The Sanatoga Post

SANATOGA PA – A proposal for a four-story building of garden suite apartments to complete the Buchert Ridge Community at Buchert and Kepler roads received Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Zoning Hearing Board approval Tuesday night (April 19, 2011), but it came with a list of 12 conditions that regulate the height of some nearby buildings, the size of accompanying carports, and placement of landscaping items.

The hearing board did not rule on the height of the apartment building itself, because developer J. Wilmer Hallman of Hallman Retirement Communities, based in Sanatoga PA, earlier agreed it would not exceed township limits. What was considered its excessive height, when first presented, prompted objections in recent months from neighboring property owners.

One such owner, Matthew Cappelletti of 1215 Kepler Rd., Pottstown PA, was represented by legal counsel at earlier hearings. The board’s conclusions of law, to be distributed today (Wednesday, April 20), specifically found Cappelletti did not meet a “burden to prove to a high degree of probability” that he adjoining buildings would “substantially affect the health, safety and welfare of the community.”

The hearing board ruling could be appealed in civil courts.

The board’s several conditions limit the:

• Amount of impervious coverage (like asphalt and buildings) on the parcel;
• Coverage area of the apartments and service buildings;
• Size and placement of landscape buffers on Buchert Road and facing Kepler Road;
• Height of a pedestrian walkway between the apartments and nearby parking garage, the garage itself, adjacent carports an service buildings; and the
• Number and square footage of adjacent carports.

A audience significantly smaller than the crowd that turned out for earlier hearings was on hand to hear the board’s ruling. It was issued shortly after the 6 p.m. start of the board meeting in the township municipal building on Buchert Road.

Related (to Buchert Ridge Community):

• Hallman Apartments At Buchert Ridge Get Zoning OK
• Buchert Ridge Added Sewer Capacity Gets Board OK
• PART Buses Play A Part In Buchert Ridge Building Plans
• Surprise: Height No Longer Zoning Issue At Buchert Ridge
• Over Objections, Commissioners Endorse Buchert Apartments
• Two Expansions Considered On Lower Pottsgrove Agenda
• Accusations Fly At Planners’ Meeting Over Buchert Ridge
• Applications Withdrawn; Township Cancels Zoning Hearings
• Lower Pottsgrove Hearings Set For Apartments, Lighting
• Walk Through These Rooms Without Moving
• Commissioners Warm To Energy-Saving Apartments
• Commissioners Get An Early Start Tonight
• Meeting Moved Up For Buchert Ridge Presentation
• Buchert Ridge Unveiling Final Phase

SANATOGA PA – Sanatoga developer J. Wilmer “Wil” Hallman is scheduled to return next week (Monday, March 28, 2011) to continue a Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Zoning Board public hearing on his plans to build garden-style apartments on Buchert Road. Although the future of the project itself hasn’t been decided, one of its necessary components is now in place.

Hallman’s proposal for his Buchert Ridge Community Phase 2, to be built on the north side of Buchert – just east of Kepler Road and across the street from the Walnut Ridge townhome complex – received approval earlier this month from both Montgomery County and the township Board of Commissioners for the sewer capacity needed to make its construction possible.

The number of apartments available exclusively to senior citizens was expanded in the last version of Hallman’s plans. Eight additional equivalent dwelling units (EDUs) of capacity represented by the expansion were approved by the township Sewer Authority last December (2010), and were later also accepted by the county. Commissioners were the third and last group to make it official, with a unanimous vote during their March 7 (2011) meeting.

Board President Jonathan Spadt was absent and did not vote.

The sewer capacity gives Hallman the opportunity to add the extra apartments if he either wins zoning board approval for variances needed to bring his existing plans to fruition, or if he determines how to build the project within the scope of earlier plan approvals without requiring variances.

“If the zoning’s not approved, then maybe these EDUs go nowhere,” township Manager Rodney Hawthorne told commissioners.

Hallman’s project has run into opposition, primarily from Kepler Road residents, who object to its building height and other features. During the last Zoning Board meeting on Feb. 28, Hallman attorney Charles Garner Jr. said the developer’s request for a height variance was being withdrawn. It means that, if the project is allowed to proceed, it must be built within the height limitations of township law.

