Adopted by the Board of Commissioners in June 2025, the Haverford 2035 Comprehensive Plan serves as the Township’s long-range policy blueprint for land use, development, and resource protection over the next decade. The Comprehensive Plan establishes the community vision and policy framework that directly guides the updates to the Township's Zoning Ordinance that are currently being undertaken. A critical element of the Plan is the Future Land Use Map (see end of document) which serves as the land use policy and goals for growth in Haverford by establishing targeted growth areas while ensuring surrounding residential neighborhoods and sensitive natural resources remain protected.

The following summarizes the goals and recommendations from the Comprehensive Plan as they relate to the Phase 2 Substantive Zoning Ordinance Updates. This is an abridged summary of plan recommendations provided to inform responses to the Phase 2 Substantive Zoning Ordinance Updates online survey.

Commercial Revitalization

• Strengthen the older commercial areas to encourage walkability by integrating a mixture of uses with compatible zoning regulations to promote functional growth and new investment.

• Preserve and revitalize existing walkable commercial districts.

• Analyze and update the Zoning Ordinance to integrate compatible zoning regulations in the older commercial areas of the Township and to create consistency with this Comprehensive Plan.

• Update the Zoning Ordinance to accommodate various types of modern businesses where appropriate in commercial areas and to allow for mixed-uses where targeted.

• Promote appropriate types of business development in different areas with high service access.

• Updating facades, enhancing streetscapes, and revising zoning regulations to encourage mixed-use development will support older commercial corridors.

Targeted Mixed-Use Development

• Ensure that Township policies allow for a mixture of uses within the 10-minute walksheds of transit stations in the Haverford Road Commercial Corridor.

• The Future Land Use plan identifies four new mixed-use zones on:

  • Eagle Road from Lawrence Road to Darby Road and

  • Darby Road from Eagle Road to West Marthart Avenue

  • Haverford Road between the Ardmore Junction and Wynnewood Road Station

  • Along West Chester Pike between North Eagle Road and the Township line.

Design Standards & Visual Harmony

• Consider implementing comprehensive design standards including landscaping, lighting, and other public design elements to ensure visual harmony in mixed-use districts.

• Explore adding design standards to the Zoning Ordinance or Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (SALDO) to assist in making sure that new construction is compatible with older adjacent residential and commercial neighborhoods.

• Develop and institute strategies and controls to eliminate encroachments by institutional and commercial users into adjacent residential neighborhoods.

Parking Flexibility & Multimodal Mobility

• Create parking minimums or incentives to reduce or eliminate required parking in areas that are served by municipal lots, on-street parking, and foot traffic.

• Encourage shared parking between adjacent businesses and any upper-story residential uses to provide more efficient use of space.

• Encourage parking in older business areas to be placed to the rear or side of the main building to preserve the traditional walkable streetscape.

• Promote bicycling, walking, carpooling, and the use of public transit to provide alternatives modes of transportation through development regulations.

• Design Township policies to spur development near train stations and support financing efforts to increase service frequency and quality.

Environmental Sustainability & Resource Protection

• Consider Zoning Ordinance amendments to encourage buildings more than 45 feet in height to be designed and built to Energy Star or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification (including LEED platinum).

• Consider incentives through permitting for construction and remodeling projects that incorporate green practices, using a point-based incentive system.

• Provide Zoning Ordinance incentives for green practices, such as allowing a higher percentage of lot coverage for buildings that include a green vegetated roof or are LEED certified.

• Consider updating the Township’s landscaping provisions to encourage native species, strategic tree placement for energy conservation, and permit lawn-to-meadow conversions.

• Support energy conservation efforts through encouraging solar canopies over large parking areas and relaxing minimum setbacks for solar canopies.