PALMER TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION

August 11, 2009

The regular monthly meeting of the Palmer Township Planning Commission was held on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. with all members in attendance. Also in attendance were Solicitor Charles Bruno, Engineer Brian Harman and Planning Director Cyndie Carman. Chris Knight of the Express/Times was representing the media. Grube convened the meeting by leading those present in the Pledge to the Flag.

MINUTES OF JULY MEETING – On motion by Rickert, seconded by Wilkins, and agreed by 4, Young, Stoneback and Rizzolino abstaining, the minutes were approved as written.

PROPOSED TEXT AMENDMENT – Cyndie Carman spoke to the Commission informing them that she had reviewed the proposed text amendment that the applicant had submitted and she had suggested some revisions to be made. These revisions were distributed to the Commission and the applicant for review. Bruno also discussed these revisions. The proposed revisions were done to highlight the requirements of the present zoning and then compared to what is proposed for the new amendments. The project depends on these amendment and these amendments depend on the revisions and everyone agreeing with them. Everything is intertwined with each other. Grube noted he would like time to review these revisions since they just received them. Other commission members agreed. The applicant is scheduled to go before the Zoning Hearing Board in September. Bruno noted the applicant’s deadline was extended until the end of October. He also stated that this text amendment, if approved, would also be in effect for any other area in the township if applicable. It would be a township wide ordinance.

Wilkins questioned the building height in the HDR district. Carman stated the existing allowance is 35 feet but can ask for a conditional use by the Board of Supervisors for up to 45 feet. This amendment proposes 48 feet as a conditional use.

The Commission decided to let the applicant do their presentation before making any recommendations on the text amendments since everything intertwines with each other.

Woodridge Falls III – In attendance for the project were - Attorney Lisa Pereira, Steve Santoli; Steve Varneckas and Don Frederickson, Engineer. Also present were representatives of Ryan Homes and their architect. Santoli highlighted the plan and noted representatives for the project did meet with the neighbors and he felt it was a good meeting. He also noted that due to the terrain of the land they may not need the 45 feet but some for some instances due to the topography of the land and may need higher, thus the 48 feet proposal. The 3 feet is the cushion for them. He also noted that people that are coming into the area love amenities. Their proposed mews apartment concept has a lot of amenities: dog run, pool, recreation center, club house and lots of land in the back for their use. Santoli stated they are very impressed with Carman’s response to their proposed text amendment and the work she put into it. They are very comfortable with what she has done. There are a few tweaks that have to be done but otherwise very happy with it. Santoli noted that none of the apartment driveways will come out onto the extended Grandview Drive, they all come out onto their collector street that enters onto Grandview.

Don Frederickson stated that the minor 3 feet difference is for the mews area only, for the apartments only, the townhomes will comply with the current township ordinance. The proposed regional detention pond drains 180 of surrounding acres and there is going to be a 55 – 60% reduction of water run-off with this detention pond. This will alleviate a lot of the water problem on South 25^th Street. There will be a homeowners association for townhouses, as well as private roads. The extension of Grandview will be a township road. They are in compliance with all the newest regulations of DEP. They will have rain gardens throughout project. This will help any environmental issues and they are also proposing a pedestrian path throughout the development.

Township engineer’s letter was reviewed. Frederickson noted that the open space was dedicated during the original project. Young questioned this and Frederickson noted it was the area near the police range. The letter also stated that they needed a special exception for the pool. Santoli noted this pool is not a public pool; it is just for the mews and is not through memberships. Frederickson noted since they were going to the Zoning Hearing Board they would discuss this item also. Carman stated she spoke with the Zoning Officer and the ordinance definition is non-household vs household so that is how the decision was determined.

Grube asked if there was a report from our geotechnical engineer. Harman stated yes but in order to address some issues there has been a change in velocity in the new revision of the plans. Applicant’s group is in agreement with this noting that they need a little more detail. Waivers were reviewed and the township engineer didn’t have any problems with any of these. Applicant stated they have worked with township engineer to get everything fine tuned. Township department comments were reviewed. Recreation comments were discussed and this will have to be discussed with the Board of Supervisors. Fire Department comments were also discussed in regards to no parking along the streets. There will not be any parking allowed on the streets, each unit will have a garage as well as off-street parking. There are places for overflow parking and there will be restrictions with the Association on street parking. The applicant asked if the Police can do anything there but noted the streets, other than Grandview Drive, are private. Township staff to discuss this with the police chief and the Association will do what they can. There has to be speed limit signage for 25 mph along Grandview Drive since it is such a wide, straight roadway. Young asked about the power lines being put underground. Frederickson noted they met with the electric company and they will not allow them underground but will relocate them along Grandview Drive on regular wooden poles. Young asked if there was any concern with the voltage since these are high tension lines. Frederickson responded that there was no problem, these lines are not the real high tension lines.

Jeremy Green – representing Barton Architects spoke on the height. There will be 9 ft ceilings in apartments and they would rather have the steep roofs in lieu of flat roofs. They measure the 45 feet from the average grade to the highest point of building. They will have stone around the foundation so it doesn’t show. Grube asked if there will there be some spots where foundation will show. Green stated there could be but they will try not to have this. Rickert asked which way the front of the mews would face. He responded that the front would face out onto the street. Commission noted that the applicant has to show architectural excellence and asked what the criteria is to convince them to get this conditional use. The interpretation is for the excellence in the façade and architectural interest. The burden is on the architect to prove what they are asking for is better than what they can do. They can do the 35 feet but the appearance is so much better at 45 feet as well as the interior of the apartments. Wilkins also noted he wanted everyone to keep in mind that the height requirement now is only 35, not the 45 that they keep speaking of. There will be steep roofs for the appearance and each apartment will have a balcony. Young asked how are we going to be assured that what we approve is actually what we get since the representative has noted they would need to “tweak” the building as they progress. Carman noted they will have to have plans signed and go by what they have approved and there will be the normal inspections. Young also pointed out that there is the one building that you can see the back from the street. He feels something should be done for this.

