ADAMS TWP — Two residents and the Saving Rural Adams group have filed an appeal in Butler County Court to the Cypress Fields planned residential development approved in January by supervisors.

Tina Wilson and William Been, a husband and wife whose property abuts the tentative plan, along with Saving Rural Adams, filed the appeal Feb. 21.

Cypress Fields is a 35-home PRD to be built on 48 acres on both sides of Davidson Road in the rural-conservation zoning district. The homes would be built on half-acre lots.

The plan was approved 3-1 by supervisors on Jan. 23, although it faced strenuous resistance by many residents of the area who say it does not comply with the underlying zoning for the R-C district.

The supervisors on Monday night approved a motion to allow solicitor Mike Gallagher to begin work on defending the township in the appeal, which seeks to have a judge at county court reverse the supervisors’ approval of the plan,

“We think there were some errors made in the approval process and that the PRD is not really appropriate for the rural area in which it (is to) reside,” Been said Monday.

The Saving Rural Adams Facebook page details the group’s reasoning for filing the appeal. Group founder Rob Crouthamel said the planning commission and supervisors erred in allowing Cypress Fields in the R-C zoning district.

“If developed, the plan would negatively impact the community, including exacerbating a significant traffic safety issue,” the post reads. “We regret that the planning commission and supervisors failed to take this input provided by Saving Rural Adams members and other citizens at countless meetings leading up to the plan’s approval.”

In the appeal itself, filed by attorney Patrick Auth of Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services, lists many reasons why the supervisors were negligent in approving Cypress Fields.

They include:

The plan has no benefit to the public as required in a PRD

The plan is not consistent with the surrounding neighborhood and does not include open space congruent with the surrounding properties

Cypress Fields would exacerbate existing safety issues on the roads serving the neighborhood regarding, in part, pedestrian use and bus access

Cypress Partners of Pittsburgh did not provide a copy of the plan to the county planning commission in the required time frame, which Auth said renders the supervisors’ approval invalid

The supervisors’ approval does not meet criteria in the state Constitution and Municipal Planning Code as well as the township’s planning code.

The documents include information from Cypress Partners, including reasons why Cypress Fields would benefit the community.

Meeting a need for home buyers looking for low-maintenance homes with a first-floor bedroom, additional revenue for the township and the Mars School District, minimal traffic impact on existing roads, and more than 41 percent open space in the plan are among the reasons listed by Cypress Partners as benefits to the community.

A hearing date has not yet been set for the appeal.