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The goal is to add more housing on Ridge Road. That’s what Robert Anderson presented to the Buckingham planning commission on Monday, June 23, as he introduced a request for a zoning change. 

Anderson’s company, Anderson Home Construction, is looking to build a nine-lot major subdivision in Arvonia, located at 2223 Ridge Road. This would be built on a property of roughly 20.14 acres. This qualifies as a “major” subdivision only because anything higher than four lots in Buckingham is considered in that category. 

The way this works is that a preliminary plan gets submitted to the planning department, to be voted on by the planning commission. Once that’s approved, then the applicant on the final version. Unless requested by the Planning Commission at the time of their review, the revised preliminary plat does not need to come back for another vote.

“We basically want to take it and make nine lots out of it,” Anderson said of the 20-acre property. 

So why is there a need for a permit? Because the Ridge Road property and those surrounding it are all zoned Agriculture (A-1). Buckingham’s zoning ordinance doesn’t allow a major subdivision like he’s proposing in that area, at least not as a ‘by right’ permitted use. Instead, Anderson is requesting a zoning change from A-1 to Residential (R-2). That comes through authorization from the commission and later the Buckingham board of supervisors. 

“We started with seven lots originally,” Anderson told the commission, before learning they had the ability and space to add two more. 

With no questions for the developer, planning commission members unanimously voted to send this project to a public hearing. The next one scheduled for the commission will be on Monday, July 28. At that point, commission approval means sending it to the Buckingham County supervisors.