Developer touts revived Cool Valley mixed-use project
Proposed Cecil plan now has housing, commercial focus
Operators of the long-stalled Cool Valley development in Cecil Township are confident that there will be “shovels in the ground by December or early January,” after years of delay.
The 911-acre site situated between Interstate 79 and Morganza Road was initially envisioned in 2010 as a mixed commercial and industrial project similar to Southpointe and Southpointe II.
Multiple delays relating to securing funding for a suite of necessary traffic studies and related road improvement projects on the site left the project in limbo for over a decade.
Now, Ohio-based developer T&R Properties Inc. is optimistic that site work will begin by the end of 2026, with the first retail pads open in 2029 after a $1 million Pennsylvania Department of Transportation grant award in 2024 helped finance the traffic improvements.
The revised plan pivots to a commercial and housing focus, with approximately 70 townhomes, 225 apartment units and seven large pads that could hold retail, medical or office space, according to a presentation given to the township by T&R Properties District Manager John Haynes during a Tuesday night meeting.
In total, T&R will build over 1,100,000 square feet of space across 215.9 acres of the total site.
Haynes described the updated site use plan as “a long time coming.”
Primary access to the complex will come from Lewicki Road, which will have a new roundabout with three new branches, one to a large pad to the northwest, one south to the PennDOT maintenance shed and the third heading southeast into the interior of the complex.
This eastward road will split into a north and south branch that run in parallel, with the north heading to the townhome and apartment complex and the south to five commercial pads.
Haynes said he is not at liberty to reveal what tenants will occupy the retail space, but that T&R will come back to the board once further information on that front is available.
Engineer Keith Vasas of GAI Consultants said the developers used “decades of data” for similar residential and retail developments to plan the optimal road layout and traffic flow for the complex.
Decisions relating to traffic flow were based on “worst possible scenarios” for traffic density during peak shopping hours and commuter activity, he said.
Supervisor Darlene Barni said that this still “seems like an awful lot of traffic based on what’s there today.”
A key concern of the plan is whether a second exit from the complex on Morganza Road just north of Maple Ridge will be open to all residents or only open to first responders in case of an emergency.
Since the townhomes will be contained within a private, HOA-managed community, each resident will need to use a key fob to enter the security gate on either side of the complex.
Vasas said the decision regarding the second exit from the townhome section will be made after an ongoing PennDOT traffic study of the Morganza Road intersection is completed.
Supervisor Cindy Fisher said she did not understand why T&R came to the board seeking approval for the land use plan without having more concrete answers regarding the second exit and overall traffic flow.
Fisher said if the board were to approve the plan without further clarification on the intersection, she could envision “500 angry residents yelling at us when they can’t get out of their complex.”
“It’s like building an island and saying, ‘Oh, we’ll see how we get there later,'” she said.
Township Engineer Daniel Deiseroth said that while T&R was being a bit “wishy-wash,” the board was only asked to approve the master land use plan, which indicates the general layout and use of each specific portion of the site, so T&R has to come back and request approval for each individual pad and subsection once appropriate.
Deiseroth said the board could also condition its final approval on a number of traffic and access criteria being met, which would help ensure that the HOA townhome community residents will have enough access to both exits.
Supervisor Bill Ciaffoni said public access to the second exit “absolutely needs to happen.”
Fisher moved to continue the hearing until 6 p.m. on Aug. 3 ahead of the regular voting meeting at 7 that evening, saying that if T&R could return “more prepared” with additional information on traffic flow and other matters, the board would consider approving their land use proposal.
Supervisor Chair Frank Egizio said he was sympathetic to residents’ concerns about traffic issues and environmental impact, and that he would look forward to hearing more from T&R at the continued hearing.
T&R Properties did not return a request for comment.