Property exchange proposed in Peters Township
Along Valley Brook Road in Peters Township sits a dilapidated brick shack, the practical use for it having ended long ago.
“That building is a remnant from the days when there was a ventilation unit for the mine,” township manager Paul Lauer explained.
He joined township council members at their April 9 meeting in listening to a proposal that could result in the structure either being renovated and turned into a small coffee shop, or a new building constructed in its place.
Tom Robinson, whose company Valleybrook LLC owns two vacant parcels totaling 9.2 acres across the street from the Rahway Drive intersection of Valley Brook Road, suggests what essentially is a property exchange. He would contribute 2.5 acres to the township, while he would lease the 1.6-acre Peters-owned parcel that contains the mine building, along with a storm-water detention facility.
Map illustrates the three parcels involved in the proposal.
Brush Run flows through Robinson’s land, which is adjacent to the township’s Arrowhead Trail.
“The whole goal is to have some type of, we’ll say, small café-coffee shop associated with the site that would be used by trail users, as well as residents of Peters Township who are traveling along Valley Brook Road,” Mike Wetzel of landscape architecture and design firm Victor-Wetzel Associates explained.
Despite its current lack of use, Robinson has cared for his property, removing brush and weeds while keeping the grass cut, and would do the same with the township-owned property.
“That would include the maintenance of the storm-water detention facility,” Wetzel said, “making sure that it’s in proper working order and also kind of keeping its neat appearance that would be similar to his property off to the side.”
As for the concept of a “coffee shop café/trail stop café,” as Wetzel calls it in information provided to council, such a business “would be considered a limited/counter service restaurant, which is permitted in the Valley Brook Road Mixed-Use Corridor Zoning District.” Eleven parking spots are to be provided, exceeding the minimum by two.
A pedestrian-bicycle bridge over Brush Run would provide access from the Arrowhead Trail to the café, and Robinson also proposes a fitness trail along the waterway.
“Any plan that would come through with a coffee shop would still come in front of the planning commission and staff to be reviewed,” Wetzel said about the standard approval process. “But we wanted to show this as a conceptual idea of some of the goals that Mr. Robinson would like to do is improve that parcel and kind of make it a highlight of Valley Brook Road.”
Council members agreed by consensus to give consideration to the proposal and authorize solicitor John Smith to research how such an arrangement could be structured.