Related (to Buchert Ridge Community):

• Buchert Ridge Added Sewer Capacity Gets Board OK
• PART Buses Play A Part In Buchert Ridge Building Plans
• Surprise: Height No Longer Zoning Issue At Buchert Ridge
• Over Objections, Commissioners Endorse Buchert Apartments
• Two Expansions Considered On Lower Pottsgrove Agenda
• Accusations Fly At Planners’ Meeting Over Buchert Ridge
• Applications Withdrawn; Township Cancels Zoning Hearings
• Lower Pottsgrove Hearings Set For Apartments, Lighting
• Walk Through These Rooms Without Moving
• Commissioners Warm To Energy-Saving Apartments
• Commissioners Get An Early Start Tonight
• Meeting Moved Up For Buchert Ridge Presentation
• Buchert Ridge Unveiling Final Phase

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ March 7 meeting):

• Buchert Ridge Added Sewer Capacity Gets Board OK
• Proof Lower Pottsgrove Loves You: Tax Bills In Mail
• Emergency Team Took What February Threw At It
• Board Orders Long-Delayed Drain Repairs … Or Else
• Commissioners Again Reject Boulevard Name Change
• To Those Who Dug Out, Lower Pottsgrove Salutes You
• Commissioners Approve Park Trail Bid Advertising
• Sprogels Run Park Project On Commissioners’ Agenda

A Pottstown Area Rapid Transit bus en route to Sanatoga

SANATOGA PA – Retirement community builder J. Wilmer “Wil” Hallman years ago hoped to win Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township approval of his plans to create an age-restricted housing project on Buchert Road. He wanted to do the right thing too, his attorney explained Monday (Feb. 28, 2011), in solving a problem that troubled the place he also called home.

So at the township’s request, Hallman agreed to include in his plans for what became Buchert Ridge Community, 2011 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA, a paved loop that would serve as a turn-around for Pottstown Area Rapid Transit Inc. (PART) buses. It would mark the east end of their Sanatoga-to-Stowe route, which takes riders primarily along High Street.

In helping the township eliminate what is recognized as a dangerous situation posed by PART, though, Hallman may have inadvertently made problems of his own for Buchert Ridge.

The bus loop was one of several features highlighted by attorney Charles Garner as he spoke during a Monday night hearing on Buchert Ridge conducted by Lower Pottsgrove’s Zoning Hearing Board. Hallman’s plans require a variance on the number of parking spaces his community must have by law; the board has yet to rule on that request, and continued its hearing until March 28.

PART’s route currently ends at the Rolling Hills rental complex on Buchert Road, on the west end of semi-circular Rolling Hills Drive and across the street from Buchert Ridge. The turn-around there is a three-pointer: buses are driven west to, and then stopped just past the intersection (Point 1); drivers then back across the width of Buchert Road into Rolling Hills Drive (Point 2); and when ready to return to Stowe they leave the drive turning right (Point 3) and head east on Buchert to North Pleasant View Road.

A sketch shows the bus loop proposed at Buchert Ridge near Kepler Road

Township police and officials have long complained that the three-pointer is an accident waiting to happen on the busy and often speedy highway, in an area filled with children. Construction of Buchert Ridge, with its second entrance closer to the intersection of Kepler and Buchert roads, and with what at the time appeared to be available vacant land, seemed the perfect opportunity to install a PART loop and remove the perceived accident threat.

The loop’s location, in Buchert Ridge’s southwest corner, is adjacent to a proposed multi-story building of garden suite apartments that is now a bone of contention among Kepler Road property owners. They crowded into the zoning hearing, and a earlier meeting of the township Board of Commissioners, to protest its excessive height. Hallman would have needed a variance for it, too, but announced Monday the building would comply with township height requirements.

Could the building be lengthened, and its objectionable height further reduced, if the designed bus loop wasn’t in its way? Hallman’s engineering consultant, John McMenamin, hinted at it – but did not testify to as much – during the hearing.

Ironically, Hallman estimates 75 percent of buyers at Buchert Ridge, and an earlier project about two miles east – Sanatoga Ridge – rely on their own cars for transportation. Of the 25 percent without vehicles, Hallman reported, “few ride a bus.”

