Developer eyeing sites along Orvilla Road for 36-house development
HATFIELD TWP >> A new neighborhood could soon be in the works just off one of Hatfield’s most notorious stretches of street.
Developer W.B. Homes is planning to build a complex of houses just east of Orvilla Road, and residents could get a good look at those plans next month.
“It’s being called the ‘Bexley Development’ — this is a proposal from W.B. Homes, who I think everybody remembers. They most recently did the project right across the street, the ‘Belmont Estates’ project,” said planning and zoning officer Ken Amey.
The Belmont Estates development is a complex of 23 houses located off of School Road and Vine Street, just east of the township municipal
building, and Amey told the board that W.B. is preparing plans for a similar development off Orvilla Road. The new development would be located on two parcels totaling roughly 36 acres just east of an S-bend in Orvilla, west of Stewart Drive, and south of what is currently a dead-end on Pelham Drive.
“Under our RA-1 regulations, if a property exceeds ten acres in area, it can be developed as a cluster development, and that’s the application that has been submitted by W.B. Homes,” Amey said.
Requirements for that type of development include that the properties be at least ten acres total, and that the developer set aside at least 15 percent as permanent open space,
Amey told the board. During a public hearing, scheduled for the board’s Feb. 12 meeting, W.B. will show their current plans, including the land running along a stream through the property that will be set aside as the open space.
“The property backs up to a stream corridor, which runs through the area, and the open space will be concentrated down toward the stream,” Amey said.
Current plans show a total of 36 houses on the two combined properties, which the developer has under agreement with the current owners, according to Amey. Cluster provisions in the township’s codes allow a density of 2.2 units per developable acre, provisions that could allow as many as 48 houses, but geography prevent that many on that site.
“Because of the development constraints on this property, with the stream and some wetlands, and a pipeline that runs through it, they’re not able to get anywhere near that maximum,” Amey said.
The main road running through the development will connect from Pelham
Drive heading south, and emergency access will be available at the other end of the property to Orvilla, he said. All residents within 500 feet of the impacted properties should receive formal notifications from the township, and will be
able to see the plans and ask questions before any board approval.
“On the 12th, the developer would not only make the presentation, but show us what the design looks like publicly, and that gives the public, and us, the opportunity to ask questions and give comments,” said board President Tom Zipfel.
The commissioners voted unanimously on Jan. 8 to set a hearing date of Feb. 12 for the proposed plans, and a formal action on a conditional use request from W.B. could come at their subsequent meeting on Feb. 26.
“The agenda will not have consideration from the board that night (Feb. 12). it’s simply a public hearing, to take any information, and the expectation would be at the following meeting in February, the board would take action,” said township Manager Aaron
Bibro.
Any residents looking for an idea of what to expect can examine the Belmont project near the township complex for a comparison, according to the manager. Amey added that part of the approval process will include a land swap with a property owner near the Pelham Drive intersection to allow the access point, and said a farm house currently on one of the two properties will remain.
“That would be one larger lot, that would be one of those 36 homes,” Amey said.
Hatfield’s commissioners next meet at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 22, Feb. 12 and Feb. 26, all at the township administration building, 1950 School Road.