The planning commission presented several principles

“You have an opportunity that is comparable to what the founding fathers of this community had here,” Barth said at the economic development meeting. “You have the opportunity to create whatever you want.”

What he’s talking about is the comprehensive plan process for the vision of Perkasie years from now — a 100-year opportunity, Barth said.

Based on residents’ surveys that had a 32 percent response rate, as well as business surveys that had a 15 percent response rate, the majority of Perkasie community members would like to see a more central downtown area in the borough.

Residents also wanted to maintain a small-town character and mixed-use development, meaning a mixture of residential and commercial units.

David Sebastian of the Bucks County Planning Commission relayed to the crowd of people that Perkasie residents tend to shop for things like groceries, prescriptions, gasoline and hardware within the borough, but they leave the borough for things like clothing, sporting goods, movie theaters and restaurants. This leaves the opportunity for the borough to encourage more growth within Perkasie, as well as urge residents to shop within town.

The planning commission presented several principles, based on case studies of successful areas, to encourage economic development within the borough. Some of these principles included promoting “walkability,” providing a mix of retail tenants that reflect market demands, supporting architectural features that mirror local styles and locating parking to the side or rear of buildings in order to promote uniformity on the streets.

Based on the case studies, the commission also learned that ideally there would be no more than 10 percent non-retail use in the downtown area and no more than 20 percent vacancy.

In addition, some areas’ downtown centers could not thrive because the town centers were too large and sprawling, which may be the case with Perkasie. What works is a more refined town center boundary, Sebastian said.

Barth also unveiled many ideas for how to create more economic development in the borough, including supporting the Mom and Pop shops within the borough instead of a national chain like Walmart, as well as encouraging young entrepreneurs to set up shop in Perkasie — a trend Barth has already seen occurring in the borough.

The new director said he thought the borough’s own electric department, the borough authority, the Bucks County Planning Commission and the motivated community would all be attractions for potential investors.

Preserving the aesthetic character of Perkasie, with its Victorian architecture, was also something that Barth encouraged for the borough.

Barth also suggested nurturing greater partnerships with places like Bucks County Community College, Sellersville Borough and community banks. At the parks, Barth saw opportunities for bike rentals, boating and fly fishing activities.

Many residents said they liked the idea of a downtown center but were concerned about how it would be accomplished and whether the development would kick people out of their homes or create a problem with parking.

Barth maintained that the economic development plans would not create urban sprawl and would instead refine or tighten what is already the town center district.

“It’s not expanding it. It’s actually shrinking it,” Barth said.

Jill Strickland, owner of Frox Boutique in Perkasie, showed interest and support of the downtown plans, saying many of her customers expressed that they would like to have another option in town for shoes, for example, and they don’t want to go to a chain like Walmart.

Since the meeting, Perkasie Old Towne Association posted some sketches of possible development in town to get a reaction from residents on its Facebook page. One picture was an architect’s sketch for developing the area where the farmers market is currently held on Seventh and Market streets. The sketch has received generally positive comments and more than 50 “likes” as of Monday afternoon.

Joe Ferry, vice president of Perkasie Olde Towne Association, said the page as has seen more activity in the last couple weeks than they’ve had in the last three years combined.

“It’s great that people feel passionate about the town, and it validates our belief that now is the time for an economic development program,” Ferry wrote in an email. “I don’t look at comments as positive or negative. People have personal feelings that they are expressing. That’s a good thing. We need a full discussion before something like this happens.”