Related (to Buchert Ridge Community):

• PART Buses Play A Part In Buchert Ridge Building Plans
• Surprise: Height No Longer Zoning Issue At Buchert Ridge
• Over Objections, Commissioners Endorse Buchert Apartments
• Two Expansions Considered On Lower Pottsgrove Agenda
• Accusations Fly At Planners’ Meeting Over Buchert Ridge
• Applications Withdrawn; Township Cancels Zoning Hearings
• Lower Pottsgrove Hearings Set For Apartments, Lighting
• Walk Through These Rooms Without Moving
• Commissioners Warm To Energy-Saving Apartments
• Commissioners Get An Early Start Tonight
• Meeting Moved Up For Buchert Ridge Presentation
• Buchert Ridge Unveiling Final Phase

SANATOGA PA – The need for a height variance in the proposal to build a four-story building of garden suite apartments in the Buchert Ridge Community at Buchert and Kepler roads came off the table Monday night (Feb. 28, 2011), in a surprising move by developer Wil Hallman before a crowded meeting of the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Zoning Board of Appeals.

Lower Pottsgrove Zoning Office Keth Place, right consults with Zoning Board attorney Joseph McGrory, second from right, and board members during Monday night's hearing.

Buchert Ridge attorney Charles Garner told board members Hallman was withdrawing his request to allow the apartment building to exceed the township’s 35-foot height limit. Hallman, himself a Lower Pottsgrove resident, still intends to erect the building, but does not yet know whether its design will involve four or fewer stories, or fewer units.

It will, however, comply with township law, Garner added. “We want to make sure community concerns are properly addressed,” he said.

The building’s re-design must be reviewed and approved by Lower Pottsgrove’s Planning Commission and the Board of Commissioners. It might sail through both, if it hews to overall plans for Buchert Ridge accepted by the township during 2006.

Removal of the height issue took away a primary reason several Kepler Road property owners came out to the hearing: to convince the board that plans for what was envisioned as a 48-foot-tall building were inappropriate for the surrounding neighborhood of mostly one- and two-story residences. That left zoners to consider only Hallman’s request for parking relief, and five special exceptions for additional accompanying maintenance structures.

Arguments about the proposal seem far from over, however. An attorney representing nearby property owner Matthew Cappelletti, 1215 Kepler Rd., was among those who questioned Hallman and other witnesses during the more than two-hour hearing, preparing what he hoped were grounds for a potential lawsuit to force re-examination of the entire project.

Buchert Ridge’s first phase – the installation of mostly one-story, one- and two-family buildings for owner-occupants age 55 and older, on seven acres at 2011 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA – is considered finished. Area residents embraced that proposal introduced by Hallman several years ago, favoring it over what could have been higher-density, less attractive dwellings in the same space.

Some of the same residents are adamantly opposed to current plans for an additional six acres of Buchert Ridge Phase 2, which have changed with the distressed economy. On Monday night and earlier, they complained the towering garden suites – to be built along side a tributary of Sprogel’s Run – would dwarf their homes.

Related (to Buchert Ridge Community):

• Surprise: Height No Longer Zoning Issue At Buchert Ridge
• Over Objections, Commissioners Endorse Buchert Apartments
• Two Expansions Considered On Lower Pottsgrove Agenda
• Accusations Fly At Planners’ Meeting Over Buchert Ridge
• Applications Withdrawn; Township Cancels Zoning Hearings
• Lower Pottsgrove Hearings Set For Apartments Lighting
• Walk Through These Rooms Without Moving
• Commissioners Warm To Energy-Saving Apartments
• Commissioners Get An Early Start Tonight
• Meeting Moved Up For Buchert Ridge Presentation
• Buchert Ridge Unveiling Final Phase

SANATOGA PA – Distressed Kepler Road residents, who on Monday night (Feb. 7, 2011) told the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Board of Commissioners that a four-story apartment building proposed to be built near them was too high and inappropriate for the neighborhood, were disappointed when commissioners decided to recommend the project for approval by the township Zoning Hearing Board.

During a meeting that was unusual for both its length (2 hours) and crowd size (the Buchert Road municipal building conference room was nearly filled), commissioners who voted – President Jonathan Spadt, Vice President Bruce Foltz, and Michael McGroarty – were unanimous in their decision to recommend to the Zoning Board that it grant variances for an expansion of Buchert Ridge Community, 2011 Buchert Rd.

The endorsement is not binding, and can be ignored by Zoning Board members if they so choose, Spadt noted. Commissioner James Phillips announced in advance he would recuse himself from voting due to what he described as a “financial relationship” between his employer, The Victory Bank of Limerick PA, and Buchert Ridge developer J. Wilmer “Wil” Hallman. Commissioner James Kaiser was absent.

