On Thursday afternoon, Woods Services announced they putting their plans for an apartment building on their campus on hold for now.
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Woods Services has brought their plans, with requests for variances, before the Middletown Township Zoning Hearing Board. A hearing on the plans was slated for September.
Woods Services, which serves those with a variety of intellectual and developmental disabilities, had proposed a multi-story building with 42 attainable/affordable apartments for a 19-acre spot on the the 285-acre Woods campus in Middletown Township.
The proposal named the facility Maple View. It would be located at Woods Services’ Beechwood NeuroRehab property at 469 East Maple Avenue near Middletown Township’s border with Langhorne Borough.
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“After considerable review and discussion, Woods Services has decided to defer its application for variances to the Middletown Zoning Board for the Maple View attainable housing building on our Beechwood NeuroRehab property,” a Thursday statement from Woods Services said.
“We are merely taking some time to consider our options,” Woods Services Senior Vice President of Communications and Development Cheryl Kauffman said.
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Woods Service attorneys informed the township Thursday morning they would be deferring its application for variances.
Woods Services sought variances for apartment use and more dwelling units per acre than normally permitted in the R-1 zoning district. In order to avoid needing to apply for another exception to exceed the 35-foot building height limit, Woods Services planned to make the building three floors tall instead of the four stories that were originally planned.
Nine apartment would be for Woods Services clients, nine for tenants referred by Bucks County officials, and the other units would be used by Woods Services’ employees and the general public.
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“Facilitating housing that is affordable for people with disabilities, their caregivers and others remains important to Woods in all the communities where we provide services, just like it was important to our founder Mollie Woods,” Woods Services said in the statement.
Many of the residents who raised concern at recent public meetings on the project spoke of traffic problems.
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Reporter Chris English contributed to this article.
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