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DORRANCE TWP.&#8212; The township planning commission was assured on Tuesday night that The Preserve at Blue Ridge Trail will be a quality development of what Robert Tamburro of TFP Limited called &#8220;well-appointed houses.&#8221;&#8220;Under a drastically changed plan from what we submitted previously, we&#8217;re going to have a really nice development,&#8221; Tamburro told the commission, which held its initial meeting with TFP representatives following an announcement on Feb. 8 that a revised plan to construct 193 housing units on 546 acres on land adjacent to the Blue Ridge Trail Golf Course had been formulated by Tetra Tech Engineering and was being presented to township officials for their review.The planning commission, consisting of Chairman Kirk Buchanan, Jim Martinechek, George Rusczyk, Kevin Gallagher and Ron Giza, received input from Tamburro as well as Tim Connelly, architect, and Jack Varaly, professional planning consultant.Varaly said TFP is seeking tentative approval for a phased construction of 108 twin housing units and 85 detached one-family houses of &#8220;expensive&#8221; quality. Varlay added that plans are to conduct the project in phases, the first of which would be the construction of 36 units near Prospect Road.Overall, Varaly said there will be five phases to the development.&#8220;It will be a slow, slow process encompassing perhaps over about 20 years, &#8221; Tamburro added.The members of the commission &#8212; in particular, Martinchek and Gallagher &#8212; raised questions about the quality of access roads through the development, sustaining of planned buffer zones between residential property and existing wetlands and services such as water and sewage.Varlay said plans are for sewage to be via the Mountain Top Area Joint Sewer Authority, while potable water will be through a yet to be devised central system.&#8220;There will be no individual wells,&#8221; Connelly said.Other than raising issues, the commission took no action on the project except to state that there will further discussion at the board&#8217;s next scheduled meeting on March 21.In addition, the township supervisors have scheduled a public hearing on March 22 to receive input on TFP&#8217;s plan as well as a conditional use request for land which is zoned conservation.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom HuntingtonFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach the Times Leader newsroom at 570-829-7242 or on Twitter @TLnews.</shirttailMeta></div>

Dorrance Township planning commission hears plans for development