Planning Board Approves Roxboro Road Subdivision

A plan to build six homes and a stormwater detention basin to serve them on an approximately 1.8-acre lot at 125 Roxboro Rd. was granted preliminary site plan approval by the Lawrence Township Planning Board Monday night, Dec. 19. 

A seventh home was eliminated from the proposed subdivision following a . 

The residents said they fear the new development could jeopardize their yards and basements with stormwater and groundwater from underground springs diverted their way by construction of the new homes. Presently there is only one vacant home – which would be demolished – on the tree-filled property, which backs onto Fieldboro Drive.

After the preliminary approval was granted, developers Edward D. Bucci and Edward M. Bucci said they hoped to be before the board for final approval in January or February.  "We'd like to start clearing the land in the winter," Edward D. Bucci said. "That's the easiest time to do it."

The Bucci father-and-son team was represented at the meeting by land-use attorney Richard Schatzman and planning engineer Francis Goeke.

Goeke said that, in addition to eliminating the seventh house, the plan brought before the board Monday night had eliminated an underground stormwater storage system, which had been a concern of the neighbors. The above-ground detention basin in the new plan would be made curvi-linear in shape and would be able to handle a 100-year storm, Goeke testified.

He said that, after most storms, the basin would drain empty in less than 24 hours.  The water will be piped from the basin to a downgrade stream.  In response to a concern voiced by neighbors, he said water will not be in the basin long enough to allow mosquitoes to breed there.   

"There will be a wall at the east end of the basin," Goeke said.  Shrubbery will obscure the wall from the views of neighbors, he said.

The new development will have a homeowners association that will be responsible for maintaining the detention basin, the Buccis said.

A woman who said she's lived on Roxboro Road for 60 years said she was sorry to see the new homes coming.  "This is one of the loveliest parts of town," she said.  "This development will change the whole neighborhood."

Another man said the new homes were likely to "not fit in" with the look of the homes already in the neighborhood.  Board members and professional consultants said they had no authority to make aesthetic requirements of the developers.  

The plan required no variances or waivers.  

While dozens of trees will have to be cut from the lot to allow for construction, Schatzman noted that the number of trees the Buccis will have in the development when the job is complete will be more than what is required by the township land-use code.    

See Also: “Roxboro Road Project Gains Board Approval” (Lawrence Ledger)