Hallman’s plans to build a 48-foot-high, 39-unit building of “garden suite” apartments, to be marketed as environmentally friendly to age 55-and-older buyers, are scheduled to appear Feb. 28 (Monday) before the Zoning Board. Before his project proceeds to final land development, Hallman hopes to obtain several variances and exceptions that address, in part, its non-conforming height and parking requirements.

Although Hallman’s construction quality, and the current appearance of Buchert Ridge Community in general, were uniformly praised by audience members, dissenters made it known they weren’t happy with the apartment plans. Hallman earlier received permission for a three-story building; a fourth story, several in attendance said, was excessive.

“I’ll be able to see that building from my house,” said home owner Matt Cappelletti, 1215 Kepler Rd. “It doesn’t fit in with the character of the neighborhood. You need to consider its impact on surrounding residents,” he told commissioners.

“From an aesthetic standpoint, it’s not pleasing in any way, shape or form,” added Scott Aston, 1236 Kepler Rd. “I object to waking up every day to look at this. It’s not something that feels like it fits in with the community whatsoever.”

Even two former commissioners, both of whom served when Hallman’s three-story proposal was accepted, raised concerns. Previous board member Anthony Doyle of 1745 Kepler Rd. claimed the building’s fourth floor “was a bit much.” His colleague, previous board member Stephen Klotz, rhetorically asked, “If this were next to your home, would you approve it?”

All had legitimate comments, Spadt replied. Hallman, however, particularly during the past two weeks, had cooperated with the township staff to overcome its objections, he said. Township engineering representative Scott Exley of Bursich Associates Inc. agreed the project had changed enough to reduce some of its Zoning Board requests.

The commissioners’ endorsement is accompanied by about a dozen conditions they asked the Zoning Board to include as requirements if it grants the variances and exceptions sought. Hallman’s attorney, Charles Garner, said the developer would meet with Cappelletti, Aston and others to discuss how landscaping or other items might improve the project’s appearance.

Other than that, Spadt said, “we’ll leave it to the Zoning Hearing Board to do the right thing.”

Related (to Buchert Ridge Community):

• Over Objections, Commissioners Endorse Buchert Apartments
• Two Expansions Considered On Lower Pottsgrove Agenda
• Accusations Fly At Planners’ Meeting Over Buchert Ridge
• Applications Withdrawn; Township Cancels Zoning Hearings
• Lower Pottsgrove Hearings Set For Apartments Lighting
• Walk Through These Rooms Without Moving
• Commissioners Warm To Energy-Saving Apartments
• Commissioners Get An Early Start Tonight
• Meeting Moved Up For Buchert Ridge Presentation
• Buchert Ridge Unveiling Final Phase

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Feb. 7 meeting):

• Over Objections, Commissioners Endorse Buchert Apartments
• Two Expansions Considered On Lower Pottsgrove Agenda

SANATOGA PA – An obviously frustrated Sanatoga-based real estate developer, during Monday night’s (Dec. 20, 2010) Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Planning Commission meeting, accused the municipality’s staff of failing to abide by an understanding he thought he had reached with other township representatives, and of unnecessarily delaying a project he wants to expand on Buchert Road.

The entrance to the Buchert Ridge Community on Buchert Road.

Developer J. Wilmer Hallman, who hopes to add a three-story garden suite apartment complex that would be certified as environmentally friendly to his Buchert Ridge housing community, 2011 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA, alleged a previously scheduled review of his plans was wrongly removed from the board’s agenda. The resulting delay, he said, could cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars” over the life of the project.

Hallman did not identify specific individuals, but clearly directed his wrath toward township Manager Rodney Hawthorne, Assistant Manager Alyson Elliott and Chad Camburn, who represents Lower Pottsgrove’s engineering firm, Bursich Associates Inc. Hawthorne, who Hallman claimed had arbitrarily canceled his project’s review, was not present at the meeting; Elliott and Camburn, both of whom attended, denied the accusations.

The commission took no action, despite Hallman’s urging that it recommend the apartment plans as submitted to the township Zoning Hearing Board. “We have no new information” on the proposal, Chairman Frank Cebular said, “and we can’t do anything about it until we do.”

However, Commissioner Ronald Dinnocenti – himself a former developer – offered Hallman some interesting advice: Return to the commission with “the meanest son-of-a-bitch lawyer you can find” in tow. “You’ll get things done pretty fast that way,” Dinnocenti suggested.

Township Commissioner James Phillips sat in the audience while the back-and-forth argument raged.

