A group of investors is planning a $120 million complex near the small village of Oregon in Lancaster County. The plan includes a four-story 120 room hotel, 349 apartments, 58 townhouses, and 158 other housing units, plus a supermarket, convenience store, 250-seat restaurant, and a 450-seat banquet hall.
The developers will need the Manheim Township Supervisors to condemn a parcel of preserved farmland.
The village of Oregon contains about 50 homes and a few hundred residents. The proposed development would change the area from ag to suburb. Opponents point out that the development would “undo the preservation protections that farmers have given and taxpayers paid for.”
I personally thought that once we put our farm into the preservation program, it could never be developed. I wasn’t anticipating that a private pipeline company could trench the fields. Now I see that a developer can also ask for preserved farmland to be condemned. I hope the Mannheim Township officials hold firm, but $120 million is a lot of money compared to a few Amish farmers.
Information on the proposal is found in Tom Knapp, “Effort arises to Save Preserved Acreage From Development,” Lancaster Farming, (Dec. 24, 2016), p. A15.
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