EXTON, PA — Uwchlan Township supervisors have roughly 60 days to decide whether one of the township’s largest remaining undeveloped properties can become a 492-home community, a zoning decision tied to a potential $64 million land sale by the Downingtown Area School District and an alternative industrial plan of roughly 1.8 million square feet.
The Board of Supervisors closed the evidentiary record Sept. 8 after four public hearings on Rockwell Downingtown LLC’s proposed zoning amendment and tentative planned residential development plan for Lionville Station Farm near Exton.
The residential proposal calls for 462 age-restricted homes and 30 market-rate homes across approximately 254 acres. Rockwell has a contingent agreement to buy 237 acres from the school district for $64 million.
The district acquired the former Siemens property for $22 million in 2003 with plans for a secondary-school campus but never obtained the zoning required for that development.
Rockwell is seeking to create and map a PRD-1 zoning overlay that would modify the development framework under the property’s existing Planned Industrial Commercial zoning.
The residential plan would preserve approximately 127.5 acres as open space and add about two miles of trails along Pickering Creek.
Plans also contemplate a 74,000-square-foot natatorium, although that component remains uncertain because PHL Aquatics has not committed to the Lionville Station Farm location.
If supervisors reject the residential rezoning, Rockwell has a conditional-use application pending for approximately 1.8 million square feet of light-industrial and warehouse development under the existing zoning.
That industrial application was submitted in February 2025 and remains on an indefinite extension. It was not the subject of the recently concluded residential hearings.
Traffic has also been incorporated into Rockwell’s proposal. The developer has agreed to finance traffic improvements and has offered to pay for additional work if post-construction traffic conditions prove worse than projected.
The developer also submitted a fiscal analysis projecting that the residential plan would generate a combined annual surplus of about $4.12 million for Uwchlan Township and the Downingtown Area School District.
The projection depends in part on assumptions about home values, occupancy, and limited school enrollment associated with the age-restricted portion of the development.
With the record closed, supervisors cannot accept additional testimony, public comment or evidence while deliberating. The cutoff for submissions was 9 a.m. Sept. 8.
The board has up to 60 days from the close of the hearing to decide the tentative PRD plan under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code. The township has not scheduled a voting meeting.
The decision leaves supervisors weighing substantially different development paths for the property: nearly 500 homes under the requested zoning change or the possibility of a large industrial development under the existing zoning framework.
It also carries financial implications for the Downingtown Area School District because Rockwell’s $64 million purchase agreement is contingent on the proposed redevelopment moving forward.
The township said it will advertise the voting meeting through public notices, its website, and social media once a date is set. Project information is available at https://www.uwchlan.com/415/Lionville-Station-Road.
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