LIBERTY
TOWNSHIP, Pa. – By 2023, Liberty Township could be more
than 150 percent its current size if a settlement agreement
reached between the Liberty Township Supervisors and Wormald
Companies is approved by an Adams County judge.
The
Liberty Township Supervisors released the details of the
agreement during their Dec. 4 meeting. Three years in negotiations,
the supervisors, Wormald Companies and 80 percent of the
property owners most affected by the development have signed
off on the agreement.
“Originally,
there were 1181 house properties in the original plan,”
said Supervisor Chairman Peter Foscato. “That has
now dropped to 499.”
In
addition, the Liberty Estates section of the 701-acre development
has decreased from 106 houses to 70. All of the houses in
the new plan will be single-family homes with lots no smaller
than 7,000 square feet rather than the mix originally proposed.
The
new concept plan clusters the houses more to create additional
large areas of open space. In the Liberty Estates design,
32 percent of the space is preserved and the open space
plan has 60 percent of its space preserved.
“By
us owning so many acres, what it’s done is preserve
300-some acres in perpetuity,” Developer Ed Wormald
said.
Overall,
about 10 percent of the land is expected to have an impervious
surface, which is nearly half of what the original plan
called for.
“It
provides areas for the rainwater to regenerate our aquifer,”
said Supervisor Vice Chairman John Bostek. “We took
that into account as we went through this.”
Though
the number of houses in the plan has been cut by more than
half, residents still had concerns about the number of houses
and the impact of those houses on area wells and voiced
them to the supervisors.
“To
add 200 homes, 500 feet from my house, that worries me,”
said resident Bill Arnold.
Pump
testing for the Wormald wells will be expanded beyond the
typical timeframe to make sure the water usage from those
wells does not adversely affect neighboring wells. If it
does, Wormald would have to mitigate the impact. New roads
will also be constructed without curbing to encourage water
to runoff the impervious surface and percolate through the
ground.
“It
would appear that there is enough water underneath this
valley that three Wormald developments could go in,”
Bostek said.
Liberty
Township has 914 residents or around 365 homes. The new
Wormald plan for 569 houses represent a 156 percent increase
over 15 years. No new homes would be constructed until the
fifth year after final approval of the final design.
Besides
Wormald, Liberty Township is expecting two additional development
proposals, though none near the size of Wormald. The Mirage
development is for 42 houses and the Steel and Associates
projected size is 174 houses.
The
agreement allows for some potential tax benefits to current
residents. “We have significantly reduced the number
of roads in this neighborhood that will come to a state
or township road,” Foscato said.
He
explained that because these roads will be maintained by
the homeowners’ association, current township residents
will not incur additional expenses to maintain the roads
while new residents’ taxes will help pay for current
road maintenance.
One
supervisor did see a possible cost increase. “I could
see our police department probably increasing,” Supervisor
Paul Harner said.
The
signed agreement now goes before Adams County Judge Michael
George, who will have the final say.
