FERGUSON TOWNSIP — The request to rezone 71.5 acres of the Harner Farms property is moving forward to a public hearing after the request was reviewed by the Ferguson Township Planning Commission. The commission voted 3-2 to approve the request and township supervisors agreed to a public hearing about the zoning changes, to be held Monday, June 18.
After an initial request was denied last year, the Harner family and a prospective developer submitted a new proposal to rezone 71.5 acres of the property for commercial and residential use.
The Harners have owned more than 100 acres along West College Avenue and West Whitehall Road since 1945, and last spring put the 71.5 acres up for sale. Dan Harner said last year the family was looking to downsize its farming to a 30-acre tract, while keeping the public market and family homes on the property.
With the property currently zoned rural agricultural with a corridor overlay, the Harners and developer Aspen Whitehall sought to rezone the property with a mix of commercial, single-family residential (R-1) and two-family residential (R-2).
That request was denied in September after some community members and supervisors expressed concerns about the proposed 44 acres of commercial zoning for the property, as well as the density of R-2 zoning near existing single-family home developments. Supervisors encouraged them, however, to revisit the proposal.
The property is within the regional growth boundary and is surrounded by commercial and residential zoning. Since 2000, it has been designated as mixed-use in the regional comprehensive plan land use map.
The new proposal seeks to rezone a 44.5-acre plot and a 27-acre plot which are bisected by West Whitehall Road. Of those, a combined 27.3 acres along West College Avenue would be zoned commercial, a 16.7-acre decrease from the 2017 proposal.
“Overall, they are decreasing the commercially zoned, which is one of the major comments the board had last year,” said Ferguson Township community planner Lindsay Schoch.
The remaining 44.1 acres would be zoned R-1, with the R-2 zoning in the 2017 proposal removed.
The public hearing will be held before the supervisors’ meeting at the township building and will allow the public to address concerns about the proposal.
Editor’s note: StateCollege.com managing editor Geoff Rushton contributed to this report.
