WAYNESBORO, Pa. - A decision on whether to grant preliminary approval for Hollengreen Farm, a 557-unit housing development, will be taken up May 18 by the Waynesboro Borough Council.
The borough planning commission gave its "tentative" recommendation to the project slated to be built off State Hill and Welty roads.
The council heard remarks from the developer, Brian McNew of Brim Builders Inc. of Chambersburg, Pa., along with comments from residents at a public hearing Wednesday night.
About a dozen people attended.
Robert Plank, McNew's engineer, said construction is expected to start sometime this year once all permits are secured. All of the infrastructure - roads, water and sewer service, electrical lines and two bridges over a stream that runs downhill through the middle of the heavily sloped 111-acre site - will be finished before the first house is built, he said.
The planned residential development will have a mix of 170 single-family homes, 347 town houses and 40 duplexes when it is finished in an estimated 12 years.
The total value of the development when finished will top $118 million.
Tentative prices for the homes are $285,000 for the single-family homes, $210,000 for the town houses and $190,000 for the duplexes, the developer said, adding that they might change.
The project will include no commercial development.
It will have about 30 acres of open space land.
It is bordered on the north by Waynesboro Area School District property and on the east by Renfrew Park and Museum property.
Plans call for two walkways from the development to the schools, eliminating the use of most school buses to carry children to school.
Steve Rettig is president of the Antietam Watershed Association, a nonprofit group whose goal is protecting both branches of Antietam Creek and streams that feed it, including the one running through the Hollengreen development.
He urged the developer to protect the stream with natural plantings. He also wants a stormwater retention pond to be assimilated into a nearby wetlands on the site.
James Griffin of 13670 Welty Road was concerned about a spring near the development that provides water to six homes. He wanted assurance that it would be protected during construction.
Kevin Grubbs, head of engineering for the borough, said McNew's project has met all requirements so far.
