FORWARD TWP — Residents of Forward Township got a look at plans for the proposed Walnut Square mixed-use residential and commercial space on Thursday night, Feb. 13.

Adrian Halterlein, principal architect of Halterlein Design & Consulting, presented the plans before the township board of supervisors during its monthly meeting. He and developer Frank Shipley, who owns the property, sought a variance to reduce the setbacks around the planned town houses.

The plans for Walnut Square — which would be located at the corner of Reibold and Spithaler School roads — call for 54 two-bedroom townhomes, each with its own garage, along with two warehouses and one 5,000-square-foot retail space. According to township manager Tom Hartwig, the plans are for the commercial space to house a convenience store or a drive-through fast food restaurant.

Developers requested, and were approved for, a variance to reduce the setbacks for the townhomes from 50 feet from the edge of the road — the amount required by the Forward Township code — to 25 feet.

Halterlein said the variance was necessary to fit the desired number of 54 townhomes onto the property, as the developers have to work around two high-pressure gas mains that run through the site. He added without the approval of the variance, the project would have to be drastically reduced in scope.

“Because there’s no way to get the units in there, the majority of these units would go away,” Halterlein said. “You’d go from 54 units to 24, most likely.”

To address concerns about parking, Halterlein said current plans for the development call for 238 parking spaces, including 22 spaces for on-street parking.

According to Hartwig, the variance was recommended for approval at a planning commission meeting Jan. 23 before being approved by the board of supervisors on Thursday night.

However, during the meeting, planning commission Chairman Steve Longwell clarified this was a very early step toward the development coming to fruition.

“This is just approving the modification for the setback,” Longwell said. “We haven’t gotten to the point of preliminary approval yet. They need this to continue the process and finalize more of the details that we're discussing for preliminary approval.”