The fight over plans for a residential development on Overbrook Road in Middlesex Township continued in court Tuesday.

After township supervisors denied a plan last year from Grey Hawk, a real estate development company, for a planned residential development near Glade Run Lake, the company appealed the decision to Butler Common Pleas Court.

In their denial last March, supervisors cited a potential threat to Glade Run Lake and the developer's decision not to present an alternative plan to the planning commission in their decision to deny tentative approval to Grey Hawk PRD.

The development was to feature 108 residential units on a 50-acre tract of land on Overbrook Road, but the plan faced heated opposition from residents, with many voicing their concerns at public hearings and meetings in 2019.

Judge Michael Yeager was assigned the case and will ultimately make the final decision on the development.

On Tuesday, Yeager heard arguments about what role the lake's conservancy group should play as the organization attempts to add itself to the legal fray.

But in recent court filings, Grey Hawk's lawyer, Jeffrey Robinson, said these concerns and others are “unsubstantiated speculation,” and “no competent testimony or evidence” was offered by the township or the objecting residents that would prove the application would have a “detrimental effect on the public health, safety and welfare.”

In June, Glade Run Lake Conservancy requested Yeager add it to the appeal case, so it could argue against the development's creation, but Grey Hawk objected to the conservancy group's inclusion.

In a filing, Grey Hawk wrote the conservancy group has “no direct interest in the outcome of this appeal as it has no property interest.”

Lawyers for Grey Hawk, a company owned by Greene Pointe Holdings, did not return a request for comment, but argued in court filings their plans and conditional use application satisfy all of the township's requirements.

Yeager did not indicate at the hearing when he would make a decision.

Glade Run Lake was established and preserved by conservationists and lawmakers in 1955. But the lake was drained in 2011 over concerns for dam safety. In 2017, the conservancy group helped to reopen the lake to the public after the dam was repaired and improved.

Since 2010, the township added 278 units across five new developments. These five developments — Weatherburn Heights, Blackberry, Black Hawk, Middlesex Crossing and Mill Creek — were built on what was once farmland, according to township officials.

This is also the case with the Grey Hawk plan. If its appeal to the court is successful, it would bring the total number of units up to 386.