Old Road tract eyed for senior housing

Little Rocky Hill could be home to an adult community

By:David Weinstein
   
   A 400-unit adult community proposed for a 225-acre site in Little Rocky Hill still has a fighting chance.
   The proposal, which seeks a zoning change to allow an age-restricted development and more housing units, was rejected by the township Planning Board in February, but now is being considered by the Township Council.
   The council agreed Tuesday to have an ordinance drafted to be introduced next week.
   The land is located east of Old Road and north of the Wynwood and Princeton Gate Developments.
   The development would be restricted to residents 55 years or older.
   Part of the property is zoned for one unit per acre, with the rest being zoned for three units per acre. Under the zoning, a maximum of 275 unrestricted single-family houses could be built on the property. About 30 acres are wetland.
   Toll Brothers, a national developer headquartered in Pennsylvania that owns the rights to the land, wants the Township Council to designate the whole area rezoned for Planned Adult Residential Community, allowing both the age restriction and an increase in density to more than two units per acre.
   Planning Board members voted 6-3 to deny a similar plan. The board said that since the township is revisiting the Master Plan this year, it would be prudent to wait until then to address the issue.
   The board also said there are several undeveloped PARC designated zones already in the township. Waiting until development of those areas before deciding to rezone another large parcel also would be prudent, the board said then.
   But Mr. Fuller presented a somewhat different plan Tuesday night from that rejected on Feb. 3.
   Little Rocky Hill residents continually have said the project would cause a traffic nightmare in the area. The destruction of mature woodlands as well is a bone of contention between residents and developer.
   In the original plan, the main access to the development would have been Old Road, a two-lane road that residents said is not safe for increased traffic flow.
   Toll Brothers acknowledged the plan would create increased traffic flow, but has said the PARC development would cause less of an increase than a regular subdivision. Toll Brothers also has a separate application before the Planning Board to build a more typical single-family subdivision on the same property. Officials assume the firm would activate that application in the event the age-restricted development is denied.
   Under the new PARC plan presented Tuesday night, Mr. Fuller said the acquisition of additional property will allow them to nix the Old Road plan and have the main access and egress directly to Route 27.
   Mr. Fuller also said Tuesday his company would consider decreasing the proposed number of units by possibly striking 25 to 30 units from the project. His offer came in response to a question from Mayor Debra Johnson, who asked if there was any leeway in the density Toll Brothers had projected for the project.
   Councilman Ted Van Hessen voted against hearing further from Toll Brothers, telling Robert Fuller, a Toll Brothers vice-president who presented the project to the council, “I’m not going to support this for a number of reasons. Your presentation tonight convinced me of this.”
   Mr. Van Hessen was in the minority, however.
   Councilman Frank Gambatese favored the proposal.
   “I believe this is productive for the township,” he said, adding that instead of single-family homes, which would bring more students to the district’s schools, he’d rather have a PARC development.
   Mr. Fuller emphasized strongly that there would be no strain on the schools from a PARC development.
   He also cited statistics which he said showed that the majority of people interested in moving to an age-restricted development would not be moving very far.
   “A majority of people want to stay near where they were born and raised,” Mr. Fuller said.
   Mr. Van Hessen took issue with Mr. Fuller on this point.
   He said each home vacated by someone moving into the adult housing likely would attract a family with children.
   “It’s now up for sale to a family with 2.3 children,” Mr. Van Hessen said hypothetically. “This is not in the best interest of the township.”