A major sports complex, one that could host multiple athletic events, could be coming to an area just north of York.
Manchester Township has received a request to amend the township’s zoning to allow for a “community commercial sports facility” somewhere in the municipality.
The request — filed by Rutter’s Properties LP of York — asks that the facility be considered for a special exception use in one of the suburban township’s five residential high-density and office zones, according to an application filed with the township. The five zones are scattered throughout Manchester Township, a township official said.
Rutter’s Properties LP of York has not identified a specific location for the complex.
A partner in Rutter’s Properties, Chad Rutter, spoke with the Business Journal on Thursday afternoon. He declined to discuss details of the possible project for now, saying he and the others with the firm first are “waiting for the Manchester Township supervisors to make their decision.”
The township scheduled a public hearing on the request for Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Manchester Township building, 3200 Farmtrail Road.
The developers’ request describes an “example location” on the west side of Susquehanna Trail, just south of First Assembly of God Church.
A township zoning official emphasized that the site, and details in the application, may not be what is presented in any eventual plans for the sports complex if the amendment is, in fact, approved.
“They may have used a site as an example, but that’s not necessarily where it will go,” Stewart Olewiler III, the township’s zoning/planning officer, said this week. “You need to have an example that helps explain how the proposed regulations would be applied.”
The plans show a 90,000-square-foot building, or close to two football fields, with an air-supported dome structure, one that does not use beams for support, that is 80 feet high.
The example also included a field that could be used for baseball, lacrosse, field hockey and other sports; basketball and volleyball courts; a rock-climbing wall; offices in the front of the building for doctors, dentists and the like; a small restaurant and an arcade area.
The township zoning board first would have to approve any special exceptions for the sports complex. Then, a land-development plan for something to be built would have to go to the township supervisors.
The earliest the sports facility could actually be approved by the supervisors would likely be late 2017 or early 2018, Olewiler said.
