Date: Fri 27-Mar-1998
Date: Fri 27-Mar-1998
Publication: Bee
Author: ANDYG
Quick Words:
Homestead-elderly-housing-P&Z
Full Text:
P&Z Approves Zone Change For 300-Unit Elderly Housing Complex
BY ANDREW GOROSKO
Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members March 19 swiftly approved a zone
change requested by The Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, thus letting the
development group proceed with additional planning on its proposed 300-unit
age-restricted housing complex in Hawleyville.
Applicant Dr Morton Silberstein received a change of zone for about 60 acres
off Mt Pleasant Road, altering that land's development designation from (R-1)
and (R-2) Residential to (EH-10) Elderly Housing.
The project still requires a wetlands construction permit from the
Conservation Commission and a special exception to the zoning regulations for
a site development plan from the P&Z.
P&Z members briefly discussed the zone change request before unanimously
approving it.
Converting the zoning designation of the property from Residential to Elderly
Housing places more limitations on how the land can be developed, said acting
P&Z Chairman Daniel Fogliano.
"I didn't hear a lot of opposition" to the housing proposal at a March 5
public hearing on the requested zone change, Mr Fogliano said.
"This is just a zone change," he noted, adding that the P&Z's action
conceptually endorses using the land for elderly housing, but not the specific
aspects of a site development plan.
P&Z member Lilla Dean, a Hawleyville resident, said, "This seems to be the
most appropriate (land use) and has the least impact on the area." Ms Dean
referred to an economic development plan for Hawleyville prepared for the
regional planning agency which suggests age-restricted housing as a good use
for the property.
P&Z member James Boylan said concerns that were raised at the public hearing
about the developers' proposal to extend an emergency accessway from the site
to Pocono Road can be addressed when the P&Z reviews the site plan for the
proposed 300 housing units.
P&Z member Robert Taylor suggested that the agency require that the developers
use a Pocono Road accessway only for certain, restricted purposes.
P&Z members are not able to place such a restriction on the development plan
when approving a change of zone for the land, but can address it later, when
the site plan is reviewed, Mr Fogliano said.
On that note, P&Z members unanimously approved the change of zone for the 60
acres.
Although generally acknowledging that providing age-restricted housing is
worthwhile, some residents living near the site say such a facility would make
their lives more difficult.
The residents' concerns focus on: a proposal to create an emergency accessway
to the site from the narrow, unlit, deteriorated Pocono Road; increased
property taxes; increased traffic; the visibility of the development; how it
would be illuminated at night; fire safety questions; and whether other
properties in the area would be required to connect to a sanitary sewer that
would serve the complex.
The Conservation Commission has scheduled an April 22 public hearing on The
Homesteads' requested wetlands construction permit for the property.
The developer wants permission to place clean earthen fill along the edge of
some wetlands, install two stormwater culverts, build a stormwater detention
basin, and stabilize four areas along a streambank to accommodate the grading
associated with the construction of roadways on the site.
Most of the site is a vacant former gravel mine. The property is north of Mt
Pleasant Road, south of Old Hawleyville Road and Interstate 84, east of the
Bethel town line, and west of Pocono Road. Most of the site lies to the north,
northeast, and northwest of Grace Christian Fellowship and Newtown
Professional Building.
The complex would include 100 assisted-living units which are for the elderly
needing the highest level of care; 160 congregate-housing units for those
requiring less care; and 40 independent-living apartments for the elderly
requiring even lower care levels.