- South Whitehall Planning Commission has recommended final approval for Phase 1B of Ridge Farms
- The development has been controversial in the township since it first was proposed in late 2017
- The plan now goes to the township Board of Commissioners, which will vote on whether to grant final approval
SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — A controversial mixed-use development soon will face a vote for final approval.
South Whitehall Planning Commission recommended final approval for Phase 1B of Ridge Farms, a development that would include housing, shops and outdoor eateries.
Phase 1B of the project includes five apartment buildings with a total of 60 units, 14 two-unit dwelling units (seven pairs of twins) and various road extensions. It would be northwest of the intersection of Walbert Avenue and Cedar Crest Boulevard.
Phase 1A of the plan, which includes a St. Luke's medical office, already has final approval from the township.
Ridge Farms sparked controversy in the township in late 2017, with hundreds of residents coming to township meetings to raise concerns about the development.
The motion to recommend approval passed 3-2, with Planning Commission members Brian Hite and Diane Kelly voting no and Chairman David Wilson abstaining. The recommendation for approval came with a list of 27 conditions.
Kelly also is president of the township Board of Commissioners. She was elected to the board in 2019, during the height of the debates surrounding Ridge Farms.
"We need to still remember those conditional use hearings, and the concerns that were vetted during those meetings. And one was how are these going to look like."Planning Commission member Brian Hite
Both Kelly and Hite expressed concern over the renderings of the apartments and houses in Phase 1B, saying they looked different than the renderings presented during the conditional use hearings.
"I don't know how many people from the community compared to those days are in the in meeting right now," Hite said.
"But I think as a planning commission, we need to still remember those conditional use hearings, and the concerns that were vetted during those meetings. And one was how are these going to look like."
The plan now goes to the township Board of Commissioners, which will vote on whether to grant final approval. The deadline for the board to act is Oct. 31, leaving two meetings next month at which the vote could occur.
Work at the site has started, with excavation, stormwater piping installation and temporary traffic signal work set to continue on the site through the rest of the year.
The township Board of Commissioners granted conditional use approval for the project in 2019. Commissioners at the time said they were legally required to grant it because the plan met the necessary requirements for approval.
They said they would face legal trouble, as other municipalities have, if they did not approve it. Others have disagreed.
Since the plan's preliminary approval in 2021, the Planning Commission has considered the final plan for Phase 1B many times but has not taken action.
Debate over design
The previously shown renderings for the apartments had gable roofs as a way to conform with the design of nearby houses. But the renderings presented in the Phase 1B final plan had a more modern look, which Kelly said was not presented to the public.
"As we reviewed this, I have not ever seen this photograph in any of those meetings and I know none of our community members would have either," Kelly said.
"So I'm a bit concerned with significant change that's proposed compared to what was illustrated to the public."
But the representatives from the project argued that the township ordinance does not require the building design in the conditional use hearings to stay the same throughout the approval process, saying the pictures "are there for illustrative purposes only."
Planning Commission member Mark Leuthe agreed.
"At the end of the day, y'all got windows and doors, walls and a roof," Leuthe said.
"I don't know that there was a record promised anybody that what you see on this paper is what you're gonna get. And if someone doesn't like something that doesn't have a gable [roof], they don't have to rent it."
Township Planner Gregg Adams said in an interview after the meeting that the control a municipality has over the design of the buildings in a project is a "legal gray area" and that commissioners will have the final say.
