Lititz Reserve Breaks Ground
Ground was broken this week for the first phase of Lititz Reserve, a 189-townhome development in Warwick Township, just east of Sixth Street and Kissel Hill Road, opposite Lititz Public Library. Phase One will consist of 18 single-story townhomes geared to “active adults,” the homes will have one or two bedrooms and two-car garages, said Warwick Township’s Tom Zorbaugh. Most will not have basements, he said. Also part of Phase 1 will be an extension of Sixth Street by about 1,000 feet and development of a “common green” or open area. The groundbreaking comes about a month after township supervisors gave final land-development plan approval to Phase One on June 19. It also comes about a week after project developer Lititz Reserve LLC settled on its acquisition of the entire site. The Lititz Reserve property is zoned R-2, a residential designation. The zoning allows by right high-density uses such as duplexes, townhomes and small-lot single-family homes, Zorbaugh explained. A major aspect of the development will involve adding features to the property to help with storm-water management. According to RGS Associates, stormwater flow from about 600 acres goes through some of the property. This portion of the site has been identified as a regional aquifer recharge area, said RGS, the project’s land planning and civil engineering consultant. To encourage the natural and gradual recharge of the aquifer with the stormwater, Lititz Reserve will create a large “bio-swale.” That’s a kind of wet meadow, planted with a variety of native grasses and trees. Within the bio-swale will be a series of holding cells containing amended soils (soils that have material added to be more sponge-like), RGS said. These cells will allow stormwater to pond, then slowly drain down and recharge the aquifer underneath.
