New Steps Taken to Facilitate Charles Pointe Development

By Jeff Toquinto

BRIDGEPORT NEWS EDITOR

The Exponent Telegram

Tuesday, February 8, 2005

BRIDGEPORT – Additional steps were taken at Monday’s Bridgeport Planning Commission meeting to facilitate the first phase of residential development at Charles Pointe. Also, the first steps were taken to expedite what could be additional commercial business at the site. During the meeting, the Planning Commission gave its approval on the preliminary plat for what will be known as the Parkview Village subdivision. The subdivision, which will consist of multifamily units such as duplexes and townhouses will include up to 192 units. Rob Stuart of Genesis Partners, the company responsible for the overall development of Charles Pointe, said the units will be built in phases. He said the square footage will vary on the units, but did say each one will contain its own garage. S & A Homes, the State College, Pa., company announced last week as the exclusive builder of homes for Charles Pointe, will handle the construction, Stuart said. Construction, however, can not yet begin at the subdivision. Infrastructure work has to be completed or bonded and the concept has to be reviewed by Bridgeport City Engineer Tom Brown. Monday’s approval allows work to begin on that. Bowman Consultants of Leesburg, VA., the design engineers, will handle the design work. “What we looked at (during this meeting) was whether minimum lot sizes were created, street access was available and if all utilities were available for all the lots,” said Bridgeport Community Development Director Randy Spellman. “All of that is there.” Once the infrastructure is in place, or once the developer posts a bond for the infrastructure, and the design is complete, Genesis Partners can go back to the Planning Commission for a public hearing and final plat approval. There was no word when that would happen. Word was given on when a public hearing would be held for final plat approval for the first phase of commercial development at Charles Pointe. On March 7, the commission will be asked to sign off on a plat for commercial development in lots 1 through 30 at the site. The lots will be situated near the entrance to North Land Bay at Charles Pointe. That entrance is just off of Route 279, where access can be gained to the Wingate Inn, currently under construction. Unlike the residential development area, Spellman said infrastructure is already in place at the commercial site. In fact, the infrastructure was done to the city’s specifications as part of the $4.5 million in grant money it was awarded last year for infrastructure at Charles Pointe. “Tom (Brown) has already reviewed this infrastructure because it was put in place by the city,” Spellman said. “By setting the hearing, it will expedite things for (Genesis Partners). There’s nothing specific (that may go in the 30 lots), but they do have some prospects.” Stuart concurred with Spellman on that point. Spellman said the need to speed up the process is usually a sign things are about to happen. “When a developer requests a tight timeline, they usually have something in place that they need to finalize,” Spellman said. “We’ve seen that in the past when there are requests to get things of this nature done in an expeditious

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2005