CRANBERRY TWP — Supervisors entertained three public hearings during an agenda preparation meeting on Thursday, Feb. 27.

At the first of those hearings was C&M Play Studio, a popular day care in Allegheny County, which wants to expand and take over an existing 15,730- square-foot space at 3120 Unionville Road in the Cranberry Business Park.

No land development is required for the new day care that will share the building with Johnson Controls, a fire protection services company.

Owners plan to create a fenced-in outdoor play area complete with multiple safety bollards for protection of a maximum of 250 children who will occupy the new space.

There are also plans for a gymnasium to be built inside the facility. The day care will serve children up to 3 years old and will limit 20 children to each room.

Supervisors will consider final approval at Thursday’s regular meeting.

Supervisors also held public hearings on two ordinance amendments and received more detail on both from Ron Henshaw, township Planning and Development Services director.

One hearing centered around several changes to a newly combined multistory, multiple-family dwelling ordinance, which if approved, will affect traditional apartment buildings.

A notable change will look to limit where those buildings are located throughout the township and make them multipurpose uses.

“We want these kind of developments to be cohesive and to be with other uses,” Henshaw said. “That’s part of what this ordinance seeks to achieve.”

Another relevant adjustment will mandate those buildings have access to signalized intersections for safety reasons.

The second hearing focused on revising a zoning amendment related to timber harvesting.

Officials were informed Cranberry was not in compliance with the state’s ACRE Act by registered forestry experts who were seeking to perform timber harvesting in the township.

After learning that information, staff members worked to rewrite the current ordinance that would put the township in compliance with the act, which is meant to protect property owners with forested areas and trees from local ordinances that might violate state law.

Henshaw explained the rewritten ordinance includes keeping a 25-foot buffer from the timbering areas wherever there is green space and a 50-foot buffer wherever there are adjacent homes.

Both of those ordinance amendments will be up for consideration at Thursday’s regular meeting which starts at 6:30 p.m. in the municipal center.