CRANBERRY TWP — Township planners approved and recommended to the township supervisors a tentative planned residential development called Forest Edge at its meeting Monday night.

The plan calls for 59 single-family homes on 65 acres along Hope Road in the eastern part of the township.

The land is currently farmland and an old homestead.

The developer is Singer Construction of Mars.

There are some possible trail connections being worked on within the development, said Mike Ogin, with Gateway Engineers. One trail would possibly connect with the trail system at the Foxwood development.

Ron Henshaw, the township’s community development director, said Foxwood has not agreed on the trail connection.

Henshaw said if Foxwood does not allow the connection there will still be a trail somewhere on the property at Forest Edge.

Cranberry resident John Huddleston said he is concerned with the amount of traffic that would be generated between the development along Hope Road and Franklin Road.

“My concern is that section of highway and you are talking around 60 homes and we are talking two or three cars per home,” Huddleston said. “It is not a very safe road.”

Huddleston said he also worries about the number of oversized construction vehicles that will use Franklin Road.

Susan Rusnak, planning advisory commission member, asked if a traffic study had been done on the development.

Jason Kratsas, Cranberry’s director of engineering and environmental sciences, said the township does not have the funds now to upgrade Hope Road.

“We have been patching it to make sure we keep it safe,” Kratsas said.

The traffic study projected that 60 percent of the trips from Forest Edge would access Franklin Road by taking Woodlawn to Peters to Franklin, Kratsas said. The developer also has frontage on Woodlawn Road.

“We do feel that the connection of Peters Road and Franklin Road is one of the safest connection points we could have on Franklin Road,” Kratsas said.