PUBLIC
MEETING SEPTEMBER 8, 2009 7:00 P.M.
The regular monthly meeting of the Palmer Township Planning
Commission was held on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the Palmer
Library meeting room with the following in attendance: Chairman Tom Grube, Vice Chairman Virginia
Rickert, members Ron Grandinetti, Rich Wilkins and Jeff Young. Also present were Planning Director Cyndie
Carman, Solicitor Charles Bruno, Engineer Brian Harman and Supervisor Liaison
Robert Lammi. Absent from the meeting
were Tony Rizzolino and Jo-Ann Stoneback.
Minutes of Public Meeting of August 11, 2009 – On motion by Rickert,
seconded by Grandinetti, and agreed by all, the minutes were approved as
written.
OLD BUSINESS
Zoning Text Amendment - Conditional Use - Preliminary Plan
Attorney James Preston and Engineer Don Frederickson were present
seeking approval for this Preliminary plan as well as the zoning text
amendment. Frederickson stated they had
received relief by Zoning Hearing Board conditioned that the text amendment was
approved. Commission reviewed the proposed text amendment. Rickert noted that one of the issues that was
discussed at the last meeting was the height of the buildings and this is
addressed in the text amendment. At the
last meeting this Commission was comfortable with this plan but waited until they
appeared before the zoning Hearing Board.
They questioned the action for the conditional use and the solicitor
stated they could hold off on that action until the final plan stage. Wilkins asked about any waivers and no one
had any problems with them. Young stated he had some concerns with the
amendment and wanted to review it. He
wondered how this will affect other places in township, in the future. Carman
stated in reviewing this from the beginning she looked at not just how this
will help the applicant but how this helps the township as a whole. She
noted that the increasing of the density is keeping with the recommendations
that were recently released by Lehigh Valley Planning Commission who are encouraging
municipalities to allow density increases under certain conditions. She is comfortable that these changes will
apply elsewhere in township and will provide incentives to others.
Young asked what kind of conditions and she noted that it could be
to provide additional density in exchange for a developer to provide significant
infrastructure issues but would be up to the Board of Supervisors to
approve. Young asked Lammi if he
remember that in the past when we had these bonuses with no teeth into the
context and developers benefitted from it and then it had to be taken
away. Lammi responded that they had to
wait to see what the density was going to be to see what the bonuses were and
they will be discussed on a case by case basis.
Young questioned the off street parking and what is applicant asking for
that the ordinance doesn’t cover now. Carman
responded that the present ordinance requires 2 parking spaces per unit regardless
of the number of bedrooms. They are
asking to reduce the number of parking for the one bedroom units. The applicant had previously looked at
eliminating the need for overflow parking for visitors but has now received
deferral of those spaces by the Zoning Hearing Board. There is an attachment to
this approval and it will be in the improvements agreement that if in the
future the Township feels a need for this overflow parking the developer will
be responsible to install it. This will
be up to two years. Young questioned the
roofs for the increased heights and wanted to make sure we don’t end up with
flat roofs at 48 ft. Carman stated this would
not exclude them from asking for this. Jeff feels that if anything was over 35 feet it
would have to be a peaked roof. This
should be in the ordinance some place.
Young then questioned the accessory structures being allowed in the
apartment section. Carman stated they
are proposing garage structures outside of the apartment “ring”. Young
asked if any other accessory structures, like sheds would be allowed? He
stated they should be more specific; they do not want multiple accessory structures. This amendment is specific to low rise apartment
buildings but this will be looked into in case there are any future submissions
for a low rise apartment complex. We
certainly don’t want multiple accessory building, other than garages and Bruno
has to figure out the wording for this. It
was noted that the setback would be reduced from 80 feet to 10 feet but would
require a buffer. Bruno suggested at
this time that everyone knows what is proposed for this project and they are
not looking for this amendment to change for this project but for future projects
and other places in township. This
amendment should be looked at further as no one has to make a recommendation
tonight. Bruno recommended this be
discussed later and noted that Young raised some very good points. This will
not be voted on tonight.
