18-Home Development, Lower State Road Realignment OK'd

Montgomery Township Supervisors voted 4-0 Monday night to approve a conditional use application by John Pileggi to develop an 18 single-family detached homes on a triangular parcel and current tree farm at County Line Road, Limekiln Pike and Lower State Road.

Supervisor Robert Birch was absent from the meeting.

The development would also realign Lower State Road to a 90-degree angle with Limekiln Pike. According to civil engineer Richard Stoneback, the property is near where the Neshaminy Creek crosses Limekiln Pike.

Stoneback said the original portion of Lower State Road would be one-way eastbound. The new aligned Lower State Road would intersect with the old Lower State Road, with a stop sign stopping traffic on the one-way portion of the road.

The townhome development is permitted by conditional use in the Open Space Overlay Design of an R-1 zoning district, according to Pileggi attorney Bob Kerns.

The only issue supervisors had wasn't the 3/4-acre open space in the middle of the development, but a large rain garden proposed on the open space. Stoneback testified the rain garden/retention basin would hold up to a foot of water at any one time, and the water "would disappear in 24 hours."

Supervisor Mike Fox said that open space area would be the only area children in the development can play at without leaving the development.

Supervisor Candyce Chimera asked if a fence would be installed around the rain garden. Stoneback said no, as the water would be shallow and not last long.

"It concerns me that the playground would be so close to it," Chimera said. "Don't you think the insurance company with the homeowner's association would require that?"

Kerns said there has been so much back and forth over the last 25 years on requiring or not requiring fences.

"Some (insurance companies) said fence it because it keeps chidlren from getting in the water, and others say it becomes an attractive nuisance. Children can climb over the fence, but they can't leave once they are in," said township solicitor Frank Bartle. "Whatever is appropriate, your idea is as good as anybody."

Supervisors Chairman Joe Walsh said he envisioned the open space area being something bigger and usable, not eaten up by a rain garden.

"I'm concerned it's not going to be a usable space," Walsh said. "Personally, I'd like to see it flattened so kids can stay in the development."

Kerns said they could move the rain garden to provide more open space.

Kerns said the development of that open space — be it tot lot, gazebo or trails — is at the discretion of the township. 

"We are here to hear what you would like to do and develop that property in a way that the board thinks is harmonious to the ordinance," Kerns said.

The entire development would be managed by a homeowner's association.

Access into and out of the devleopment would be onto Limekiln Pike from an internal roadway, Stoneback said. No lots would access Lower State Road or Limekiln Pike directly.

Stoneback testified at the public hearing that the firm Traffic Planning and Development reported that the development would not be "onerous" to traffic.

"We don't see a large amount of traffic. All level of services will remain the same, with no additional impact," said Stoneback. "There will be no additional congestion to the two roads."

The lots vary in area from 10,000 square feet to 24,000 square feet.

Kerns said the developer would also provide sidewalks on Limekiln Pike, possibly extending to the shopping center at Limekiln and County Line Road.

"If the township deems that worth doing, we would do that," Kerns said.

There was one resident who expressed an issue with the development: Daniel Nysch, president of the Ukrainian American Sport Center, which sits across Lower State Road from the property.

Nysch said the realignment would impact the accessibility of the club, as users had already faced inconveniences with a bridge on Lower State Road being closed for a long period of time. Nysch said commuters can no longer make a left turn at the bridge.

"We will have to suffer through the road being changed. It’s a detriment to us," Nysch said. 

He also asked about a hazard of children running across Lower State Road coming and going from the club to the development.