Former Gravel Mine—

171-Unit Condo Complex Proposed For Hawleyville

By Andrew Gorosko

A major residential developer is in talks with Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members about the prospects for constructing a 171-unit age-restricted, multifamily housing complex in Hawleyville at the site of a former gravel mine, where two previous P&Z-approved age-restricted, multifamily housing projects never materialized.

Representatives of Toll Brothers, Inc, a Pennsylvania-based builder, met with P&Z members at a November 4 session to discuss the development firm’s proposal for a project on a 50-acre site, which would hold 171 housing units for people over age 55. Under the P&Z’s regulations, 46 acres of the 50-acre site would be used to calculate the permitted density of the development.

The site is in an EH-10 (Elderly Housing) zone, which permits high-density multifamily residential construction. The project has the working name The Woods at Newtown.

P&Z members discussed the construction proposal with Toll Brothers representatives Dan Walton and Jack Lannamann. The firm has not yet submitted a development application for the project.

Although the site has a 12-16 Pocono Road address, access to the complex would be provided via a driveway that serves Maplewood at Newtown at 166 Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6). The Maplewood building holds 100 rental apartments for assisted-living residents and people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Toll Brothers has constructed several subdivisions of single-family houses in Newtown, including Greenleaf Farms off Poverty Hollow Road, Newtown Chase off Blackman Road, and Newtown Hunt off Hawleyville Road. It also has built Regency at Newtown, an age-restricted condominium complex off Oakview Road.

In June 2006, the P&Z approved construction of a 178-unit condo complex known as The Woods at Newtown for the depleted gravel mine, as proposed by Bashert Developers, LLC, of New City, in Rockland County, N.Y. That project, however, never materialized.

In September 1998, the P&Z had approved 198 units of age-restricted housing for the site as proposed by a development group known as The Homesteads at Newtown. Although that firm built 12 condos, those units were never occupied and were later demolished.

The Homesteads at Newtown, though, built the adjacent elderly housing complex that is now known as Maplewood at Newtown.

Toll Brothers does not own the 50-acre site, but would seek to acquire it through a foreclosure proceeding.

The site would hold five three-story apartment buildings, three of which would hold 22 apartments, and two of which would hold 18 apartments. Some of those buildings would have walkout basements.

Also, the site would have 14 buildings that each would hold four condos. There would be three three-unit condo buildings, and also two two-unit condo buildings. All units would be for sale. Prices were not disclosed.

In order to build the complex, Toll Brothers would need to obtain revisions to several zoning regulations. Such zoning rule changes would allow taller buildings than now permitted, and also allow the placement of bedrooms on the upper level of townhouse-style condo units. Also, the developer would likely need to get regulatory approval to allow a new category of age-restricted multifamily housing.

Such zoning regulation changes would be the topic of P&Z public hearings.

Density Bonus

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean said that the EH-10 zoning designation provides developers with a very large “density bonus,” which allows them to build much denser developments than conventional residential zoning regulations would otherwise allow.

Ms Dean stressed that the EH-10 zoning regulations are designed to allow residents of age-restricted housing complexes “to age in place.”

“We want people to be able ‘to age in place,’” she said, adding that the P&Z is wedded to that concept, which calls for residents to be able to continue living in their homes as they age and they become less physically capable.

Mr Walton suggested that the proposed condo complex’s townhouse units be designed so that “rail-based” electric stair-climbing devices could be easily installed along staircases, if desired, to allow handicapped residents to diagonally travel between levels in their homes.

Mr Lannamann noted that the townhouse units would have master bedrooms on the ground level.

The condos within the large buildings on the site would contain dwellings on one level. Those buildings would have conventional elevators.

Zone Modifications

Toll Brothers would like the EH-10 zoning rules to be modified to allow a bedroom on the upper level of a two-level townhouse-style condo unit, Mr Walton said.

Mr Walton urged P&Z members to visit a condo complex that Toll Brothers is constructing in Prospect to gain a direct sense of what the firm wants to build in Hawleyville.

Ms Dean, who is a Hawleyville resident, said that having relatively tall buildings on the Hawleyville site that would be visible from nearby Pocono Road could pose visual concerns. The tallest buildings on the site would rise to some point between 50 and 60 feet high.

“I’m somewhat sympathetic to your plight,” Ms Dean said of Toll Brothers’ seeking to adapt the zoning regulations to build a complex on a site at which two P&Z-approved residential projects have not materialized.

“We would not be here if we did not think it was financially sound” to proceed with such a housing project, Mr Walton said.

Ms Dean said the town land use staff will review what specific zoning regulation changes would be necessary for the firm to construct the project that it is proposing. She asked the developers to position marking stakes at the site so that when P&Z members visit the property, they can envision the location of a proposed tall building nearest to Pocono Road.

“I know this is a big decision, a change in the [EH-10] regulations,” Mr Walton said. Having such a housing complex would be good for Newtown, he added.

“We need to get 171 units [approved] to get [the project] to work economically for us,” Mr Lannamann said.

“We’d like to do this [project] as soon as possible,” he said.

Such a complex would contain private roads and be served by sanitary sewers. A public water supply is available in the area.