Key Points:

• Bucks County's first attainable housing incentive zoning ordinance creates a new model for higher-density residential development.
• Pennsylvania municipalities can adopt similar frameworks, creating new opportunities for homebuilders and housing developers.

Developers in Pennsylvania now have a proven template for turning challenging sites into viable residential developments — and it doesn't require a variance or a lengthy appeals process.

Middletown Township in Bucks County recently adopted an incentive-based zoning ordinance that permits townhouse development at meaningfully higher densities and on smaller parcels than the underlying district would otherwise allow, provided that at least 20% of units are permanently designated as attainable housing.

This new zoning ordinance can serve as a roadmap for an alternative approach to residential development in other municipalities in Bucks County and other suburban counties in Pennsylvania.

The Middletown approach creates new opportunities for sites that are otherwise not developable for residential housing under existing zoning for various reasons, such as lot size being too small, permitted housing density being too low or permitted building heights being too low.

Background

In February 2025, Middletown Township adopted Ordinance No. 25-01, amending the Township's P-Professional Zoning District to permit townhouse development by conditional use.

The ordinance is the first in Bucks County to use an incentive-based zoning structure to encourage the development of "attainable housing," which is defined in the ordinance as housing units sold or transferred to a township-approved nonprofit (such as Habitat for Humanity*) or a governmental organization at an affordable sales price targeting households earning less than 100% of the Bucks County Area Median Income.

The ordinance is already being used to develop a 34-unit townhouse development in the township.

Key Provisions

The ordinance establishes baseline standards for townhouse development in the P-Professional District, including requirements for:

• minimum tract size
• density
• building height
• impervious coverage
• parking requirements
• architectural consistency

For projects that designate at least 20% of units as attainable housing, the ordinance provides a separate, more favorable set of development standards. These include a reduced minimum lot size, increased density, greater permitted building height and impervious coverage, and allowing stacked townhouses and twins in addition to standard townhouses.

The practical effect is that an attainable housing project can be developed on a smaller parcel and at a higher density than would otherwise be permitted in the district.

Developer Takeaways

The structure of this ordinance is not unique to Middletown Township. Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, any municipality in Pennsylvania has the power to adopt similar incentive zoning provisions.

For developers, this creates a potential source of expanded development opportunities. If a property does not qualify for residential development under an existing zoning ordinance (for example, due to density limits, minimum lot sizes or use restrictions), developers should consider working directly with the municipality to develop an attainable housing incentive framework that would permit the proposed development on the land available.

Middletown Township's ordinance demonstrates that this kind of partnership is achievable. The municipality advances its housing policy goals, while a developer building under this ordinance is able to construct additional residential units that would not be permitted under the prior zoning.

Developers should evaluate existing portfolios and available unused land, and consider whether similar incentive structures could be proposed in other municipalities to enable projects on properties that would not have qualified under prior zoning ordinances.

For more information about working with municipalities in Pennsylvania to develop zoning ordinances with incentives for attainable housing, contact Robert Kravets at rkravets@foxrothschild.com or 215-918-3621.

*Robert serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County.

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