Feb 23, 2019 3 min read

A group of developers told North Strabane supervisors on Thursday they’re scrapping a proposal for a nursing home and will instead seek approval to build dozens of townhouses on McDowell Lane.

Representatives for Laurel Communities stated during a hearing that they plan to change its conditional-use application in which it initially sought officials’ approval for 52 townhouses and a 202-unit senior residential facility on two lots totaling about 64 acres along McDowell Lane.

Laurel’s representatives said they’ll revise their applications for the project, known as Scenic Valley, to build 81 townhouses on the lot where the senior facility would have been located.

“We’re very pleased that Laurel Communities is willing to listen, to work together with us, and we’re looking forward to a new relationship,” said Allan Bullard of the nearby Sunset Pointe neighborhood.

Bullard represented people from his neighborhood, plus nearby Foxchase and Indian Ridge.

Supervisors initially held a conditional-use hearing on the plans in December. While the last version of the proposal was still on the table, they scheduled Thursday’s meeting to allow residents to present additional testimony in their case against the proposal.

Bullard said he considered the proposed nursing home a “major medical-type facility.”

He acknowledged that there would still be additional traffic if the new version of the plans comes to fruition, but he said the previous version would have brought delivery trucks and emergency vehicles unsuited for the narrow road.

The nursing home would have been built and operated by Presbyterian SeniorCare, a nonprofit that runs a network of similar facilities in Western Pennsylvania.

Michael Weztel, a partner of Sewickley-based Victor Wetzel Associates, said he and the others involved had heard from people already living in the area that they didn’t want a commercial-type development there.

“We’re listening to residents’ comments,” he said.

Township manager Andy Walz said Laurel Communities will still need final approval for its plans, which it hasn’t formally submitted, “but it’s always good to work with a developer that wants to be a good neighbor.”

Also on Thursday, Walz said supervisors will consider authorizing a township-sponsored traffic study of McDowell Lane during their next meeting on Tuesday.

Supervisor Neil Kelly said he couldn’t say how he’d vote on plans he hadn’t seen.

“I’m happy the developers and the residents got together to come up with a solution that everyone can live with,” Kelly said.