Marshall residents continue to protest a plan for a 505-unit housing plan on the Venango Trails Golf Course.
Township supervisors deadlocked 2-2 Monday on a proposal to scrap the plan and instead voted to table the issue until their Aug. 29 meeting.
EQA Landmark Communities, which is developing the land for the Venango Trails ownership group, is asking for nine zoning variances to build a planned community on 323 acres between Freeport Road, Interstate 79, the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Mt. Pleasant Road.
Resident Jennifer Campbell and about 50 others urged supervisors to reject the requests because of the density, pollution, noise and traffic that would come with the development.
"Those of us who moved there did so because it was zoned one house per acre," Campbell said. "This development doesn't fit with what's there already. Don't let them bully you. You don't have to approve it. They can come up with a better plan."
Supervisors Arleen Lipsman and Jack Candek voted against the plan but Rich Scavo and chairman Bob Fayfich voted to keep it alive. Tom Madigan was absent and has said he will not vote on the issue citing a work conflict of interest. Madigan is a lawyer for Cranberry window manufacturer Traco, which is involved with the development.
"While I still have problems with the density, I'm afraid of what (else) could go in there," Fayfich said. "These developers have worked with the community and have a well-planned development. ... Somebody else could come in and do far worse that we would have no control over."
EQA officials said they had produced a housing plan that could meet all existing zoning requirements and still have 532 housing units. However, EQA President Brett Malky said his group will not build that plan, and instead offered one that includes the 505 units in 366 rooftops, leaving about 180 acres of open space.
"We believed we have listened to the surrounding communities' concerns and we thought this (compromise) plan addressed those," Malky said. "We don't know what the magical number is for how many homes (that will be allowed.)"
Resident Al Tarquinino acknowledged that housing development on the golf course is inevitable but asked for a plan with fewer homes.
"We want to work with you," he said. "You're fair. I'm fair. It can be done."
Lipsman and Candek said the density and type of homes proposed in the plan do not fit with surrounding neighborhoods.
The Venango Trails development includes single-family houses and duplexes ranging in price from around $250,000 to more than $1 million that would be geared toward empty nesters, Malky has said.
Former supervisor Tom Miller was one of a few residents who voiced support for the plan.
"This land is going to be developed. But this is the sort of plan we were hoping for when we came up with the requirements," Miller said. "This isn't designed to build houses. It creates a community. We want to avoid (other developers) that wouldn't consider (the community) at all."
