Zoning Hearing to Be Held for Townhouse Development Proposal

A proposal to build 21 townhomes on a property across the street from the Lower Saucon Township municipal complex and Town Hall Park will be discussed during a public hearing at the Monday, Aug. 25 township zoning hearing board meeting.

According to paperwork filed with the township, One More Steel City LLC is seeking to build 21 single-family attached homes with detached garages and additional parking on an 8.35 acre property at 3679 Old Philadelphia Pike, which is part of the township’s VC (Village Center) zoning district. Currently, there is a single detached dwelling on the property.

One More Steel City LLC is requesting that zoners approve a number of variances for the development, including a variance that would allow the townhomes to be built on a parcel that is less than the required 10 acres in size; a variance to allow for detached garages to be built less than the required 10-foot setback from the property line; a variance for the construction of proposed access drives; a variance for an internal roadway requirement; a variance for an earth disturbance rate above what is allowed; a variance for environmental protection standards to allow for earth disturbance, grading, building, vegetation removal, traffic, parking and excavation within riparian and wetland buffers; and a variance for a required landscaping buffer.

The LLC previously requested favorable interpretations of zoning requirements as part of an appeal it filed with the township, but withdrew those requests in July, after zoning officer Tyler Mitch wrote in a July 11 memo to township officials that they should be opposed by township council “for a multitude of reasons.”

In response to several of the requests, Mitch said they should be opposed because “they seek to avoid constructing the proposed streets to the standards of a typical street.”

“These streets are proposed to serve 21 homes and should be brought to the standards of a typical street just like any other street that services a multitude of houses,” he wrote. “Approval of the requested interpretation could potentially set a precedent that would substantially undermine the effectiveness of the Ordinance in the future.”

Engineering plan site maps that are included with the meeting’s draft agenda and other supporting documents show a total of four clusters of homes along Old Philadelphia Pike: one with two homes, one with three homes, and two each with eight homes. The proposed detached garages are shown behind the homes along a 25-foot-wide roadway. Located behind that rear access road would be a wetland buffer area, wetland, drainage area and additional open space. Two access drives leading to the rear access road would intersect with Old Philadelphia Pike, according to the plans, with one of the driveways opposite the entrance to Town Hall Park.

Individuals who own property within 200 feet of the proposed development have received letters from the township alerting them to the hearing, which will begin at 7 p.m. at Lower Saucon Town Hall. For more information, visit the township website.