A site plan showing four quad-style houses along a private road off of Welsh Road dubbed the proposed “Belfair Square” development is shown during the Towamencin supervisors’ Oct. 14, 2020 meeting. (Screenshot of online meeting)
Developer cites interest rates as reason for delay
A developer is asking for an extension on a project approved last year, and township officials are seeking more frequent updates on it.
Developer David Caracausa outlined the reason for delays so far in starting his planned Belfair Square project on Welsh Road in Towamencin.
“Buyers have been sitting on the sidelines, I think we all have, expecting (interest) rates to come down. I’m waiting ’til that momentum comes forth, before I’m interested in starting the job,” he said.
Starting in 2020, the developer first presented plans for a complex of four quad-style four-unit townhouse buildings, to be built on roughly four acres on the south side of Welsh Road, west of Orvilla Road and just east of Vernon Court, between the Grist Mill community and Welsh.
“The board had given me preliminary and final approval on my land development. That approval runs through Jan. 24 of 2029. However, a conditional use approval was also required, but for some reason that approval only ran until 1/24/2025,” Caracausa said.
“So I’m here just to ask for an extension, to have it coincide with the land development approvals. None of the plans are changing, none of the development is changing. It’s just strictly an administrative extension to something that was already granted,” he said.
Board chairman Chuck Wilson asked when the developer planned to start construction, prompting a lengthy conversation.
“In our marketplace, we’ve had a little bit of a hiccup due to interest rates, both on the developer financing side, and even on the buyer financing side,” Caracausa said.
This project is “very front-loaded with site infrastructure improvements, because I have to get the improvements in, and the foundations, before we can even start construction of the units, and open up for sales,” he said.
During the talk on the plans prior to approval, the developer showed a site plan featuring a new driveway entrance from Welsh Road, leading to a private road with a total of 50 parking spaces for use by residents of the community, 14 of which will be under a covered carport to the south. The homes would be built in four four-unit clusters, two on each side of the driveway entrance, with buffering on all sites and a separate parcel to the southwest of the side included in order to meet impervious coverage requirements.
Township Manager David Kraynik said he thought a shorter extension “would also cause Mr. Caracausa to come back and give the board updates more regularly,” and supervisor Laura Smith said she’d be open to a one-year extension.
Supervisor Joyce Snyder said her preference would be for updates every three months, and the developer answered that the market may not change so soon.
Current predictions call for rates to start falling by the end of 2025, but actual conditions may not follow, the developer told the board.
“I can’t start this project ’til the marketplace feels that rates are affordable, and that they can afford to purchase these. That’s not going to change in three months or six months, it’s probably more of an 12 to 24 month market condition,” he said. “I respect that you want to know what’s going on, but my story’s not going to change in three or six month increments.”
Supervisor Kofi Osei said he’d prefer an update after six months, and Wilson noted that the plan approval itself would still remain until 2029 regardless.
“The approvals should have been in sync. I just think we’re fixing something that should have been that way,” Wilson said.
Smith made a motion to grant the extension for the use approval to run through 2029 to match the use approval, “with the caveat that you come back and see us in July and update us,” and four of the five supervisors approved, with Snyder casting the only vote against.
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on Jan. 22 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.
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