South Abington Twp. residents want a Lackawanna County judge to overturn a decision that allows Elan Gardens Senior Living to expand its facility.<\/p>\n
Attorney James Brando filed an appeal on behalf of 11 property owners who live near the senior living facility on Venard Roard. The appeal asks the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas to reverse the board\u2019s decision granting a request to build a 48-unit addition and 16 one-story buildings on its 22-acre property.\n<\/p>\n
The decision allows Elan to build the addition and buildings with a 90-foot rear setback and a 20-foot side yard setback from its property line.\n<\/p>\n
Neighbors pushed back on the project known as Elan Commons. They said it will change the character of the area and violate a special exception the township granted the facility in 1995, which stated Elan Gardens could only build on 4 acres of the property and not obstruct nearby residences.<\/p>\n
The plans, the attorney contends, are not allowed in the township\u2019s residential zoning district, of which the property is a part. They contain multiple attached buildings and duplexes, both of which are not permitted in the zone.<\/p>\n
Brando further argues the board did not uniformly apply the zoning ordinance to the application, which defines an assisted living facility as one serving people 62 years and older, while the project allows those 55 and older. The zoning ordinance also requires such facilities to have a 50-foot setback from all property lines.<\/p>\n
Board members also ignored residents\u2019 concerns regarding the expansion\u2019s impact and compatibility, concluding it would not adversely affect public health, safety, welfare, neighborhood character or surrounding properties.<\/p>\n
Alex Fried, one of the residents Brando represents in the appeal, said he and his neighbors think the zoning hearing board erred in its interpretation of the township\u2019s zoning regulations by allowing multiple family homes in a residential zoning district, which is what Elan Gardens\u2019 plans called for.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think that multiple family homes in an R-6 single family residential (district) is not allowed, and it hasn\u2019t been allowed in any other such zoned parcel in South Abington Township,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Fried said the board\u2019s decision affects the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur neighborhood obviously is concerned about the impact to us and has certainly raised the funds to continue this appeal for legal means, as is our right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Although the board granted Elan\u2019s request for the addition and additional buildings, it denied the facility\u2019s request for a variance allowing the addition to be 44 feet high \u2014 9 feet higher than the maximum building height of 35 feet under township zoning.<\/p>\n
James Tressler, the attorney representing the facility, previously said they sought to make the addition taller than what is allowed under township zoning so the plans didn\u2019t abut so closely with neighboring properties.<\/p>\n
Contacted Tuesday, he said the appeal was unfortunate. The project is beneficial to the neighborhood and the region because it allows the increasingly older population a place to age in one location, he said.<\/p>\n
But Elan Gardens is sensitive to the neighbors\u2019 concerns and remains willing to meet with and discuss them, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand the neighbors might not want any project, but we were and remain willing to discuss it,\u201d Tressler said.<\/p>\n
Elan officials previously said the expansion allows older individuals to live on their own with support available, and the new units allow residents to transition from living independently to assisted living and, if needed, skilled nursing. Tressler said Elan plans to move forward with the plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt enhances the property as it currently exists, and it will \u2026 enhance the region by providing alternative senior living arrangements for all of us that are ultimately going to \u2026 possibly wanna age in place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The current building, which has 58 assisted-living residences, opened in 1996.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Abington Twp. residents want a Lackawanna County judge to overturn a decision that allows Elan Gardens Senior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[46,201,182,139,28,178,180,179,6799,181],"class_list":["post-263518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-courts","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-south-abington-township","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}