As many as 219 apartments proposed near the Oregon Dairy in Manheim Township hinge on zoning changes that the township's Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on Monday.
The apartments, along with a hotel, house of worship and retail stores would be located at 3001 Oregon Pike, a vacant property which was once the Shawnee Resort. Before it was purchased in December by current owner Kirpa Estates LP, the land was part of the proposed Oregon Village mixed-use project.
The Oregon Village proposal included 554 housing units and an additional 50-acre parcel surrounding the Oregon Dairy Market & Restaurant.
Like Oregon Village, Kirpa's proposal has faced opposition from neighboring residents over traffic and building density. The developer's attorneys said during a hearing on the zoning changes in October that it is less dense than what Oregon Village's developers wanted to build on the site, and will still help address a countywide housing shortage.
"The proposal is for 25% to 30% less intense development than what was studied by the prior applicant and by (the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation). So we would expect a proportionate reduction in the amount of anticipated traffic," said attorney Matthew Creme.
The commissioners are scheduled to vote on the plan during their meeting Monday at 6 p.m. at the Manheim Township Municipal Offices, 1840 Municipal Drive.
Kirpa has petitioned the township for a zoning ordinance amendment which would change roughly three-quarters of the 26.77-acre property from commercial zoning to medium/high-density residential, and increase the maximum building density allowed on the site. It wants the changes so it can build five standalone, three-story apartment buildings, according to a zoning amendment petition filed with the township.
The developer also wants the township to allow buildings up to 55 feet tall in the B-3 commercial zoning district, for the proposed hotel; and houses of worship up to 20,000 square feet in the medium/high-density residential zone.
The proposed zoning ordinance amendment only affects large properties located along major roads. To use the increased maximum building density, the developer would still have to purchase Transferable Development Rights, credits which go toward farmland preservation in the township.
The deadline for the commissioners to issue a decision is Dec. 27, 60 days from the hearing date.
Residents say that the requested building density does not fit with the surrounding area. During a one-hour hearing last month, 10 residents spoke and all were opposed to the project.
"I just don't want to see Lancaster become a Philadelphia suburb," said Laura McCamant, who said she returned to Lancaster after living in several other states.
The township planning commission voted 7-0 to recommend approval of the amendment in September.
Scaled-back plans
Earlier this fall, the developer scaled back its original zoning ordinance amendment petition to allow increased building height and density without purchasing Transferable Development Rights. At the time, it wanted to build four-story apartment buildings. Past and present township commissioners criticized that request for undermining the township's Transferable Development Rights program.
The Lancaster County Planning commission had recommended approval of the original amendment in August, but noted that it had reservations about impacts on the Transferrable Development Rights program. It hasn't officially reviewed the amendment since then.
Kirpa's proposal has a similar set of uses as the Oregon Village project. That project, which was the subject of four years of legal wrangling, went through multiple unsuccessful iterations which either failed to get zoning approval or had approval overturned on appeal.
If Kirpa's proposed amendment is approved, the developer would still be required to get land development approval from the township commissioners and approval from PennDOT.
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{{byline}} Dec 31, 1969