Oct 12, 2017 3 min read

Residents of Strabane Manor Townhomes rallied at the South Strabane Township meeting Tuesday to express concerns about sharing their stormwater drainage system with another homeowners association, Strabane Haven.

The residents in the development of townhouses that sits just off of Fischer Road said they were not aware sharing a drainage system was part of the four-phase plan provided by the developer and builder of both neighborhoods, Maronda Homes and Dan Ryan Builders.

“They are not contributing to the success of this community,” said one Arrowhead Drive resident, Bill Karnes.

Brandon Stanick, the township manager, said the drainage system, including a detention pond, was put in by the developer as part of Strabane Manor, which was completed as phase two of the overall project several years ago.

“The concern is phase four on top of the hill,” Stanick said. “Their intention is to make phase four a 47-unit development under a separate homeowners association.”

Stanick said he believes the plan was for Strabane Haven, which is under construction, to have a larger amount of single-family rental units, since Strabane Manor’s association put a cap on rentals in their bylaws.

The developer was planning to have the stormwater from Strabane Haven discharge into the drainage system put in Strabane Manor, Stanick said, but the residents don’t want to share that system, especially without being financially compensated for its maintenance.

Stanick said the developer will eventually turn over the responsibility of maintaining the drainage system to the homeowners association, with any parts of the system that are on township-owned rights-of-way falling under the township’s responsibility.

“What needs to be worked out between Strabane Manor and Strabane Haven is a maintenance agreement,” Stanick said. Stanick said an agreement had been reached years ago but had never been finalized or executed. He said the attorneys for Dan Ryan Builders and the homeowners association are in the process of working through an agreement, which will then need to be approved by the township supervisors.

“The township will need to approve the agreement to give us assurance that the stormwater is being handled and whose responsibility it is,” Stanick said.

The township hopes to hear an update on a maintenance agreement from Dan Ryan Builders at the supervisors’ Oct. 24 meeting, Stanick said.

In other action Tuesday, the township announced it will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 for community input on a proposed text amendment to remove light manufacturing from the C-3 mixed-use district.

The announcement comes just one week after a lawsuit was filed against the township by Chapman Properties, owners of a section of undeveloped land near Tanger Outlets. Chapman claims the township blocked plastics manufacturer Ensinger Inc. from developing on part of the site by not taking over Tanger Boulevard and the proposed Southport Road as township roads. Ensinger decided to remain in North Strabane and terminate its deal with Chapman.

Chapman’s petition seeks compensation for losses in that deal and for the township’s rejection of Chapman’s conditional-use application to build a light manufacturing and office facility that would have become Ensinger’s North American headquarters.

The plans called for a $40 million complex on 30 acres of C-3 commercially zoned land. In 2015, Chapman successfully petitioned the township supervisors to add light manufacturing to C-3 commercial districts to allow for Ensinger’s development.