Developer draws objections to proposed 245-unit housing plan in N. Strabane
Gideon Bradshaw/Observer-Reporter
Mansfield Road resident Arthur Allen addresses North Strabane Township supervisors during a Nov. 14 hearing to express his concerns about a proposed 245-unit housing plan that was the subject of the conditional-use hearing.
Gideon Bradshaw/Observer-Reporter
Land-planning consultant Michael Wetzel gives a presentation on behalf of developer Traditions of America during a Nov. 14 conditional-use hearing in North Strabane Township.
Some 50 people packed the North Strabane Township supervisors’ meeting room on Thursday, when a developer presented plans for a 245-unit, patriotism-themed housing plan that would sprawl over the area between Brehm and Mansfield roads.
During the more than two-hour conditional-use hearing, representatives for Delaware County-based Traditions of America – which on its website says it caters to active people 55 and older – outlined the plans and answered questions from township officials. They also heard plenty of opposition.
“First of all,” said Arthur Allen, “I’d like to congratulate them that in 50 years of sales, that was the best-presented load of bull I’ve ever heard.”
Earlier, the representatives for Traditions had said that there were high levels of interest – including from some North Strabane residents – in a similar development being built in neighboring Cecil Township. They said at one point they couldn’t predict exactly what prices they’d sell houses for. But, prompted by North Strabane solicitor Gary Sweat, conceded the units would likely run for between $300,000 and $600,000.
The developer couldn’t provide an exact timeline, but, if approved, the project is expected to start in 2020 and proceed in six phases through late in that decade.
The completed housing plan would consist of grape-like clusters of houses along a series of dead-end streets and a spine road connected to Brehm and Mansfield. It would include an around-the-clock clubhouse. Streets in Traditions’ projects often bear names – Washington, Jefferson, Colony, Continental, Liberty – that venerate the popular conception of U.S. history.
The full area of the site covers about 200 acres. Michael Wetzel, a member of the land-planning firm Victor-Wetzel Associates, said two-thirds of the area would be considered “open space,” much of which would remain undisturbed. The houses would be located on land zoned for residential development.
Wetzel said the project would be less densely constructed than the “542 homes (that) are permitted within the site,” with less than two dwelling units per acre based on the calculations in the zoning ordinance, which allows for up to four. In the overall area, it would be “1.2 dwelling units per acre, so it’s not at all a high-density type of development.”
State law gives the supervisors up to 45 days to make their decision. The township would also need to separately continue subdivision and land-development plans.
Members of the board didn’t say how they’d vote.
Supervisor Harold Close asked about the ability of the project’s geotechnical firm to work in the township.
The firm Traditions hired, Pennsylvania Soil & Rock, is the same one that was consulted by another developer for the Majestic Hills plan. The township has spent millions of dollars and is in ongoing litigation stemming from landslides in that neighborhood that prompted officials to condemn three houses there a year ago.
“If you’re concerned about the geotech, I understand that our engineers, and maybe even our independent geotech consultants, at the appropriate time, should be looking at their findings,” Sweat replied.
Allen, who lives on Mansfield, singled out the complex’s retention pond in his criticism of the project. He said the plans called for the pond, which he said “really should be called a disease and insect propagation area” to be placed near his backyard.
He predicted water would run down into his property from the neighborhood.
“I’m going to catch all the water coming off the top of that hill,” Allen said.
Other concerns involved the increase in traffic in the area, which until recently was mostly farmland.
Chuck Wooster, a traffic consultant on the project, testified that his assessment showed that Brehm and Mansfield as they are currently constructed would be sufficient for the traffic volumes related to the project. He also said the volume would be “approximately double” for a non-age-restricted project of the same size.
Carl Martin, another resident of Mansfield, wasn’t convinced.
“Just because they’re 55 and up doesn’t mean their not traveling,” Martin said. “My parents are in their 70s. They come in and out more than anybody who comes to work every day, while most people (who are) 55 are yet to be retired, so they’re coming in and out every day.”