Language like this—taken from the City Planning Commission's "New River City" initiative—scares Jackie Mellor and her River Road neighbors. Their 30-some houses sit on the city's only residential riverfront property: a three-quarter-mile stretch of country road in Upper Roxborough along the Schuylkill River that ends at the Montgomery County border just below Miquon train station.

The road itself runs through a valley encircled by thick woods home to deer, raccoon, groundhogs and other wildlife.

CITY LIMITS: Locals want to keep their Upper Roxborough neighborhood, right by the Montgomery County border, to themselves. : Michael T. Regan

"We really don't want people to know about us," says Mellor, sitting on a friend's porch overlooking the sparkling water.

Not only does the city know about those picturesque surroundings, but various agencies are backing a zoning proposal that, Mellor fears, could allow condos and commercial buildings to forever alter the landscape. At first, the change would merely extend the public sewer line to River Road residents, where new homes fetch up to $300,000. The homes currently must use septic systems, although the Department of Environmental Protection says they pose a danger to the water supply. In the future, Mellor worries that increased sewer capacity will attract unwanted development. But Bill Kramer, a city planner, insists the zoning change is intended to protect residents' way of life while controlling development.

"It's an eclectic collection of architecture," Kramer says of the area, which can be accessed via only two one-lane bridges and a narrow road. "It's different. It's quiet. Some places look marvelous, others not quite so marvelous."

Residents received notice of the change in a June 9 letter from Councilman Michael Nutter. They're skeptical because they've seen surrounding communities overrun with cookie-cutter development and plan to attend a June 20 community meeting called by Nutter to hear representatives of the Streets, Water, Health and Planning departments talk about the issue.

The DEP, which says septic tanks combined with the high groundwater table endanger the river, has urged the city to extend the lines for about five years; the city is finally ready to pay for the extension.

"The motivation for this is the septic situation and the DEP holding the city's feet to the fire to make that happen," says Nutter's chief of staff, Julia Chapman.

Mellor, in particular, wants to hear more from Nutter, who earned her trust when he helped stop traffic that used River Road as a shortcut to and from Conshohocken several years ago.

"He's just breaking my heart," says Mellor, who, having lived here for 22 years, loves nothing more than to ditch her cell phone and walk a few steps from her front door to the river (where signs caution against swimming), flip on the radio and float on a pontoon boat without having to deal with "the hustle and bustle of city living."

The constant rumble of cars on the nearby Schuylkill Expressway is the only reminder that River Road is within the city limits and, therefore, vulnerable to the effects of development. Kramer maintains the zoning change has been proposed to hinder any encroaching development from changing the area's character. The small amount of sewer capacity that would be left after the existing homes hook in and the tendency of the area to flood would severely limit anything that could be built, he says.

As for concerns about the set of guidelines for riverfront property called New River City, he says, they do not apply to River Road, which is "a different kettle of fish."

So why don't residents believe it? "Unfortunately," Kramer says, "we live in an era when, [despite the] best intentions of any governmental entity, you're always looked at as suspect."