A roughly 21-acre property that previously was home to the closed and now-demolished Lafayette Elementary School in Bristol Township will soon be the site of 88 new residences.
Bristol Township Council on Thursday evening approved preliminary and final land development that will allow builder DR Horton, which is among the largest homebuilders in the nation, to construct 88 55-plus residences spread among 44 structures at 4201 Fayette Drive.
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The developer has proposed one in-and-out entrance along Fayette Drive, and an emergency access point if the main road is blocked.
The development will abut the PECO right-of-way for the high voltage lines and county-owned Silver Lake Park.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Nate Fox, an attorney representing the project, said the developer took into account feedback from township officials and moved the residences a bit closer to the new street to give more separation between existing homes.
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“We do think the plan came out nicely,” Fox told council members.
The site has been prone to flooding, and an engineer for the project said the development will include stormwater improvements for the property, including several water detention areas.
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The engineer said the there’s presently no stormwater management at the site, and the development would add them to help mitigate future flooding events.
The development is designed with new stormwater systems to handle a 100-year storm, the engineer said.
There is a large drain pipe that sat behind the former school that was clogged, which has recently was cleared out. The engineer said the developer is working on ideas to improve it, but they are currently leaning toward replacing it with newer pipe system.
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A resident raised concerns about traffic from the development and whether one intersection will suffice.
The traffic engineer for the project said they have determined one entrance and exit works for the project.
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The residents followed up by mentioning speeding is a problem in the area.
Council President Craig Bowen said the township is exploring ways to tackle speeding in neighborhoods, including adding speed bumps in some places.
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With development plans approved, builder DR Horton is expected to pay the school district between $800,000 and $900,000 for the plot of land.
DR Horton officials have said the goal is to provide age-qualified housing for local residents. Prices haven’t been set for the proposed residences, but the builder said they are aiming to make them more affordable than other similar neighborhoods in Bucks County.
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The goal, according to a DR Horton, is to start construction in spring 2023.
In 2019, Premium Excavating and Demolition of Falls Township took down the closed Lafayette and Maple Shade elementary schools under a 2018 contract to abate toxic materials and demolish the buildings.
McGrath Homes recently bought the 17.5-acre John Fitch Elementary School on Greenbrook Drive, 10-acre Abraham Lincoln Elementary School on Plumtree Drive, and 17-acre George Washington Elementary School for $1.2 million. The plan is construct 55-plus housing developments at those sites.
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At the former Maple Shade school site on a V-shaped 5.7-acre lot along Newport Road in Croydon, Maple Shade Development LLC, which is connected to Falls Township-based Premium Excavating and Demolition, is seeking to turn the land into 24 single-family homes.
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