The Look of the Future: Cranberry Details Plans for Business, Housing

Last year, township officials adopted the Cranberry Plan, a road map to the community’s future growth. Now, two components of that plan are moving forward with a possible new look for commercial and residential developments.

At Monday’s Planning Advisory Commission meeting, township staff members presented plans for a that would allow a higher-density mix of residential and commercial use -- including storefronts with retail space on the first floor and residential living above it – and a change to Cranberry’s Planned Residential Development ordinance.

Both derived from the Cranberry Plan.

John Trant, Cranberry’s chief strategic planning officer, said the amendment to the Planned Residential Development would allow a greater density of housing in areas zoned Residential 3—a classification that already includes apartments and townhomes – by decreasing the open space requirements. In exchange, open space requirements would increase in areas zoned Residential 1 – which is used for rural single-family homes.

“It’s our least dense single-family zoning,” Ron Henshaw, Cranberry’s director of community development, said of the R-1 classification. “Rural residential is really what it’s called.”

If approved, Henshaw said the greater  density housing would use some components similar to those required in a Traditional Neighborhood Development. Among other things, the TND, as it’s commonly called, mandates streetlamps, benches and sidewalks that would offer a town-like feeling to the area. It already is in place on parts of Freedom and Rochester roads, including the adjacent to

Henshaw said the Route 228 overlay would include the Cranberry Commons shopping center and the proposed development. It would not go past the intersection of Franklin Road with Route 228, which also is the border to neighboring Seven Fields. Several developments already are in the works for the Franklin Road/Route 228 corridor, including the and the new

Henshaw said developer Gary Sippel, who owns several vacant properties at the corner of Interstate 79 and Route 228, declined to take part in the overlay, which is optional. Henshaw noted the overlay is in addition to the established zoning classification already in place. It does not change it.

“The option [of the overlay] is always there for anyone,” Henshaw said.

Other uses permitted under the overlay are townhouses, small retail stores, banks, professional office space and more. The buildings must be no more than five stories high and there is a minimum height requirement of two stories.

Henshaw said the idea for the Route 228 overlay stemmed from a desire to open existing developments to other uses. He said developers also have shown interest in the kind of combined residential and commercial neighborhood that comprise a Traditional Neighborhood Development.

“It adds an array or a mix of uses that weren't available previously,” Henshaw said of the overlay.

After getting planning commission approval Monday, Henshaw will attend Thursday's Board of Supervisors meeting and ask for authorization to conduct a public hearing on the overlay.

Plans for the change to the Planned Residential Development ordinance are still in the works. Trant will again present the modified plans to the planning commission before moving forward to the Board of Supervisors. He said the township’s Parks and Recreation Department also is working on a “Greenway” plan to preserve open spaces in the township. That plan will kick off later this year, he said.

He said the hope is the ordinance change will make more efficient use of available land and infrastructure in Cranberry while preserving open spaces and increasing quality of life for residents.