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Open Space

Open Space Plan

Green Fields/Green Towns Program

On July 10, 2003, the Montgomery County Commissioners authorized the placement of the following referendum question on the November general election:

“Shall debt in the amount of One Hundred and Fifty Million Dollars, to be incurred over a ten year period, for the purpose of financing open space preservation, parks, recreation areas, recreation trails, shade trees, farmland preservation, protection and preservation of historic resources, natural habitats, and natural resources such as water, and the expenses of the debt, be authorized to be incurred by Montgomery County as debt approved by the electors?”

During the general election on November 4th, 77.63% of the voters who responded to the referendum question voted yes. As a result, the county has a clear mandate to begin the Green Fields/Green Towns open space program through the issuance of bonds to fund open space and green infrastructure projects.

Municipal Grants

Grants were provided to 62 municipalities to update municipal open space plans and to implement the recommendations of the plans. An updated open space plan is a prerequisite for all municipal grant funds. During the first four years of the program starting April 1, 2004 and ending April 1, 2008, each municipality had an allocation of grant funding to be used for a variety of activities needed to implement their plan. During that time, municipalities applied for grants from their allocation in accordance with the guidelines established by the County and administered by the Montgomery County Open Space Board. Lower Salford Township chose to have their plan prepared by the Montgomery County Planning Commission under the terms of the existing planning assistance contract. In selecting this option, municipalities gave priority to preparation of the open space plan, and other work under the contract was deferred. The open space grant allocation for Lower Salford Township was $1,089,371.

Open Space Plan Committee

Assistant Township Manager, Mary L. West, presented the township's updated Open Space Plan to the Montgomery County Open Space Board on February 14, 2006 for their review and comments. The plan was also sent to the Souderton Area School District and surrounding municipalities for their comments. A public hearing was held by the Board of Supervisors at the Township Building on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. The Montgomery County Planning Commission gave a Power Point presentation of the updated plan at the meeting. A copy of the plan was available for review at the township office. Following the public hearing, a final draft of the plan was submitted for approval to the Montgomery County Open Space Board. The final adoption of the plan was then scheduled at a regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
At the November 1, 2006 Lower Salford Township Board of Supervisors Regular Meeting, the Lower Salford Township 2006 Open Space Plan was adopted in Resolution No. 2006-33. Please click below to view the plan. If you have trouble downloading the Plan (this document is 105 pages), there is a copy on file for review at the Township Building, 379 Main Street, Harleysville.

Agricultural Security Area

The Board of Supervisors in 1992 adopted Resolution No. 92-12 creating a joint Agricultural Security Area with the Townships of Skippack and Towamencin. The acreage in Lower Salford’s Agricultural Security Area has grown from 405 acres to approximately 949 acres in 2018. The benefits to landowners in an ASA are as follows.

  • Local governments are not to enact ordinances that would unreasonably restrict normal farming practices or structures.
  • Local governments shall not define as a public nuisance normal farming practices.
  • Eminent domain protection (added levels of review)
  • Hazardous waste and low-level radioactive waste sites are not to be located on land in an ASA.
  • Farmlands in ASA’s are eligible for agricultural easement programs.
  • State funded development projects that might affect ASA’s are to be reviewed.

To apply for ASA designation, contact Assistant to the Township Manager Holly Hosterman at 215-256-8087. For information on the Farmland Preservation Program, contact Anne Leavitt-Gruberger, Montgomery County Farmland Preservation Administrator at 610-278-3727 or visit the Montgomery County Farmland Preservation website.

Lower Salford Township’s Agricultural Security Area Advisory Committee (ASAAC)

Holly B. Hosterman, Secretary, Joseph S. Czajkowski, Barry Swartz, Brent Allebach, Mary L. West and Chris Canavan

For more information on the ASAAC, please contact Holly Hosterman at the Township Office: 215-256-8087.