Hawleyville Condo Complex—

P&Z Modifies Elderly Housing Regulations

By Andrew Gorosko

Following a public hearing, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members on December 2 unanimously modified the zoning regulations on elderly housing complexes, setting the regulatory stage for a major developer’s anticipated application to construct 171 age-restricted condominium units at a 50-acre depleted gravel mine in Hawleyville.

Three such housing complexes for people over age 55 were planned for that property in the past, none of which ever materialized.

Voting in favor of modifying the EH-10 (Elderly Housing) regulations were the P&Z’s five regular members — Chairman Lilla Dean, Dennis Bloom, Jane Brymer, Robert Mulholland, and Robert Poulin.

 The P&Z’s move to change the zoning rules on high-density, age-restricted, elderly housing complexes comes in response to developer Toll Brothers, Inc’s, request that certain zoning rules be created, which would then enable it to seek land use approvals for a specific project that it envisions for the site. The developer has not yet submitted an application for the project.

The property has a street address of 12-16 Pocono Road. Access to the site would be provided via an existing driveway at 166 Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6).    

Generally, the zoning rule changes approved by the P&Z would allow taller buildings than now permitted, would allow the placement of a bedroom on the upper level of two-story townhouse-style condo units, and would add a new category of age-restricted multifamily housing termed “apartments.”

The rule changes address subjects including: construction density, building height limits, the maximum number of dwellings per building, access to sanitary sewers and public water supplies, and definitions of various types of elderly housing.

Public Comment

At the public hearing that preceded the P&Z’s action to modify the EH-10 zoning rules, the agency fielded public comments.

Barbara Herman lives at 48 Jo-Al Court in the adjacent Liberty at Newtown age-restricted housing complex. Ms Herman urged that when certain land-use permits expire, the P&Z have the sales trailers removed from a site on Mt Pleasant Road where the developers of the unbuilt and now-defunct The Woods at Newtown project had operated condo sales offices. That site lies east of the entrance to Liberty at Newtown.

Ms Herman said, “I think it’s unfortunate that Toll Brothers would ask for [zoning regulation] changes before they purchase the property.” Such a move does not demonstrate a commitment to the community, she said. “They’re just ‘fishing,’” she said.

Ms Herman questioned some provisions in the modified EH-10 zoning regulations that would allow walkout basements in some of the proposed larger, taller buildings in a condo complex.

Commenting on EH-10 regulations concerning elevators in multilevel buildings, Ms Herman said she is glad that the Liberty at Newtown buildings have elevator service.

“My home overlooks this piece of property,” Ms Herman said, of the depleted gravel mine. She added that she found workers’ extensive use of a noisy woodchipper on that site in the past to be very annoying. She said she hopes that Toll Brothers would be a better neighbor to her.

Mary Curran of 41 Cold Spring Road said she thinks that the tallest units proposed for the site by Toll Brothers would be structures that are too tall for Newtown and which would not visually fit in with the community. The tallest units would be an estimated 50 to 60 feet high.

“A two-story height for elderly housing, in general, is the way it should be,” she said in opposing three-story structures being built in such complexes.

Ms Curran urged P&Z members not to change the EH-10 zoning regulations for the benefit of a single developer who wants such zoning rule changes.

Ms Dean pointed out that the past two versions of the Town Plan of Conservation and Development, which were approved in 2004 and in 1993, have called for a variety of local housing options for residents.

Elderly housing complexes should not be limited to ownership by the affluent, Ms Dean said.

Ms Dean said that the presence of taller buildings in an elderly housing complex would have the practical result of providing more open space on the site.

Of the presence of relatively tall buildings on the property, Ms Dean said, “visually it’s not very intrusive.”

Although some people may not like the prospect of change, the P&Z needs to allow for more local housing options, Ms Dean said.

“Things sometime need to be changed…Things change, needs change,” Ms Dean said.

Mr Mulholland observed of the zoning rules changes, “These are little tweaks. These are not major changes.”

In their motion to approve the EH-10 zoning rule changes, P&Z members decided that modified regulations are consistent with the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development. The EH-10 rule changes become effective on December 13.

Toll Brothers is proposing a condo complex that would contain 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 have been not been disclosed.

History

Toll Brothers’ proposal for a 171-unit age-restricted condo complex at the 12-16 Pocono Road site is the fourth proposal for such a facility at the depleted gravel mine to be made since the late 1990s.

Two proposals for elderly housing complexes for the site gained P&Z approvals, but never materialized. A third proposal for such a facility never reached the P&Z approval stage.

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

In 2004, Paragon Residential Properties, LLC, of Southport had sought town approvals to build a 147-unit age-restricted condo complex there, but that firm later dropped its plans for the project.

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 on the site, those units were never occupied and were later demolished.

The Homesteads at Newtown, though, built an adjacent 100-unit apartment building for the elderly, which opened in March 2001, which is now known as Maplewood at Newtown. That complex provides assisted living facilities and care for people with Alzheimer’s disease.