Politics & Government

30 West Plan to Build Luxury Homes Changes

Developer has scaled back from 10 homes to 8, but wants to extend 31st Street; township planners will review next week.

The South Whitehall Township Planning Commission will get another look next week at a plan to build luxury homes along unopened streets just west of the township’s border with Allentown.

But the plan for the development known as 30 West will be a little different from what the commission saw in August, the first public presentation of the project’s sketch plan.

Instead of 10 upscale single-family homes, developer Elysium Acquisitions LLC is now planning eight. The developer decided to cut the number of homes for the sake of storm water management, said Township Planner Gregg R. Adams.

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The homes would be built along unopened portions of N. 31st Street and N. Marshall Street off of the 3100 block of Washington Street. The Planning Commission is slated to give the updated plan a preliminary review at its next meeting on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m.

At the August meeting, one resident of N. 30th Street said that he and his neighbors already have serious storm water runoff issues that were made worse when the developer cleared trees behind his house.

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The other change to the new plan will involve the proposed extension of N. 31st Street. The initial plan called for a pair of cul de sacs off of the 3100 block of Washington Street on unopened portions of N. 31st and N. Marshall streets.

Now, the developer is planning to extend N. 31st Street to the rear of commercial properties that front Tilghman Street and place a breakaway barricade there, Adams said.

The street extension will connect N. 31st to other township streets without providing a desirable shortcut for motorists looking to avoid traffic on nearby Cedar Crest Boulevard, Adams said. However, the breakaway barriers will still provide an additional access from Tilghman Street for emergency responders.


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