Date: Fri 28-May-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Homesteads-Hawleyville

Full Text:

Commission Approves Changes To Homesteads Plan

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has approved some changes in

development plans requested by the developer of The Homesteads at Newtown, a

298-unit housing complex for the elderly planned for Hawleyville.

P&Z members May 20 unanimously approved a request from The Homesteads at

Newtown, LLC, for a two-lot subdivision of the 61-acre lot at 166 Mt Pleasant

Road.

The subdivision request stems from federal financing requirements for the

first development phase of the project which will include assisted-living

facilities for the elderly, according to the developer.

As part of that subdivision approval, a deed for the property will be revised

to include a conservation easement specifying areas where construction will

not be allowed.

P&Z members also unanimously approved requested changes in the project's

design.

The developer requested that the mix of housing unit types in the project be

modified in light of market conditions which have changed since the plans were

first drawn.

In a related matter, United Water is seeking Conservation Commission approval

to extend a 10,000-foot-long, 12-inch diameter public water line along Mt

Pleasant Road from Blackman Road to the Homesteads site.

When it approved the Homesteads project last year, the P&Z required that it be

served by a public water supply.

The Homesteads will provide assisted, congregate, and independent living

facilities for the elderly in Hawleyville.

The complex will provide independent housing for the elderly in the form of

duplex and fourplex condominiums. Congregate housing will include food

service, house cleaning and laundry service under the terms of a lease/rental

agreement.

Assisted-living facilities will provide help for people who need aid with

activities of daily life such as eating and dressing.

For a project of its magnitude, the Homesteads proposal moved quickly through

the town's land use review process last year.

The only sticking point for the project involved some Pocono Road residents'

opposition to creating an emergency accessway to the project from that

deteriorated street. The residents said they feared the accessway would become

a common way to enter and leave the property.

The site is a former gravel mine. It lies generally to the north, northwest

and northeast of the Newtown Professional Building and Grace Christian

Fellowship, both of which are on Mt Pleasant Road.