential for usage of vertical space.

“It’s not a small tract to begin with but when you consider vertical space available, that opens the door to finding a partnership that can facilitate both private development as well as public and county uses,” he said.

Looking ahead, it could take several months before findings are revealed as they need time to cultivate a report and evaluate it before moving forward with the RFEI. France estimated report findings could be ready in early September.

“What happens after that depends,” France said. “This isn’t as strict as an RFP process, where there would be a contract at the end, but the negotiation with an idea that is seen as the direction that the county wants to move forward with will then be initiated and resolved depending on what that is and what it entails.”

France added “the timeline might be longer than you thought, but I think the payoff and the intent to try and achieve this well worth it.”

Both Montgomery County Commissioners’ Vice Chairman Neil Makhija and Commissioner Tom DiBello praised France and the county planning commission for its efforts. Montgomery County Commissioners’ Chairwoman Jamila Winder was absent from Thursday’s meeting.

“It’s important to understand the level of depth that you need to engage with the municipality, and thank you to the municipality for engaging in all of that because it’s an important space, and there’s a lot of great things that can happen right across from our courthouse, and all the county buildings so it’s important we do this right. So thank you,” Makhija said.

DiBello agreed.

“I mean everyone knows where I stood on this,” DiBello said, a longtime critic of the previous administration’s plans to move forward with demolition. “It’s a priority, and I want to thank my fellow commissioners, as well as given this opportunity to seeing that there could be ways to preserve, listening to the community, preserve certain portions of the prison, as well as opening up that entire space to redevelopment efforts.”

Community members react

Area residents, advocates and the grassroots group, “Friends of the Prison,” have made their opinions clear online in social media posts, public comment periods of local government meetings and town halls. They returned to One Montgomery Plaza eager to hear what France had to say.

“That was a really promising report. Nice to hear all that,” said Friends of the Prison member Peggy Dellisanti.

Speakers expressed their appreciation for the permit withdrawal and offered suggestions of how to best use the space on Airy Street.

“And I think although you might say it is more symbolic than anything else, symbolism counts,” said Whitemarsh Township resident Sydelle Zove on the permit withdrawal. “It sends the message to the community, to the development community as well, that we’re serious about exploring the options here and we’re not going to ram demolition through.”

Zove also praised the potential for a public-private partnership, but stressed that state and federal monies would be needed to fund this endeavor.

“That’s indeed where it should be,” Zove said. “That should be the case, but I also want to remind you … that a project of this scope of this size of this complexity of its location is going to require a combination of public and private financing and there is ample public financing.”

Norristown resident Cassandra Morabito expressed her appreciation for the comprehensive report as she previously felt that the “concerns” of hers and others “fell on deaf ears.”

“From my perspective, I think that it’s important to maintain the original facade of the building and also to utilize the space. I think we desperately need parking in downtown Norristown,” she said, adding that “we need event space in the area.”

Fellow Norristown resident and former Norristown councilwoman Olivia Brady agreed, stressing the need to use the prison as a way to make the county seat a “destination” once again.

“This county seat needs a place for people to come here on purpose, to see something interesting and to learn something about our history, and what we’re all about,” Brady said.

“… We don’t have the restaurants and the activities for people to want to come here, and it’s unfortunate that they turn away with a bad reputation of our county seat,” she continued. “So I would love to see this add to creating a destination for our county seat and making our county seat the envy of all others.”