NORRISTOWN PA – Adaptive reuse of buildings in Lower Frederick Township, and continuing stewardship of the Ursinus College “Food Forest” in Trappe Borough, are among six winners of this year’s Montgomery Awards.
The annual awards, sponsored by the Montgomery County Planning Commission, were announced Wednesday (Nov. 19,2025). They celebrate projects that exemplify community commitment to successful planning and design, planning advocacy, and environmental care.
What’s Old is New in Lower Frederick
Recognized in Lower Frederick were township residents Terry and Natalie Bird, who have spent years revitalizing “two deteriorating 19th-century homes, converting them into commercial spaces while preserving architectural heritage,” the planners observed.
Their adaptive reuse reflected “context-sensitive design, village revitalization vision, and lasting community impacts,” they add.
The work “protected the properties’ architectural heritage,” the award description notes, while also supporting township “preservation and village revitalization goals” set out in Lower Frederick’s comprehensive plan. Terry Bird is a years-long member of the township Board of Supervisors.
Ursinus Forest Yields Meals
Ursinus College describes its Food Forest, begun in 2019, as “a student-created and student-led living-learning laboratory for just sustainable land management.” The 1.75-acre site not only produces a variety of foods, but also “supports native wildlife (biodiversity), sequesters and stores carbon, and improves water quality within the watershed,” the college explains.
Its thousands of plants, planted in phases, create “a vibrant and multi-layered forest full of nuts, fruits, berries, and other edibles. Additionally,the college is “working collaboratively” with the Delaware Tribe of Indians to steward the land and its species. It declares the project as “a living commitment to the Lenape People.”
It won the commission’s 2025 Environmental Stewardship Award for turning “a neglected area into a multi-functional edible landscape that nourishes both people and ecosystems.” To date, more than 250 students have participated in the project.
Other Award Winners
Winning awards also were presented for:
- Farmstead Park in Upper Moreland Township, for creative and sustainable site design, community engagement, and adaptive historic preservation;
- Jeffersonville Golf Club in West Norriton Township, for strategic planning, design excellence, and community impact in renovations of the township-owned property;
- The Residence at Bala Cynwyd in Lower Merion Township, for design and environmental sensitivity, extensive collaboration, and community revitalization and impact. It turned “a long-neglected industrial site” into a project the department says “allows residents to remain in their neighborhoods and complements the township’s goals for revitalization and walkability;” and
- Foulkeways at Gwynedd in Lower Gwynedd Township, which received the 2025 Charles J. Tornetta Planning Advocate Award for sustainability planning, environmental stewardship, and community engagement.
Photos provided by the Montgomery County Planning Commission
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