CRANBERRY TWP — The township’s planning advisory committee approved revisions to a 774-unit development Monday, Oct. 30, converting eight single-family units to “village” townhouses.

Liam Darr, planning and development services specialist, said the concept was “something new” the developer hoped to try in the development.

“They said that they would like to introduce it here given the unique location,” he said.

Developer Charter Homes & Neighborhoods plans to introduce the townhouses as part of Crescent development’s 157-unit phase 1A, located at Coolsprings Drive.

Committee member Sharon Beck said the concept images reminded her of a village in England.

“I’ve been in villages that look just like that,” she said.

While Ron Henshaw, the township’s director of planning and development, assured the committee the townhouses would not feature the moss seen in the concept images, he did tease an additional feature for the revision.

“It’s an optional ‘workspace,’” he said. “Their intention is for someone that works from home, maybe has an art studio, a business use, that they would have that.’”

Henshaw emphasized the new workspaces for the seven townhouses would be included at the discretion of the buyer and detached from the home.

The approximately 45-acre phase 1A of the development is under construction, he said, with five occupancies already issued.

Phase 1A will include 16 single-family units and 141 townhouses following the revision, as well as an area for “mom-and-pop type businesses.”

“There could be a couple restaurants, a microbrewery, a coffee shop — even a fitness center is a possibility,” Henshaw said. “These are all things that accentuate the neighborhood, things that people would want to walk to and hang out at.”

The 288-unit phase 1B was recently approved by the board of supervisors, including eight apartment buildings with 36 units featuring one- and two-bedroom apartments.

"Phase 2 will be years from now,“ Henshaw said, ”and phase 3 years later.“

The board of supervisors is not expected to vote on the revised “village” townhouses until its December meeting.

“This is different, all of this concept is different, and we like that,” Henshaw said. “It’s a new product, and it shakes it up even further than it already was.”

Henshaw also said the environmental advisory committee has planted a “pollinator meadow” at North Boundary Park.

“When you come in and go to the right, you can see the areas, and the grounds crew did a great job,” he said. “They didn’t just make a big chunk; they made it artistic looking.”

Henshaw said the project was completed in partnership with the Seneca Valley School District, FirstEnergy, the Southwest Butler County Garden Club and the Audubon Society to help protect pollinators.

“The other thing it does is now our grounds crew doesn’t have to mow that area,” he said. “Less manpower to do those kind of things, less using tractors and lawn mowers and this fuel-burning equipment.”

The project has been in the works for a year, he said, with planting originally planned for fall 2022.

“The pollinator meadows are planted; this rain is really what it needs, and then each year we’ll do another phase,” he said. “So spring of 2024, we’ll start on phase 2.”

Henshaw said there were three additional phases to go, extending the meadow up the hill to the west.

“It’s just one of those things to encourage people and teach people about pollinator meadows,” he said. “And then it goes further, teaching them stuff they can do in their very own yards.”