New Hilltop owner cleaning up property, township manager says

Hilltop Mobile Home Park closed in February 2013, and not much has been going on there, physically, since then — until recently.

In March, the property, about 30 acres, transferred to new owners, 1275 East Pennsylvania Ave I LP, of Montoursville, said College Township Manager Adam Brumbaugh.

The new owners told the township that they wanted to clean up the property, located along Squirrel Drive, which included cutting down trees, Brumbaugh said.

There isn’t a land development plan for the property, he said, and the property owners don’t need permits to take down trees.

The township is monitoring soil and sedimentation issues, Brumbaugh said, and the Centre County Soil Conservation District has been notified.

The owners said they’ll leave the trees’ root systems in place, and as long as they do that, there’s shouldn’t be a stormwater issue, he said.

The township is keeping an eye on the situation, but there’s nothing for them to approve, Brumbaugh said.

The property was rezoned in September 2014, going from Mobile Home Park and Two-Family Residential (R-2) to Gateway Commercial and Open Space Recreation Conservation.

Gateway Commercial zoning districts allow residential in mixed-use buildings, said Mark Gabrovsek, township zoning officer.

The previous property owners, Kenneth and Sharon Mayes, tried several times to get the land rezoned.

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 10:35 PM with the headline "New Hilltop owner cleaning up property, township manager says."