By John Chambless
Staff Writer

The crowds have thinned from the earlier discussions of a proposed Toll Brothers housing development in East Marlborough, but at the June 4 meeting of the Board of Supervisors, the details of how and where to access the development filled much of the four-hour meeting.

There has been about a year of discussion of the proposed community, which will put 42 homes on a property bordered on the north by Route 926 and on the west by Route 82. The intersection of those two roads, which already backs up with traffic during peak travel times, is a source of concern for nearby residents, who fear daily bottlenecks if the new community goes forward.

The township is requesting some sort of trees to screen the neighborhood from the view of neighbors to the south, and Toll Brothers seems agreeable to that suggestion. But the two proposed entrances to the neighborhood – onto Route 82 and a connector to Chalfont Road – are more controversial. Earlier this year, neighbors to the south packed Board of Supervisors meetings to express their concerns that the connector road will bring too many cars through their streets.

There have been several ideas floated about the connector road, including keeping it closed except in cases of emergency vehicle access, but nothing has been approved so far.

As far as the intersection with Route 82, Toll Brothers estimates that 60 more vehicles will be entering and exiting during any given 24 hours. Toll Brothers would prefer to not expand Route 82 to add a turning lane into the development.

However, supervisors and developers seem to agree that some sort of enhanced crosswalk or a traffic-calming island would be a good idea on Route 82 at the approach to the new development. What that crosswalk will look like is up to negotiation, with some favoring blinking lights, but some nearby neighbors objecting to the additional lights.

No decision was reached at the marathon June 4 meeting, but the supervisors agreed to keep considering options, including adding a turn lane on Route 82.

Supervisors gave final approval to a proposed Quick Lane service center and retail store that will be built a property adjacent to the Wawa on Route 1 that has held two abandoned buildings for several years.

Supervisor John Sarro said that the township recently got a $750,000 grant from PennDOT to improve safety at a pedestian crossing on Route 82 at Patton Middle School and Unionville High School. A preliminary design has been put forward, but will likely be altered to include a combination of new sidewalks, a median and roadway narrowing to slow traffic.

A representative from the Bike Kennett organization discussed a multi-use trail that could be built between the Unionville traffic circle and Cedarcroft Road on the south side of the Route 1 bypass. The trail would be part of a trail system that has the support of Kennett Township. The supervisors agreed that they were willing to explore the idea, and asked for an estimate of the cost of the project.

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email [email protected].