Hearing today on proposed Rostraver Twp. development
By Sarah Pellis
spellis@yourmvi.com
A conditional use modification hearing for Rolling Green Farm, a planned residential development, is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at the Rostraver Township Municipal Building.
Michael Wetzel of Victor-Wetzel Associates and Paul Scarmazzi of Scarmazzi Homes met with Rostraver commissioners in March to discuss the possible preliminary phases of a Courtyards/Rolling Hills Farms Planned Residential Development project located at Vernon Drive and Budds Ferry Road.
The zoning hearing is the next step in moving forward with this project. If just one thing changes, Wetzel and Scarmazzi would have to start all over again and come back for another conditional use hearing.
The 40-acre, 165-unit project would connect the current Rolling Hill Farm Drive in West Newton to more single-family homes (49), duplexes (18), multi-family townhomes and fourplex units (48) – with an estimated cost of $450,000 for fourplex homes and $550,000 for single-family homes.
At the March meeting, Wetzel and Scarmazzi requested a couple modifications to Phase 2-4 of the project, which commissioners will reexamine at today’s meeting.
One modification includes allowing a minimum of 20 feet instead of the required 25 feet between structures for the 49 single-family homes. The other is a waiver not letting the cul-de-sacs be longer than 500 feet.
Wetzel and Scarmazzi said in March that they will be targeting a demographic of older people who are those “empty nesters,” and will provide residential types that “provide opportunity for all different types of home buyer.”
That raised some concerns with the board that the wrong demographic was being targeted for the Rostraver Township area, with commissioners saying the builders would be better off targeting families with single-family homes.
While nothing was finalized in the March workshop, the board agreed to read over zoning documents. Members also discussed traffic and maintenance in that area as well as getting reports back as to whether the project can continue.
