JACKSON TWP — A reconfiguration of the street access for a proposed townhouse development near the border with Harmony has township residents and a business up in arms.

The Harmony Lakes development would include 104 townhouse units on 41.5 acres owned by Brenckle Enterprises. The property is between Spring Street in Harmony, Route 68 and Interstate 79.

A conditional use hearing Thursday night before the township supervisors was continued to Feb. 19 to allow the submission of additional township information and to give the public an opportunity to comment. The township's planning commission also has not submitted its recommendation on the project.

Harmony Lakes last year received conditional use approval for a 120-unit development. An approved road access that would have connected directly to Route 68 from the development did not meet the requirements of the state Department of Transportation, according the architect Steven Victor, who represented the developer.

Because of that, a reconfigured plan was submitted for conditional use.

The proposed access change would be from Spring Street in Harmony, and Whitney Drive via the construction of a new road that would run through both municipalities.

Residents along Spring Street objected to that access while a representative of Sysco Food Services of Pittsburgh objected to the use of Whitney Drive, which is the main access for that business and for neighboring Main Steel.

The new development is projected to add 325 vehicles per day to the traffic on roads, according to the developer's traffic study.

Spring Street resident Diane Brenner objected to the access on Spring Street, saying it would jeopardize safety there. She added the development would be of no benefit to the surrounding community.

Cathy Rape, another Spring Street resident and the mayor of Harmony, was concerned about safety with the number of vehicles that would be added to Spring Street. She also said surrounding properties would lose value.

"I can't imagine the amount of that plan. Our property values will drop because of the number of homes there," she said, adding the proposed green space for the plan is all hillsides and wetlands.

While Harmony residents objected to the Spring Street access, Sysco Foods of Pittsburgh, which has a plant in the township, objected to the use of Whitney Drive.

Diane Reimer, spokeswoman for Sysco, said the company is concerned about the additional traffic because the road serves two businesses and that a number of large and small trucks use the road to take deliveries.

Sysco Foods also is doing an expansion to increase its storage capacity, which likely will increase truck traffic.