Chadds Ford Planning Commission members are gearing up for a December decision on a zoning change that could allow for townhouses on Brandywine Drive.
They may also be discussing updating noise and firearms ordinances in the township next month. Both topics were on the Nov. 12 agenda, but were tabled because there wasn’t enough material to review, according to commission Chairman Craig Huffman.
When draft ordinances are available, they’ll be put on the township Web site on the Friday before the meeting, said township manager Amanda Serock.
The bulk of the meeting was spent reviewing details of the proposed map change and text amendment by K. Hovnanian Homes that would, if approved allow for the development of 104 townhouses on Brandywine Drive between Hannum’s Harley Davidson and Painters Crossing shopping center.
The lot is zoned PBC for a planned business center. As such, it can’t be used residentially. Planning Commission members declined to give their recommendation earlier in the year when the applicant wanted the parcel rezoned as RM, residential multi-family use.
Hovnanian reworked the request, asking now for the 20-acre lot to become PBC-1 where residential use would be allowed after conditional use hearing.
At issue before the commission at this point was wording about parking requirements and whether or not basements could be used as bedrooms in some of the homes.
The applicant agreed to having two-and-a-half parking spaces per unit, not including the required two-car garage, but dropped a request to have the ordinance allow for a percentage of the units to have basement bedrooms.
Huffman told attorney John Jaros to rewrite the text amendment so the commission can vote on the matter in December. Commissioners would vote yea or nay on whether to recommend the change to supervisors. If supervisors agreed, there would be a hearing before the changes went into effect.
An actual plan would then have to go through the conditional use hearing and get land development approval before the homes could be built.
Several residents spoke out against the idea. Among them was Eric Gartner, of Harvey Lane, who used a slide presentation showing how his property is affected by stormwater now. He said a one-inch rainfall causes islands to form on his property and said the new development would make matters worse.
Gartner requested a moratorium on development in the area of routes 1 and 202 until there’s a review to make sure zoning in the area is in accord with the state’s Municipal Planning Code.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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