Attorney James Preston represented PA Venture Capital at the East Allen Township public hearing May 13.

Preston presented updated details on Farmhouse Mews, a proposed townhouse development bounded by Airport, Hanoverville and Jacksonville roads. The 88-unit townhouse development will include neighborhood retail stores along Airport Road.

David Harte, vice president with PA Venture Capital, is the engineer for the project. The project spreads across two townships, East Allen and Hanover, Northampton County. The majority of the townhouses, 66 units, are in East Allen. Preston indicated that the developer would pursue the project as a joint project between the two townships.

East Allen Township approved a similar project in 2009, which the developer never implemented.

Preston presented the design as an update of the original plan. The latest plan eliminates single-family homes originally proposed, adding more townhouses to the design.

According to Harte, the plan complies with all township requirements as outlined in zoning ordinances.

As originally planned, the streets in the development would be private and maintained by a homeowners association.

Supervisor Mark Schwartz said he is reluctant to have a homeowners association responsible for road maintenance.

"At some point, [the roads] come back to us and we have to take over the streets because the association is broke," he said.

According to Preston, changes have been made to the laws that aim to prevent the problem.

The biggest issue in the discussion was the width of the internal roadways. The developer wants to keep them at 28 feet. Township Engineer Daniel Miller wants to call them streets, which would require a width of 50 feet. Increasing the width would throw density calculations into disarray and dictate less townhouses on the parcel.

Preston argued that a competent engineer from Hanover Engineering approved the internal roadways at the widths shown.

Property owners along Jacksonville Road are opposed to the project because it detracts from the near-rural atmosphere around their homes. They are in favor of decreasing the number of homes if the project cannot be stopped.

The number two complaint was parking. Adequate parking is provided, but Miller questioned the location of the parking.

"The ordinance requires parking to be accessible to the unit. Some of the parking is 300 feet from the unit," he said.

The developer met the requirement for two parking spaces per unit by including a one-car garage and a parking spot in the driveway.

Miller said a parking space must have clear access to a road without moving another vehicle.

Fire Marshall Ray Anthony asked that parking along the internal roads be banned.

"With a street width of 28 feet, we would have trouble setting up our equipment if a car was parked along the road," he said.

The fire engine requires a 20-foot set-up width. Anthony will not approve a design that blocks townhouse access.

"The back doors are sometimes blocked while the owner contemplates a deck addition. This is not acceptable," he said.

The point of dual access and egress from the townhouse was first addressed by Schwartz.

The conditions for approval identified by Miller were available earlier in the day. The developer did not have time to review the details and determine the impact the conditions would have on the design. Based on a letter from the planning commission, the project was approved with the conditions cited.

The developer asked for time to assess the conditions. The public hearing will resume May 28 at 7 p.m. at the municipal building.

This public hearing is for conditional use approval to determine if the proposed project meets township requirements.