Once destined to become a 300-unit residential development, the largest undeveloped property in Lancaster, PA, now is on track to stay that way — mostly.
The Lancaster City Council approved a 99-year lease of the land to a nonprofit organization in August, taking a key step toward transforming the wooded parcel into an urban nature preserve. At its heart, backers say, would be a $36 million to $40 million environmental center that would offer educational programming as well as satellite offices for local and regional conservation organizations.
A driving force behind the effort is the nature of the property itself: a rugged jut of land, bounded on three sides by a sharp bend in the Conestoga River, that has tantalized developers for decades…