Thursday, August 13, 2009
Skippack, PA, – Haines & Kibblehouse, Inc. (H&K) announced today that the development team for The Preserve at Historic Cornwall Village has completed a red-lined draft of the Planned Development Overlay District for the project and has forwarded a copy to the Borough’s consultant, Josele Cleary, from Morgan, Hallgren, Crosswell & Kane, P.C. for her review and comments. This amendment, proposed in draft form as "Article 17," was officially provided to Cornwall Borough Council for comment and review on July 31, 2009.
This draft Article proposes a Planned Development Overlay District within the existing Cornwall Borough Zoning Ordinance. The project team consisting of representatives from H&K, Heuser Design, k 2 Design Strategies, and C. O’Brien Architects, Inc., is proposing regulations within the existing Cornwall Borough Zoning Ordinance that would provide for a more flexible development opportunity or scenario within that portion of the Borough that is currently defined by the limits of the proposed Preserve at Historic Cornwall Village. The proposed Article would seek relief from Article 23 within the existing Zoning Ordinance.
The current development plan requiring said zoning relief calls for some 590 homes to be built on the 570-acre site with a hotel, water park, marina and other associated lake-based recreation areas and facilities. The project is proposed on lands currently owned by H&K, and is situated within and/or around a water-filled impoundment or lake that was once the site of historic iron ore mining that occurred in association with Cornwall Furnace (circa 1742-1883) and later Bethlehem Steel, who extracted ore for steel production until 1973.
H&K presently maintains three (3) active Large Noncoal (Industrial Minerals) Surface Mining Permits on this site and if the proposed zoning amendment is approved by Cornwall Borough Council and the Planned Development project moves forward, the existing rock crushing operation, as well as future plans for concrete and asphalt batch plant facilities, would ultimately be abandoned by H&K.
Additional information concerning H&K’s current proposal for The Preserve at Historic Cornwall Village may be directly obtained or reviewed at the offices of Cornwall Borough (phone: 717.274.3436), or by contacting Paul Callahan, Special Projects Coordinator, at H&K corporate (phone: 610.584.8500).