2025 Development and Ordinance Review Activity

Posted February 24, 2026

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Each year, CCPC's Act 247 Review Team prepares an overview of development and ordinance review activity and trends across Chester County. The 2025 report was presented at CCPC's February Board meeting by Senior Review Planner Paul Farkas.

Residential Activity

In 2025, a total of 1,443 residential units were proposed in Chester County. Of those units, 669 were apartments, followed by 457 single-family homes, and 252 townhouse units.

Of note was that the average number of proposed residential lots/units per year for the years 2020 through 2025 (2,305) was less than the average number of proposed residential lots/units per year from 2010 to 2019 (2,493).

Several of the largest residential proposals included:

Over the past three years, Phoenixville Borough led the county in proposed residential lots/units (874), followed by East Whiteland Township (799). In both municipalities, apartments accounted for the majority of proposed residential lots/units.

Over the past three years, West Brandywine Township saw the highest number of proposed single-family homes (277), while Caln Township had the highest number of proposed townhouse units (278).

Non-residential Activity

Total proposed non-residential structural square footage in 2025 reached 2,713,062 square feet in 2025, slightly below 2024's total of 3,167,339 square feet.

Like years prior, industrial square footage continued to lead, with 1,329,417 square feet proposed, followed by commercial retail/other at 731,317 square feet, institutional at 343,328 square feet, and commercial office at 309,000 square feet. No commercial hotel/resort/inn or agricultural proposals were submitted in 2025.

The largest non-residential proposals included:

Between 2023-2025, East Nottingham Township led the county in proposed non-residential structural square footage (2,077,835), which was primarily industrial. East Whiteland Township also surpassed 1 million square feet in proposed industrial development and led the county in proposed commercial square footage (662,210). West Goshen Township had the highest amount of proposed institutional square footage (184,000).

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Overall Trends

The majority of development activity continued to occur in designed growth areas. In 2025, 93 percent of all residential lots/units and 88 percent of all non-residential structural square footage were located within Landscapes3 growth area designations.

There were also several major plan submissions reviewed in prior years that received final municipal approval and endorsed to permit recording in 2025, including:

In addition to development reviews, CCPC completed 111 ordinance reviews in 2025. The majority were zoning ordinance, zoning map amendments or zoning updates (88), followed by 13 Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (SLDO) amendments or updates, 8 miscellaneous ordinance amendments or updates, and 2 comprehensive plan reviews.

Frequently reviewed ordinance topics included short-term rental standards, accessory dwelling units, signage standards, alternative/renewable energy, data centers, and medical marijuana.

Learn more about CCPC's Act 247 Review process and current proposals.