A representative of Ryan Homes was present and discussed their part in this project. The townhouses would go for $180,000-$200,000 to start. The homes would vary in size but won’t be built until they are sold, not before. They don’t do spec homes. Asked how the development would be built, in phases? Atiyeh noted they would start building at Drive A and work through. Grandinetti asked about the garages being in the rear. The Ryan Home representative replied that the market perception on this is very difficult. This type of layout is not well received. People being outside would see concrete/garage and it is known that people spend most of their time out back on their property and they like to see green. Young asked if there was a way to do something to make townhouses look better, not so blocky. Maybe use the material as on the apartments – stone.

Some of the Commission members stated they like what they see but would like to review the text amendment and see what the zoning decisions are. Young asked if the parking spaces are screened, if there is a good buffer to prevent shining of lights into homes. Santoro stated yes and there is a landscaping plan that they reviewed. Frederickson noted there is a sewer authority easement which will be a gravel path.

Grube asked if there were any further comments or questions by the Commission. Seeing none he asked for a motion. Rickert motioned and Wilkins seconded to table action on this plan until they appear before the Zoning Hearing Board. Grube asked if there were any questions by the audience on the motion.

William Dengler, 138 Glenmoor Circle – questioned the text amendment. Does this have to do with HDR2 or just HDR. Carman stated that nothing pertains to the HDR2 district. Dengler stated after all the discussions with the Weston the Glenmoor group presented a text amendment to the Board of Supervisors with their recommendation. He stated that the Board, at that time, realized there were many things that had to be changed in the ordinance book so instead of working with just their recommendations the Board noted they would do the complete ordinances. Now you are working on just one change. Why aren’t you doing everything together like the Supervisors stated they were going to do? Bruno stated that this proposal covers traditional villages. We are not talking about making changes or modification to the HDR district. This proposal is an addition, not a change and would cover HDR districts throughout the township. Nothing in this would affect the HDR2 district.

Anthony Lauro, 1326 Wayne Street – stated he has met with developer and he works with architects. The aesthetic is all what people like. The sloped roof is a lot better looking. He asked what if someone in the future comes in and wants 50 or 55 feet height? These buildings are going to be pretty tall. Look good but very high. He asked about the buildings along Grandview; dumpsters in front? Since you are not allowing parking on the street and there is overflow parking, what if someone needs more? Santoli noted there are 15 extra spaces at each cluster. Bigger issue is the need for some traffic control there along Grandview Drive..

Nefer Hammonds, 3136 Florian Avenue – has some environmental concerns. At the end of Wayne Street there is an area of very old mature trees and asked what was going to happen to them. Santoli stated they are going to preserve them.

Gayne Knitowski - 1223 Anna Marie St. – commented on the building height. With these homes being built on top of ridge they are going to be so much higher than his home and he is very concerned with this. Would like to see what a landscape architecture could do. Also, the large basin, will this attract geese and bugs coming from the river? Harman noted it is not stagnant water, there will be aeration and plantings to help it be clean water. There are some details that need to be worked out.

Jim Chisesi – 1320 Wayne St. – discussed the water detention area. No one has mentioned that in his back yard there is a large run-off area. He was told by the previous developer that this was going to be fixed but nothing has been done. Frederickson noted that all plans for improving the swale and calculations have been submitted to the township engineer. Frederickson stated he would meet him to look at this. Atiyeh stated they will work with Chisesi and fix this problem. The property has been mowed but it needs to be cleaned up a little more. Atiyeh noted it will all be eventually will be done and will be maintained on a regular basis.

Knitowski asked why the developer isn’t working to conform with the present ordinances – why asking for all these variances. There are 40 acres – why are they proposing building on the steep slope area. Carman stated they are not proposing to build on steep slopes. It is now but it won’t be after the grading is complete.

John D’Aqula - 3104 Florian Avenue – asked about the left turn only coming out from Grandview. There are 2 lanes coming out, is there enough room for a right turn only? He noted there isn’t a lot of room to stack cars with the cars that are parked on street and wondered how the traffic path could be designed when there wasn’t this much traffic proposed. If there is room to go right that would be great. Harman noted this design was done with the Greenwood Avenue project additional traffic in mind. He stated Berks Street will be one way in off of Freemansburg Avenue for one block. He asked if the township would check out the area at Grandview where these cars are parked.

Chisesi also asked if the applicant is having any additional meetings would they please notify all the residents and notify them earlier than they did before. Santoli noted they notified the residents who stepped forward and asked them to pass the word. Chisesi stated that was not done on a timely basis and feels all residents should be notified by the developer.

Grube called for a vote which was agreed by all to table action on this plan.

On motion by Rickert, seconded by Stoneback, and agreed by all, the Commission voted to table action on the text amendment and plan.

Public comment – None.

Planning Director’s Comments – Carman informed the Board that there was a workshop for public transit to go through the state of New Jersey to New York. Lehigh County, Northampton County and LVEDC have put money into this workshop to further this study from Pennsylvania to New York. This could be either rail or bus service. Rail lines in our area are abandoned and are now our bike paths. Carman thought they would do something in the lines of expanding the park and ride in Bethlehem Township. She asked if anyone had any comments she would pass them along.

On motion by Wilkins, seconded by Rickert, and agreed by all, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

Diane Grube, Corr. Sec.