Metro

Blair County Planning Commission members last week rejected a proposal to develop another section of the former Matterns Holiday Hills Orchard.

Graystone Hollidaysburg LLC is proposing to divide an undeveloped 22.02-acre parcel for development of 13 lots for detached single family development.

At the meeting, board members said they rejected the proposal because it did not include a stormwater management plan and may not be consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan.

It turns out that was not the case.

“Both Tom Gissen (of Stuart Group Consulting) and I misspoke at the meeting stating that the stormwater plans were not submitted to Blair Planning for review. Upon further review, I can confirm that the plans were in fact received by Blair Planning on March 13 based on the date they were uploaded to SharePoint,” Regional Planner MacKenzie Caron wrote in an email. “What should have been stated is that, while the plans may have been submitted, the technical details of the stormwater plan are not under review or consideration by the consultant or the BCPC or within the purview of their advisory review. The perceived lack of inclusion of stormwater plans ultimately was not what deemed this plan inconsistent with Blair County’s comprehensive plan.”

Caron said commission members voted that this project was inconsistent with the county comprehensive plan based on the lack of coordination between Hollidaysburg Borough, Blair Township and their respective water and sewer authorities.

“This proposed development impacts an environmentally sensitive area with a known history of flooding, so it is imperative that the municipalities prioritize intergovernmental cooperation on this project and approach it from a wider lens than that of one single municipality and their individual storm/sewer needs,” Caron wrote. “In the future, BCPC will require developers to have their project engineer present at our meeting to respond to technical questions that do not fall into the purview of the county’s advisory review.”