Charter Homes presents plan for next phase of Meeder development
CRANBERRY TWP — Residents of the Meeder planned residential development in the township got a look at what could be the next phase of construction during the township’s planning advisory commission meeting on Monday, March 30.
The conceptual plan presented called for four new townhouse buildings along with three mixed-use buildings, all planned to be located along Rochester Road.
“Those (three mixed-use) buildings contain a total of 7,500 square feet of office and retail uses, as well as residential dwelling units … apartments on the second and third floor of those buildings,” said Anthony Faranda-Dietrich, vice president of neighborhood development at Charter Homes.
While Meeder is mostly a residential development, it does feature a number of commercial establishments, including Recon Brewing, R&R Hair Salon and Coffee Brake. These businesses make up the Meeder Crossroads shopping district and the planned new commercial space would add to that.
“The additional spaces that we’d be introducing with those buildings, in addition to what’s been built and planned, brings the total non-residential square footage in Meeder to right around 20,000 square feet,” Faranda-Dietrich said.
According to Faranda-Dietrich, the Meeder development is nearly finished, with only a small portion along Rochester Road remaining to be developed.
“Meeder, in a nutshell, is entirely built out, with the exception of about 3 acres of frontage along Rochester Road on the east side of Main Street,” Faranda-Dietrich said.
In addition to plans for the final phase of Meeder, Charter Homes also presented plans for parking adjustments to parts of the development that have already been built.
A number of Meeder residents who attended Monday night’s meeting expressed long-standing concerns about a lack of parking in certain parts of the development — particularly around the “Mews,” or lofts. Many of these same concerns were also brought up at the planning meeting held the previous month, when the conceptual plan was first presented.
In response to complaints from last month, both Charter and the homeowners’ association for Meeder circulated letters to residents outlining new rules, restrictions and expectations for parking in the development.
“I take responsibility and Charter takes responsibility for not doing a great job initially — this neighborhood was under construction — in communicating to homeowners where they could park and the rules around parking,” Faranda-Dietrich said. “We're going to be providing some additional information on a neighborhoodwide basis on where all of the available parking can be found within Meeder.”
