Board seeks to-scale drawings
By: Jake Uitti
ROCKY HILL A conclusion to the controversial Schafer Tract hearings in the borough was prolonged yet again Thursday because of a lack of to-scale plans on the part of the applicant, the Pulte/Schafer Group.
In the fifth installment of the hearings which specifically related to the architecture of the development board member Tom Roshetar, along with others on the board, pointed out that the applicant did not provide the necessary, ordinance-required one-eighth-scale drawings of the buildings in its packet of materials.
The applicant proposes to build 34 age-restricted, single-family homes in 17 duplex-style buildings called the Rocky Hill Estates.
"They should have been part of the packet and somehow it slipped through that they weren’t," Mr. Roshetar said Monday, "and I thought they were important to see."
Instead, the applicant provided only a computerized picture of what a duplex-style building would look like from a single perspective.
"We’re discussing buildings," Mr. Roshetar said at the hearing. "I would like to see what a complete building looks like," adding, "How are we supposed to vote looking at an artist’s rendering? I want to see the buildings to scale."
There are two ordinances to which the applicants must conform, officials said the borough’s zoning ordinance and the borough’s historic district ordinance.
"Testimony is not complete yet," Mr. Roshetar said Monday. "Until I have heard all the testimony, I have not formed an opinion."
At Thursday’s hearing, Mr. Roshetar said, "Seeing these buildings as they’re going to be is very relevant to the historic preservation ordinance."
In responding to requests to compare the housing units to existing houses in Rocky Hill’s historic district, the applicant’s architect, Dave Griffiths, said there is one building in the borough that has comparable volume to each of the 17 duplex-style buildings proposed in Rocky Hill Estates, and another that is about three-quarters the size and another that is about two-thirds the size.
Despite that, Mr. Griffiths said the size and scale of all the Estates’ buildings are "sensitive to," and "in compliance with," the other buildings in the borough’s historic district.
Mike DiGeronimo of Looney Ricks Kiss, a planning consultant representing the borough, said the to-scale plans "would be worthwhile to see," especially from a street perspective. The other borough-hired professionals agreed.
Several other members of the Planning Board also voiced concern with the lack of to-scale plans.
Catherine Cann, Julia Hasser and Andrew Youtz all expressed a strong desire to see the plans.
Ms. Cann said of the building plans, "I think they are key to what we are talking about. I think we can imagine them, but I don’t think we should have to imagine them."
Planning Board Chairman Charles Pihokken said, "It’s one thing for a person giving testimony to say (their plans) are compatible. It’s another thing to for us to see the picture. Pictures of examples would make it easier for the board to understand the point you’re trying to make."
Residents, including former Planning Board members Susan Bristol and Jeanette Muser, spoke out against the project Thursday, saying the buildings were not compatible with the borough’s other buildings and its historic ordinance.
Ms. Bristol has been an outspoken critic of the Rocky Hill Estates, saying they are not compatible with the traditional neighborhood development techniques within the borough’s historic district.
The board will again review the application 7:30 p.m. June 29 at First Reformed Church.