Buffalo Township housing project gets conditional use permit
BUFFALO TWP — The board of supervisors opened the door Wednesday, Feb. 14, for another housing development in the township.
At their monthly meeting, supervisors granted Laurel Hills Partners a conditional use permit to build a planned residential development on a parcel of land located along Route 356.
According to Brett Schultz of Laurel Hills, the current plans for the development call for 61 single-family homes and 41 multi-family townhomes. The parcels of land in question take up a combined 30 acres, and are located near Buffalo Elementary School and adjacent to the Twin Oaks neighborhood.
The board also granted Laurel Hills’ request to change the zoning for the parcel from business to residential.
This is the second time that Laurel Hills Partners has brought their plans for a housing development in Buffalo Township before the board of supervisors. The first plan, which was submitted in late 2021, called for multi-family homes only, and also requested a zoning change.
According to Schultz, trends in the housing market were the reason Laurel Hills Partners did not go forward with their original plans.
“Approximately two years ago we had a plan submitted to the township. It was a strictly multi-family development,” said Schultz. “We have switched gears a little bit to include a single family. Due to the demand that’s out there right now, we made that switch.”
A “conditional use permit“ is a special exemption which a municipality can choose to grant to land owners who use their property in ways that don’t strictly conform to the zoning ordinance. In this case, Laurel Hills’ new plans call for a mix of single-family and multi-family homes, which prompted Laurel Hills to request the change from B-1 back to R-1.
“The strictly multi-family homes were available as a conditional use in the B-1 zone,” Schultz said. “The mixed use that we’re proposing at this point is not permitted in the B-1 zone.”
Both the zoning amendment and the conditional use permit were given preliminary approval by the township’s planning commission at their meeting Jan. 3.
As township solicitor Brian Farrington noted, the approval of the conditional use does not constitute a final “green light“ for the developers to start work on the project.
“This application should not be construed as a tentative approval of the planned residential development,” Farrington said. “It is for the sole purpose of the developer's application for a conditional use.”
Prior to the board of supervisors meeting on Wednesday night, there were public hearings regarding both the zoning ordinance amendment and the conditional use permit.
