JACKSON TWP — The bridge may be a few hundred feet away, but the Creekside Manor development crossed troubled water to get approval.

At their meeting Thursday night, the board of supervisors unanimously approved changes to the 345-unit residential development between Wise and Mercer Roads, though Harmony residents voiced their displeasure in a preceding hour-long public hearing.

Changes to the development include the construction of three additional apartment buildings and a one-way exit road onto Wise Road that will pass through a wetland.

But residents of nearby boroughs made their voices heard due to their dissatisfaction over the development claiming it exacerbates flooding and will increase traffic and pollution.

“My large concern with even moving forward into this with this number of rooftops, this level of hard surfaces in an already stretched watershed, we are exacerbating flood damage,” Josh Meeder, a Harmony resident and business owner, said. “This is not a Jackson Township problem because it comes over to Harmony, and Harmony residents are frustrated with the repeated flooding.”

Meeder sought status as an aggrieved party in the hearing, saying his business is 300 feet from the development and his house is a quarter-mile away. He said flooding often cannot be controlled, but certain factors that contribute to it can be.

“There are many aspects that cause flooding. This is one that, I believe, can be controlled,” he added. “I respectfully ask everyone (who) has the power to do so to consider putting a moratorium on this and not have additional flooding ... and to stop the damage that has already been done.”

Harmony Mayor Cathy Rape joined Meeder in saying the development will cause much more flooding than the borough already sees, and added another complaint: The estimated build-up time is six to nine years.

“That's crazy. To have construction action and noise for possibly nine years is very unfair to the surrounding community,” Rape said.

Sherry Cepek, who owns The Enchanted Olive in the township, accused the board of impropriety in what she called their attempts to push through unpopular motions, citing the business flat tax that wrought business owners in the summer.

“In 2014, (Don) Rodgers (president of Creative Real Estate Development Company, which owns the property) bailed on a 47-acre plot of land in Cranberry because the township gave him a hard time, delays, demands for modifications,” she said. “(Rodgers) stated Jackson Township gave full approval in 30 days. I don't think that's something to be proud of.”

Susan Franz asked if Rodgers was willing to sell the land, saying a better use would be an ecology site for the Seneca Valley School District. Joe White, chairman of Harmony's planning commission, said there were other uses than a housing development.

Not all speakers were displeased with the idea of the development, however. William Belstering, owner of PMF Rentals in the township, said Harmony's flooding issues were largely, if not entirely, unrelated to Creekside Manor, citing the heavier rain in recent years than in the past.

He told attendees the jobs brought to southwestern Butler County also means more people want to live there, and urged them to accept the correlation between what he called “progress and population.” “You have to put these people somewhere,” he said.

Supervisors rejected the calls to deny the development, saying their responsibility was to ensure the proposals met the requirements laid out by zoning ordinances, not to choose what's best to preserve historical figures in Harmony.

“It's been to the state government, the federal government. We have no grounds whatsoever to say 'I want to watch the eagles and keep things historical,'” Vice Chairman Jay Grinnell said. “That ship sailed.”

“The requirements have been met. That puts us in a position where it is what it is. We have no grounds to deny it, at this point, that I can see,” he added.

Supervisors unanimously approved the revisions to the development and gave the OK to start phase 1 following the more than hourlong public hearing.