On Oct. 6, Solebury's Board of Supervisors approved the draft of "Solebury 2035" and sent it out for review. The draft is the township's first full rewrite of its comprehensive plan in more than a decade. It does not rezone a single parcel. It does put on paper the rule that will shape the next round of zoning: where public water and sewer already run, the township is open to change, and where they don't, it plans for very little. For anyone comparing two Solebury properties a few miles apart on Route 202, the plan predicts what will surround each house over the next decade better than its listing does.
Where the Document Stands This Fall
The township calls the plan a draft. The cover of the posted document reads "DRAFT September 2026." The township's Comprehensive Plan Committee page says that, under Sections 301.3 and 302 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, supervisors have sent the draft to the adjoining municipalities and the New Hope-Solebury School District. Their comments will be considered at a public meeting on December 8, 2026. The Bucks County Herald reported that the draft also went to the Bucks County Planning Commission.
The Municipalities Planning Code sets out the remaining steps. The county planning agency must receive the plan at least 45 days before the required public hearing. After that come a public meeting held by the planning agency, at least one public hearing before the governing body, and adoption by resolution. No adoption date has been posted. The plan it will replace was adopted on December 16, 2014.
The draft is direct about its own limits.
"While the Plan is not a regulatory document, it informs zoning, capital improvements, and day-to-day planning decisions, ensuring consistency with community priorities."
A buyer reading the plan this fall should hold it to that standard. The plan doesn't change what can be built today. It shows which ordinance amendments the township has already said it wants to pursue.
The Rule Underneath Everything: Pipes
The draft's future land-use framework is built mostly around infrastructure. Rural areas without public water and sewer are assigned to agricultural and low-density residential use. Medium- and higher-density residential use is directed to areas that already have public water and sewer. Lahaska is designated for village-scale retail. Solebury, Carversville, Lumberville and Centre Bridge are designated for small-scale village commercial use.
That rule matters for the house as well as the neighborhood around it. Two homes with similar acreage and similar stonework can face very different futures if one sits along a sewered corridor and the other draws from a well on a rural lane. The plan treats the first as the place any future density should go. It treats the second as the setting it intends to protect.
Route 202, Read Stretch by Stretch
The clearest example is Route 202. The draft divides the corridor into four character areas "based on land use, development intensity, transportation and circulation patterns, infrastructure availability, environmental conditions, and community priorities."
| Character area | Where it runs | What the draft says about it |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Gateway Corridor | Delaware River Toll Bridge to the northern border of New Hope | A gateway into Bucks County; light industrial zoning on the west side of 202, RA-zoned single-family homes and agricultural uses on the east |
| Mid-Northern Corridor, Village Center/Logan Square Gateway | Near Logan Square and the New Hope border, to Reeder Road | Public water and sewer, the township's highest development intensity, "appropriate for limited, walkable redevelopment" with streetscape and access-management priorities |
| Mid-Southern Corridor, Aquetong Valley Heritage Area | Reeder Road to Upper Mountain Road | Small commercial uses, preserved properties and rural residential; limited redevelopment, with a priority on rural village character "without encouraging intensification" |
| Southern Gateway, Peddler's Village Edge and Open Lands Area | Upper Mountain Road to the Buckingham Township line | Environmentally sensitive lands, carbonate geology, preserved property and open farmland; "not appropriate for sewer-dependent development due to risks of groundwater contamination" |
Read from north to south, the table shows how ready each stretch is for change. Near Logan Square, the township expects redevelopment and wants it walkable. Between Reeder Road and Upper Mountain Road, it allows limited change and puts rural character first. South of Upper Mountain Road, the draft ties its position to what lies underground. The draft cites carbonate geology and the risk of groundwater contamination as its reason for ruling out sewer-dependent development there.