At issue are a list of items in Hallman’s plans that, unless modified to conform with existing regulations, will require several zoning waivers. Hallman disagrees with staff interpretations of the law on some; suggested a few involve private property rights beyond the township’s oversight, and contended others had been addressed and solved earlier in meetings he had with his attorney, Hawthorne, and township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway.

“I’m not blaming the Planning Commission, but I am blaming the staff,” Hallman said.

Hallman wants to erect the multi-story “green-certified” apartments, designed to appeal to retirees, in a zoning district that limits building height. Parking, a public transit turn-around, and property line set-backs apparently also pose problems. His initial plans, which won strong endorsement from the township Board of Commissioners in October 2009, have since changed considerably, Cebular said. “We’ve had to look at it with new eyes,” he added.

Related (to Buchert Ridge Community):

• Accusations Fly At Planners’ Meeting Over Buchert Ridge
• Applications Withdrawn; Township Cancels Zoning Hearings
• Lower Pottsgrove Hearings Set For Apartments Lighting
• Walk Through These Rooms Without Moving
• Commissioners Warm To Energy-Saving Apartments
• Commissioners Get An Early Start Tonight
• Meeting Moved Up For Buchert Ridge Presentation
• Buchert Ridge Unveiling Final Phase

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Planning Commission’s Dec. 20 meeting):

• Accusations Fly At Planners’ Meeting Over Buchert Ridge
• Planning Commission Agenda For Dec. 20, 2010

This rendering, showing the proposed west end of Buchert Ridge Community, depicts the Creekview Apartments in dark brown. New units would be in the building closest to Buchert Road at lower right.

SANATOGA PA – What is being touted as one of the first development projects in Montgomery County (PA) that would include housing units created to meet the latest standards of a national organization which rates the energy efficiency of buildings has been proposed for Sanatoga. It was introduced Thursday night (Oct. 22, 2009) to the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners.

To say board members liked the idea is putting it mildly. They publicly praised developer J. Wilmer Hallman for plans he presented, and gave their permission to begin work on adapting the already commission-approved and partially constructed Buchert Ridge Community to reflect  added housing that would be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Hallman must return to the commission and obtain its final approval, once changes to his plans are made, before the housing units can be built in the community at 2011 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA.

The proposal represents an expansion of Phase 2 at Buchert Ridge Community by eight more units than originally approved. The units would be part of a revamped garden-style apartment building of three floors, but it replaces three single story buildings planned for the same location with only a 6-percent increase in the land square footage covered by its foundation.

Retirement development representative Gary Gearhart, left, explains the apartments' energy efficiency during the commissioners' meeting, as township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway listens.

The units, Hallman said, would be fully certified under the council’s internationally recognized Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. The units would qualify for the council’s LEED For Homes certification, and would allow their owners to save up to 60 percent on electric and gas utility costs, and would cut the community’s water usage by as much as 37 percent, Hallman estimated.

According to the council, LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project meets the highest green building and performance measures. “This is good for everyone,” Hallman told board members. “It helps us sell units. It benefits our people by reducing their costs. And it helps the township” by reducing resource consumption. “We’re pretty excited,” the developer said.

So, too, were commissioners. They asked Hallman and Gary Gearhart, a representative of Wil Hallman Retirement Development, about how the new building – to be known as the Creekview Apartment Homes – would be constructed and positioned. They heard details on the various levels of LEED For Homes certification for which the project might qualify. They declared themselves impressed.

“I think this is super,” Commissioner James Phillips said. “You’re seeing a lot of nodding heads up here,” he said of those at the board room table. “I applaud the fact that you’re taking this initiative,” added Commission Vice President Jonathan Spadt.

Although no official motion was made, commissioners – at the recommendation of township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway – ensured their written minutes of the meeting reflected unanimous agreement that Hallman could engage his engineer to re-design the existing Phase 2 plans to be considered for future approval. Board President Bruce Foltz was absent from the meeting.

Related (to Buchert Ridge Community):

• Commissioners Warm To Energy-Saving Apartments
• Commissioners Get An Early Start Tonight
• Meeting Moved Up For Buchert Ridge Presentation
• Buchert Ridge Unveiling Final Phase

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Oct. 22):

• PennDOT Offers Sanatoga Bridge Work Timeline
• Commissioners Get An Early Start Tonight
• Meeting Moved Up For Buchert Ridge Presentation

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