Court ruling favors township in development plan appeal

Almost all 30 conditions placed on a developer’s proposal to build almost 200 new homes are still remaining after a court ruling outlined at the Nov. 20 East Rockhill Township Board of Supervisors meeting.

The board set the conditions after seven nights of conditional use hHDULQJV duULQJ WhH fiUVW hDOI RI 2011 on the plans by Select Properties to build 190 new homes to join two existing ones and a new one replacing an existing one. The devel- opment is planned for a 65.48-acre tract between Old Bethlehem Pike and Hill Road near Three Mile Run Road.

Select appealed the board’s decision and a court ruling was issued Nov. 9, Patrick Armstrong, one of the township’s solicitors, said.

Before the judge began considering the case, Select had dropped its opposition to 20 of the 30 conditions, leaving only 10 to be ruled upon, he said.

The judge upheld seven of those, he said.

Only one of the conditions was

totally overturned, with portions of two others ordered by the judge to be dropped, he said.

The one that was completely removed was a condition that Select engineer and install public sewer connections for all abutting property owners. The proposed development will be hooked into public water and sewer systems.

Another of the conditions was that there be a 75-foot riparian buffer for a stream on the property draining into Three Mile Run. The judge ruled a buffer was required, but reduced the width to 35 feet, Armstrong said.

The third condition that was altered was one requiring sidewalks on Old Bethlehem Pike and a pedestrian bridge across Three Mile Run. The judge ruled the sidewalks should be built, but that the footbridge was not required, Armstrong said.

“Twenty-seven out of 30 ain’t bad, right?” Armstrong said of the decision.

The site, which combines four tracts, is one of two areas of the township zoned for high density housing. Neighboring property owners, however, have raised concerns about the effects of the development on the surrounding area.

One of the conditions that con- tinues to be in effect after the judge’s ruling is that 55 percent of the homes must be single-family detached homes. That means the proposed mix of homes would have to change and could alter the WRWDO QuPEHr RI KRPHV WKDW fiW LQWR the plan. The proposal presented at the hearings called for 83 singlefamily detached homes and 107 townhouses — a little less than 45 percent single-family detached and a little more than 55 percent townhouses.

Other remaining conditions include a requirement that there be at least a 20-foot strip of open space between the rear lot lines of existing homes on Hill Road and the lot lines of any new building lots within the development; that there be a 100-foot well protection area around an existing well RQ WKH SrRSHrWy; WKDW WrDIfiF FDOPing measures be built into new roads within the development; that the main entrance be from Old Bethlehem Pike across from Tabor Road in West Rockhill; that the two entrances from Hill Road would be for emergency use only; that a turning lane be added on Old Bethlehem Pike at the development entrance; that road improvements and widening be done on Old Bethlehem Pike and Hill Road; and that a WrDIfiF VWuGy EH GRQH wKHQ 75 percent of the new homes are ocFuSSLHG WR VHH LI D WrDIfiF VLJQDO LV needed at Three Mile Run Road and Old Bethlehem Pike.

Appeals of the Nov. 9 decision PuVW EH fiOHG wLWKLQ 30 GDyV RI that date, Armstrong said. As of Nov. 20, he said, no appeals had EHHQ fiOHG.

The conditional use hearing establishes that the proposal is allowed at the site, but is not a fiQDO DSSrRvDO, KH VDLG.

“They still have to come before the township for their land development if and when they do fiOH IRr LW,” $rPVWrRQJ VDLG.

Those plans have not yet been fiOHG, KH VDLG.