New apartment complex approved in Saxonburg
SAXONBURG — At their monthly meeting on Tuesday evening, Aug. 20, the borough council approved the site and subdivision plans for the Hickory Knolls apartment complex, which is planned to be built in an open field on Rebecca Street across the road from the Saxonburg Museum and Roebling Park.
The current plans for the complex call for three, two-story apartment buildings on the 3.278-acre space. Each apartment will feature three bedrooms and two bathrooms, as well as a washer and dryer. The price point for each apartment is estimated at $1,600 per month.
At one point, plans called for four separate buildings, but after conferring with the borough, the owners — listed as Hickory Knolls LLC in county property records — amended their plan.
“A preference was stated that three buildings would be preferable, so the design was completed for three buildings,” said Bob Maher of Gateway Engineers, who spoke on behalf of the owners on Monday night. “There’s a lot more open space. It’s less cluttered. It’s a balanced-looking plan as well.”
The complex will feature 16 apartments: eight in one building and four in each of the other two buildings.
According to Maher, the estimated daily traffic at the site is 230 trips per day, nowhere near the amount of 3,000 trips which would necessitate commissioning a traffic impact study.
Hickory Knolls LLC purchased the parcel of land from Abella Enterprise Corp. in June for $307,500. Prior to this, the land belonged to the Du-Co ceramics plant.
This same apartment complex went before the borough council in February, but the council bumped it back to the borough’s planning commission.
