A 15-building development with apartments and retail space is proposed for a 15.7 acre lot at the terminus of High Tech Road in Benner Township. Photo by Geoff Rushton | StateCollege.com
A developer has proposed a 15-building complex with apartment units and commercial space near University Park Airport in Benner Township.
Christopher Schnure, Centre County subdivision and land development planner, presented a brief overview of the preliminary land development plan for The Cascade, which would be located at the end of High Tech Drive, during the Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday morning.
Commissioners agreed to move to next week’s consent agenda a memorandum of understanding among the developer, township and county for the developer to reimburse engineering review and inspection costs. The land development plan was on the agenda for the Centre County Planning Commission’s meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday
The development within the Planned Airport District would have 148 residential units and 74 non-residential units, along with 552 parking spaces, an internal road system and corresponding utility and stormwater infrastructure on the 15.7-acre lot, according to plans submitted by project engineer Buchart Horn on behalf of The Cascade’s developer, Asif Khatri, owner of AAA State College Storage & Warehousing, LLC.
Plans show retail on the first floor and four to seven apartment units on the second and third floors of each building.
“Within the Benner Township zoning ordinance, this is in the industrial zoning district and it does allow this type of mixed use as long as the… bottom floor has either commercial or industrial uses and then the upper floors are residential use,” Schnure said.
The elevation of the property decreases from High Tech Road so the buildings cascade downward, giving the development its name, Schnure said.
The property is located within the area of the township being studied by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), synthetic “forever chemicals” that have contaminated groundwater and subsequently well water supplies in the area.
DEP indicated no regulations prohibit land development in the investigation area, Schnure said, but developers for The Cascade and other projects have been encouraged to work with the agency to conduct testing on the site.
DEP also has recommended that property owners with an on-site water well tie in to public water systems if they are able to do so. The Cascade’s developer already has worked with the State College Borough Water Authority to supply water to the site, Schnure said.
Commissioners also reviewed a final land development plan for Greater Buffalo Run Valley United Methodist Church, to be located on Buffalo Run Road near the intersection with Armagast Road, also in Benner Township.
Plans submitted by PennTerra Engineering show a 5,010-square-foot church and corresponding infrastructure on the property about a half mile from Rock Road. The site is just outside the PFAS study area but will have a private well, and Schnure said the project engineers also have been informed about the contamination detected nearby.
Commissioners moved a MOU for engineering costs for the church plan to next week’s agenda and the land development plan was also on Tuesday night’s county planning commission agenda.