The corridor projects follow the same pattern. The draft proposes realigning Aquetong Road where it meets Route 202, adding left-turn lanes, evaluating improvements at Lower Mountain and Ingham Roads, and writing access-management rules into zoning. It also calls for finishing a Route 202 multi-use trail from Canal Park Trail to Aquetong Spring Park. To tie it together, the plan recommends a Route 202 Corridor Enhancement Overlay. The steps are to formalize the character-area boundaries, prepare design standards and eventually codify the overlay into zoning. Until that overlay exists, the four areas describe the township's intent and carry no legal force. Once codified, the boundary lines in the table could become regulatory lines.
The Back Roads Get Their Own Category
The rural side of the infrastructure rule shows up on specific roads. In 2020, the Board of Supervisors recommended a new road category for this update, called Heritage Roads, for the roads that "most exemplify Solebury's rural heritage." The draft names three candidates: Old Carversville Road, Cuttalossa Road and Laurel Road. Its action step is to update the zoning ordinance with Heritage Roads regulations "to provide additional protection to these roads."
The draft also recommends considering more Act 167 historic districts beyond the existing Carversville and Phillips Mill districts, once an updated survey of historic resources is complete. Neither recommendation is in force yet. For a buyer drawn to a farmhouse on Cuttalossa Road, the draft adds a reason to expect that its setting will be protected more strongly over time, not less. For an owner thinking about changes that would be visible from those roads, it points to rules that may get stricter.
Where New Housing Types Would Go
Housing is the part of the plan that could change the most, and it follows the same rule. The draft supports housing types that current township zoning does not allow. Among the options it lists:
- Small additions to existing homes for accessory dwelling units, such as in-law suites
- Garage or outbuilding conversions into apartments
- Barn conversions on farms for farm-worker housing
- Adaptive reuse of existing nonresidential buildings
- Apartments created by adding a second story to existing one-story nonresidential buildings
- Tiny homes and cottages on small lots "in the zoning districts with existing infrastructure"
- Mixed-use commercial and residential construction along the 202 corridor
The plan describes these as "small-scale, low-impact housing choices" meant to avoid "the conversion of farmland or forested land for housing." It also states that none of them happen automatically. The zoning opportunities and ordinance updates "would need to be addressed as an implementation measure after the Comprehensive Plan is adopted," and the township may write a separate 25-year housing plan first.
For a buyer looking at a property with an unused barn, a detached garage or a guest cottage, the list matters. The structures that might someday be allowed to hold a second household are already standing on many Solebury parcels. The draft treats that possibility as something to explore. It grants no permission now.
Why the Rural Default Is Unlikely to Move
The draft rests on public input the township gathered in 2024. Its survey ran in August and September 2024 and drew more than 950 responses, a 25% return rate. Of the respondents, 94% supported or strongly supported encouraging and preserving farming. Asked to choose their top five future-planning priorities, 73% included keeping the rural character and 64% included preserving agricultural land and open space.
The housing discussion was handled carefully in public. Patch reported that the township framed its April 9, 2026 attainable-housing forum as an informal discussion, and that Supervisor Kevin Morrissey said there were no plans and the township wanted community feedback.
Taken together, the survey and the forum set the limits on what Solebury 2035 can recommend. Change goes where the infrastructure already is. Everywhere else, the township's priority is to keep the rural setting.
Questions This Raises for a Purchase
Does the draft change what I can build on a property I'm considering? The draft describes itself as "not a regulatory document" that "informs zoning." What a particular parcel allows today is a question for the township's zoning office. The plan shows which ordinance amendments the township has said it wants to pursue.
How do I find which Route 202 character area a property falls in? Use the road boundaries in the draft. Reeder Road and Upper Mountain Road are the key dividing points. The township has posted the draft plan document and the draft maps on its Comprehensive Plan Committee page.
Can I still comment? Yes. The township links to a Bucks County comment portal for the draft. Comments will be considered at the December 8, 2026 public meeting.
This post is general information about a draft public document and is not legal advice. Before relying on what a property's zoning allows, confirm it with the township and a land-use attorney.
If you're weighing a Solebury property and want to know what the four Route 202 character areas and the Heritage Roads proposal mean for that particular parcel and its surroundings, Laurie Madaus can walk through the draft with you before the December 8 meeting. Let's Connect.
