Antrim board continues debate on 902-unit plan

September 14, 2006|by DON AINES

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - Legal issues that have slowed the approval process for a proposed 902-unit housing development in Antrim Township could be nearing resolution.

Tuesday night, the Board of Supervisors went into executive session for about 45 minutes to discuss two appeals filed in Franklin County Court by the developers of Creek Farm Village, a planned residential development proposed for a 307-acre farm off Pa. 16 west of Greencastle.

The board announced at the end of the session that it would hold an executive session beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 19, followed by a work session meeting at 7 p.m. with representatives of the developer.

Bryan Salzmann, an attorney for the developers, said after Tuesday night's executive session that the developers, Buchanan Trail Creek Farm LLC of Mercersburg, Pa., had filed appeals of two rulings by the supervisors.

One was a determination by the board that a planned residential development plan submitted early this year with the township for Creek Farm Village was abandoned when Buchanan Trail Creek Farm later filed a traditional subdivision plan, Salzmann said. The other was a determination by the board that the subdivision plan was abandoned when Buchanan Trail Creek Farm later resubmitted a revised planned residential development plan.

The board also voted to deny the subdivision plan, according to court records.

Salzmann said his client believes the project should proceed on both tracks.

If the township's denial of the subdivision plan were to be upheld in court and the revised PRD is denied, any plans for Creek Farm Village would have to conform to a conservation by design ordinance that has since been adopted by the township and might allow fewer housing units to be built on the property.

A planned residential development incorporates more than one kind of housing and places an emphasis on opportunities for active and passive recreation for its residents. Conservation by design is a method of development that preserves open space while allowing the developer to build at a higher density.

The resubmitted PRD was the subject of a public hearing before the board of supervisors that began July 13 and was reconvened Aug. 23, in which there was testimony on the effects the development could have on traffic and water and sewer service in the township. The board of supervisors has to approve or disapprove the project by its Sept. 26 meeting.

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