POCONO PINES (Tobyhanna Township) – Township supervisors have rezoned 29 properties along Route 940 and Long Pond Road to “C-Commercial Zoning District.” Included are 15 parcels previously zoned at least partially residential.
At a public hearing held prior to passage of the change, a number of affected residential property owners asked for clarification on how the change would impact their use of and the taxes on their properties. Supervisors told them that existing residential use can continue and assured owners that their property taxes would not go up as a result of the zoning change as long as there was no change in use or development of the parcel.
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Supervisors also explained that a number of affected properties straddled two zoning districts. The revision placed those thirteen properties into a single district.
The change creates a single commercial corridor on both sides of route 940 going east from the school district property and across route 380. On Long Pond Road, the commercial district now extends from 940 to around Sophie Lane. The revised properties join a previously-existing commercial district that includes Kalahari and runs south along 380.
The rezoning also affects about a dozen properties bordering the proposed new route 380 exit ramp , the associated relocation of Stillwater Drive, and creation of a new roadway across from FedEx Drive to serve as the news main entrance to Stillwater Estates.
Impacted residents asked the board to share its appraisals of their properties, which the supervisors agreed to do.
Immediately after the public hearing, the supervisors unanimously approved adoption of the zoning changes. (Supervisor John J. Holahan III, did not vote as he was not in attendance.)