DOUGLASS (Mont.) – A developer has proposed clustering 92 single-family homes on 47 acres off Congo Road and leaving the remainder of the 70 acres of the property as open space or park land.
Located on a 117-acre piece of land known as the ‘Hallowell Tract,’ the site is located at the intersection of Congo and Hallowell roads and is a former farm.
In fact, the site is surrounded by farmland that has been permanently protected, said township Supervisor Fred Thiel.
Montgomery County Planner Meredith Curran told the members of the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee Thursday that the project was first submitted in 2005 and so is guided by the previous zoning for that area of town, which allows for one house per acre.
The current zoning allows for one house every two acres, she said, and is located within the ‘conservation zone’ of the regional group’s comprehensive plan.
The development proposal is for a ‘conservation cluster subdivision,’ Curran said, adding that the style of development ‘is something the comprehensive plan encourages.’
Thiel said the site is ‘less than a quarter mile from Hoffmansville Road.’
The location is part of the township’s sewer plan filed with the state and so would be served by public sewer and water systems, according to Curran’s presentation.
The plan was only recently submitted and the township’s planning commission has taken no action on it so far.
Thiel said the proposal, and the developer, Danny Jake, have been around for years and this is the first movement anyone has seen on the plan in a while.
‘This could be going nowhere,’ he said.
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