BERLIN – A meeting to discuss a rezoning that would allow for a substantial townhouse development just off Route 50 in Berlin has been postponed.
The Berlin Planning Commission meeting to consider the rezoning of commercial land near the intersection of routes 50 and 818 that was set for Wednesday has been canceled.
“The meeting has been postponed at the request of the applicant,” Planning Director Dave Engelhart said.
The commission was scheduled to meet Nov. 10 to consider a request to reclassify 24 acres of commercial land as R-4 residential. Because the rezoning request was the only item on the agenda, once it was pulled the meeting was canceled, according to Engelhart. He said the hearing on the rezoning could be rescheduled for the December planning commission meeting.
“It may come up in December but that has not yet been determined,” he said.
Developer Chris Carbaugh met with the commission last month to share plans for a 176-unit townhouse project he’s envisioning for 24 acres along Route 50 westbound. The land was rezoned last year, at Carbaugh’s request, from industrial to B-2 business. Now, however, Carbaugh wants to have it rezoned to R-4 residential. He wants to see the site developed with a 176-unit townhouse community. He told the commission the pandemic impacted his commercial plans.
“A lot of those users put their growth plans on hold,” he said last month. “Since that time there’s been substantial interest in residential development in the town of Berlin so we wanted to go back and try to see if there was a way to incorporate the residential into this project and create more of a mixed use.”
Following his presentation in October, commission members said they wanted to hear from the public regarding the proposal and the requested rezoning. As of Monday, Engelhart said he’d received seven written comments regarding the proposed rezoning. The public will have the opportunity to submit written comments or to speak regarding the requested rezoning whenever the issue is considered by the planning commission.
