CRANBERRY TWP — Cranberry has a number of assets for prospective residents.

It's also missing some too.

Township supervisors next Thursday are poised to consider a zoning ordinance that aims to fill in some of those gaps, terming it the “missing middle” in regard to housing.

“Part of what we've identified as a challenge in Cranberry, to make sure that we're sustainable in the long-term and in conjunction with our comprehensive plan, is that there is a gap of housing in the middle, affordability-wise, in the township,” township manager Dan Santoro said. “We have a lot of higher-end, single-family homes being built and what that does is it drives up the affordability level in the township.”

That “missing middle” has a disproportionate impact on one demographic, Santoro added.

“We have this huge gap of not having a proportionate population of 20- to 35- or 39-year-olds,” he said. “When you look at the population pyramid in Cranberry, you'll see there's a huge missing gap in the middle — of these folks. They're generally at the early stages of their career or in the early stages of starting their family. As they take root, they generally buy up to the next level” of housing.

The proposed ordinance would create the “Missing Middle Housing” overlay zoning district, which would overlap with the remaining undeveloped, residential-zoned land in the township.

As an overlay district, the zoning area would not fundamentally alter the underlying zoning district. What it would do, Santoro said, is create an option developers can utilize when building on residentially zoned land. That is, developers could create the types of housing provided for in the ordinance, but they would not be required to do so. The types of housing that would be permitted on a parcel using the overlay include types of multifamily housing, such as duplexes, triplexes and quadruplexes, as well as single-family and townhouses.

Santoro said some newer developments, such as the Park Place or BelleVue Park developments, have brought the township closer to appealing to the younger demographic than it was before. But he sees the potential missing middle overlay district as furthering that goal more than any specific development.

“It's about identifying a zoning district that allows for a mix of housing that essentially provides for some of that type of housing that we don't have here that attracts those kind of folks,” Santoro said.

The manager added there was no specific developer or proposed development driving this amendment, saying the proposal will help further the township's comprehensive plan if passed.

He said the amendment would bring in younger homeowners who the township hopes would then remain in Cranberry after starting their families or solidifying their careers.

“We're all about focusing on keeping the age young,” he added. “That makes sense from a long-term sustainability perspective.”