The Middletown Township Planning Board meeting was swamped with residents Wednesday night as nearly 80 people came to protest the proposal of a 480 unit housing development in what some residents call “the last open space in Levittown.”
Ingerman Building Company (IBC) representatives said their proposed 480 unit complex, which will consist of 374 apartments spread through 22 buildings and 106 three floor townhouses spread through 11 buildings, will aim towards young families and elderly couples or “renters by choice.”
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The units will be situated off Woodbourne Road behind Kmart at the site of the old Langhorne Speedway.
The plans also call for a community building, places for recreation, and 1,085 spaces of parking.IBC representatives say that the units will provide a “buffer area” between the residential area of Middletown and the bustle of Route 1.
However, the residents of the township believe that the building of the units will only cause trouble.Many of those who spoke during public comment said that if the buildings were to be built, there would be an increase in traffic on what residents claim are already dangerously congested roads and there would be detrimental flooding problems, especially in the Highland Park area.
Credit: Kelly Armstrong/LevittownNow.com
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One resident who spoke even gave the planning board photos of the multiple floods that went through the township in 1993 as a reminder of the destruction a lack of drainage in the area can cause.
Residents also made clear their wish to hold onto what little pieces of open space they have left not only for the beauty of the township, but for the town’s beloved local wildlife. According to zoning reports, Middletown only has about 17 acres of open space for every 1,000 acres, which totals to only 1.7 percent of open space.
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But residents may not have to worry for some time. Several town officials, including the Director of Zoning Patrick Duffy and Township Engineer Wayne Kiefer said that from the plans that were given to them by the company, there are some changes that need to be made before the building of the units can even be considered.
Some of these changes include the township changing the lot from a commercial to a residential lot, the building company lowering the proposed amount of units in apartment blocks from 22 to 16 to fit with township standards, and the conduction of “a detailed analysis of the current stormwater management basin” by the empty lot along with “analyzing the possibility of expanding it [the stormwater basin].”
A popular alternate proposal from residents was instead of using the lot for commercial or residential purposes, the township should convert the empty lot into a park.
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As for IBC, they intend to keep their options open and continue to work with the people of Middletown Township to try and work this project out.
Development Principal Lara Schwager said after the meeting “We [IBC] are going to assess the discussions we had tonight, we are going to continue a dialogue with the residents and the town and after we do that we will make some decisions on how to go forward.”
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