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The Spring Township Zoning Hearing Board has heard a request for zoning relief from developers for a 30-unit apartment complex on 5.48 acres at 2917 Windmill Road.
The plans would raze two office buildings on the east side of the Spring Commons business park between Windmill and Shillington roads and replace them with the three low-rise apartment buildings.
Each building would be two stories and contain 10 units each, five per floor.
No decision on the zoning relief was issued, and board members offered little comment at the hearing Wednesday.
Steve Buck, representing developer and property owner Shore Associates, said the Spring Commons property is seeking variances from requirements that the land — located in the mixed-use planned office/business district — contain a certain percentage of residential, office and retail space.
Township zoning rules limit residential areas to 10% to 50% of the property’s total floor space.
The proposed apartment complex would take up 64% of the floor space, said Craig Bonenberger, project engineer with McCarthy Engineering.
In addition, the zoning rules require each property to devote a percentage of its space to retail uses.
Marie Belote, executive vice president of Montrose Realty, which manages the property, said developers investigated incorporating retail into the plans, but the site lacks easy access along the heavily trafficked Route 724, also known as Shillington Road.
Belote said adding additional access wasn’t feasible due to the property’s layout, meaning retail customers would have to drive an additional distance to enter the site from Iroquois Avenue or Spohn Road.
For that reason, developers are also requesting a variance to allow the property to have no retail use, Buck said.
“This property is cursed by having great frontage but no access,” Bonenburger said. “For retail, especially small shops, if you can’t pull into it, nobody is going to go searching up the road to find it.”
Developers are also seeking a special exception for the apartment complex use.
Belote noted one of the office buildings to be raised suffered fire damage and is vacant.
Bonenberger said he thought the project would benefit the area by installing aesthetically pleasing buildings and bringing additional business to surrounding retail areas.
Two residents said they had concerns about the project.
Resident Joseph DeSimole said he frequents a CVS near the site and current traffic levels already make it difficult to enter the store.
He worried the added traffic from the apartments could create a safety issue and that adding more residents to the Wilson School District could negatively impact school taxes.
Adalia Rios, owner of Acacia Flower and Gift Shop, located next to the proposed construction, said her main concern was over the noise and truck traffic created by the demolition.
Zoning hearing board members offered no comments Wednesday.
A decision on the variances and the exception are expected to be issued at the hearing board’s next meeting March 8 at 7 p.m.
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