Toll Brothers Construction

On November 17, 2003, Toll Brothers submitted an application to the Upper Southampton Township Board of Supervisors requesting an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to allow for age restricted housing on a 9.48 acre parcel of property located at 1178 Street Road, Southampton. Mr. Gerald L. Bowen is the owner of the property. The property is zoned R-2.

Toll Brothers intends to construct a total of 72 housing units on this site, which will be restricted to 55 year and older residents. The 72 units will be divided equally among three buildings. Each building will consist of 3 levels of living units and an underground level for parking one vehicle per unit. Additional parking will be adjacent to each building. The maximum height of the buildings will be 35 feet.

Internal public improvements to the site, such as streets, curbs, sidewalks, streetlights, recreation areas, storm water management facilities, and parking areas will be maintained by a homeowners association. The Upper Southampton Water and Sewer Authorities will provide public water and sewer service. All vehicular access to the site will be from Street Road, directly in line with the Marigold Avenue intersection. Toll Brothers will install a traffic light at the intersection, if a light is necessary and approved by the State. The Township will then be responsible to maintain the traffic light. Pedestrian access to the site will be from Street Road and Kutcher Road. The Township will require a secondary access, for emergency vehicles only, from Kutcher Road, in the event that access from Street Road is not available.

The Board of Supervisors authorized the Township solicitor to prepare a draft amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to allow age-restricted housing in an R-2 zoning district, subject to the following conditions:

• The minimum lot size shall be a 10 acres.
• The density shall not exceed 7 dwelling units per acre.
• The property shall have access from Street Road.
• The developer must commit to meet with and work with Upper Southampton Township Environmental Council and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.
• The developer must accept and work with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council's designated consultants.
• The developer must commit to incorporate Pennsylvania's innovative storm water Best Management Practices.
• The Pennsylvania Environmental Council will meet with Upper Southampton Township's Environmental Advisory Council to talk through a timeline to determine actions.
• Toll Brothers, at their own expense, will present their concept plan to Upper Southampton Township's Environmental Advisory Council with their ideas of timeline needs.
• The Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Upper Southampton Township Environmental Advisory Council will lay out an exact plan of action including a site visit for everyone involved.
• The Pennsylvania Environmental Council will act as facilitator when needed and bring consultants at the appropriate times.
• The Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Upper Southampton Township Environmental Advisory Council will meet with both residential and commercial neighbors when needed during any step of the process.
• The Upper Southampton Township Environmental Advisory Council will act as the hub of information flow and the convener of meetings.

The Board of Supervisors has not adopted the draft ordinance.

Toll Brothers has agreed to provide a full and complete environmental assessment of the property, including a boundary survey, topographic survey, existing features plan, a Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory search, soil borings and testing reports, full wetlands report, and the identification of any downstream structures which would limit or control stormwater discharge from the site. The Township and its consultants will then evaluate and confirm the accuracy of this information to determine whether the site is capable of supporting the proposed development.

The financial impact on municipal services as a result of this age-restricted community is identified as follows:

• The maintenance of the internal public infrastructure, (streets, curbs, sidewalks, recreation areas, stormwater facilities, streetlights, snow plowing, street sweeping, trash collection, etc.) is the responsibility of the homeowners association. According to the Public Works Director, the financial impact on the public works department should be limited to the maintenance of a traffic light.
• Township recreation programs are self-sufficient. Program fees are established to cover the full cost of each program. According to the Park and Recreation Director, this development will have a minimal financial impact on recreation programs.
• According to the Chief of Police, the police department will need to respond to a number of complaints originating from this development. He does not expect the number of complaints from this development to exceed the Township average for similar sized developments. There is no need to hire additional officers as a result of this development.
• According to the Water and Sewer Authority Manager, there is sufficient capacity to provide public water and sewer service to this development. Water and sewer rates are based on usage and the rates levied for this development will not have an adverse effect on other residents.
• According to the Fire Marshall, this development will be required to have a sprinkler system in each housing unit and comply with the latest codes for fire protection. The financial impact on the Fire Company should be minimal.

The Centennial School District will receive annual revenue in the form of real estate, real estate transfer, and earned income taxes from the residents of the proposed development. According to Toll Brothers, school age children are not permitted to reside in this development. According to the Centennial School District, there will be minimal financial impact of this development on the School District.

ON MAY 18, 2004, A MOTION WAS MADE BY MR. FROGGATT AUTHORIZING MR. WILLIAMS TO STOP WORKING ON AN AMENDMENT TO THE ZONING ORDINANCE FOR OVER 55 AGE-RESTRICTED HOUSING IN AN R-2 ZONING DISTRICT ON STREET ROAD; SECONDED BY MRS. BRAGER; THE MOTION CARRIED WITH A VOTE OF 4-0-0.