During a workshop about Emmitsburg’s
draft comprehensive plan on Feb. 22, Andy Mackintosh with
Mackintosh Realtor spoke with the town planning and zoning
commissioners about how a development he would like to build
could also benefit the town.
“We are trying to work with the town
to deal with the traffic problem,” Mackintosh said
in an interview.
Mackintosh offered to build the proposed
parkway that would help take southbound traffic from Pennsylvania
southwest around Emmitsburg to South Seton Avenue. He estimated
that the cost of construction would be around $10 million
for the parkway, which he projects would be slightly longer
than a mile.
“I can’t build the road first
and not have any houses,” Mackintosh said. “The
road and the houses need to happen together.”
Mackintosh has two pieces of property totaling
about 200 acres. The project involves properties known as
the Frailey and Keepers farms, bounded by Frailey and Annandale
roads.
The property as medium-density residential
could have 5 to 10 houses per acre or roughly 1,000 to 2,000
houses total. Mackintosh told the planning and zoning commission,
he would expect the project to have about 1,100-1,200 houses.
Chris Jakubiak, the town’s planning
consultant, told the commission, “If we do nothing,
by 2008, we’ll have 1112 (households).” This
means Mackintosh’s proposed development would double
the size of Emmitsburg over the next generation.
If 50 houses a year were constructed, this
would mean build-out of the development would take about
24 years. This does not take into account the time needed
to get to the construction phase.
“If everything went smoothly with
no hiccups, it would take 5-6 years before you would see
a house,” Mackintosh said.
Mackintosh envisions the project having
a mix of condominiums, townhouses and single-family houses,
but also commercial uses. There might also be trails and
parks.
“We could have a linear park along
the parkway,” Mackintosh said. “We could have
a mountain bike trail with a bridge over Toms Creek.”
He also suggested the stone house on the
property could be turned into a bed and breakfast and Emmitsburg’s
Main Street appearance could be carried through to the new
development.
Mackintosh knows there will be some opposition
to his proposal, but he plans to hold a number of public
meetings with residents to hear their comments and concerns
and discuss them.
