Feasterville, Pennsylvania, September 4, 2026
phillyburbs.com
St. George Georgian Orthodox Church in Lower Southampton Township is asking local officials for a zoning variance to build a 63-foot steeple, nearly double the township’s 35-foot height limit for buildings.
The steeple is part of the congregation’s long-running plan to build a new roughly 4,900-square-foot cathedral on its 4.7-acre property on Philmont Avenue. The church first proposed the expansion back in 2009 and has picked up a string of township approvals since then, reports bucksco.today.
According to Lower Southampton Zoning Officer Michael Italia, Georgian Orthodox tradition calls for cathedral steeples to reach a specific height, which is why the church is seeking the variance rather than scaling down its design.
The cathedral project still has other hurdles ahead. The church hasn’t gone through the full land development process and doesn’t yet have approval to build the cathedral itself. Nearby homeowners have also raised concerns about traffic, parking, drainage, noise, privacy and property values.
The zoning board continued the hearing on the steeple variance until October 13 to give the church time to rework its proposal. “We’ll have to see what they come back with,” Italia said.
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