Rickert motioned to recommend preliminary plan approval for
Woodridge Falls III conditioned that the proposed zoning text amendment be
approved; departmental comments dated 8/11/09 are satisfied as well as the
township engineer’s letter dated 8/7/09; the following waivers be approved –
·
Preliminary Plan Checklist Item C.4: Approximate location of
buildings or Drainage channels within 200-feet of the boundaries of the tract;
·
Preliminary Plan Checklist Item D.9 and D.10: Locations of individual
mature trees of greater than 6-inches trunk diameter, other than within
forested areas and tree lines, and locations of individual trees greater than
18-inches trunk diameter;
·
§165-59.F(1): Right-of-way width and cartway width (within the
private driveways 50-feet right-of-way and 26-foot cartway required, no
right-of-way and 25-foot cartway provided);
·
§165-59.F(3)(b): Length of vertical curve on a
·
§165-59.F(3)(c): Length of vertical curve on a
·
§165-63.K(2)(d): Maximum depth of flow in the emergency spillway
of 1-foot (2-feet proposed);
·
§165-63.K(3):
Maximum inside slope of an earthen detention basin embankment of 4:1 (3:1
provided); and that the following deferrals be approved –
·
§165-69.C(1): Requirement for sidewalks within street right-of-way
(within the private driveway); and
·
§165-75.A: Requirement for curb along streets (within the driveway
along the townhouse areas).
Recommendation is also based on the conditional use being approved
as well as the zoning map amendment.
Wilkins seconded this motion.
Young asked about the parking spaces and Carman noted this was granted
by the Zoning Hearing Board so we didn’t have to do anything on this.
Grube asked if there were any comments by the audience.
Gayne Knitowski –
Grube called for a vote which was approved by all.
The Commission is not making any recommendations on the text
amendment but it was decided to take comments on it from the audience.
Mr. Bill Dengler, 136 Glenmoor Cr. asked about the height issue. The wording in the HDR2 district is exactly
the same as HDR. Why not make the change
for both districts, why only considering this district and only one project.
NEW BUSINESS:
NORTHWOOD CENTER, Rt. 248 b/w Kingston Rd. & Northwood
Ave., Strausser Enterprises - Sketch Plan
Owner,
Gary Strausser and his Engineer Domenick Colangelo were present with plans for
this development. Strausser stated that
they had submitted their plans and application for preliminary plan
review. At that time they did not submit
a required traffic study so they are requesting that their application be
reviewed as a sketch plan. They are in
the process of doing the traffic study and it will be submitted when
completed. Colangelo noted the location
and the tenants will be Sheetz, a retail store and a CVS on the site. It
will be a right turn in and right turn out only off of 248. There will be a driveway connection on
Mr.
Saul Grandinetti asked if there was any consideration for the people who live
across the street from that land as far as noise/light or are buildings far
enough away? The lighting plan will be
submitted and the engineer and planning director will review it. Commission thanked Strausser for attending.
FINEGAN FUNERAL HOME,
Conditional Use - Site Plan
Owner
John Finegan, Attorney Dan Cohen and engineer Don Frederickson were present
with their plan for a proposed funeral home being put in an existing
building. Bruno stated this is a
conditional use request along with the site plan review. Funeral homes need conditional use approval
for the GC district that the property is located. Cohen stated there are no issues with the township
engineer’s review letter. Engineer
stated they will meet with the engineers on a few issues. There are a few waivers they will be asking
for and will be applied for shortly.
Grube asked what they are doing with the rear alley. The attorneys will have to discuss the title
work for the status of the easement on the south side. Bruno
stated to Cohen that all unopen streets require that the adjoining parties must
be informed. The main entrance will
closed off on
TOWNHOUSES
Mr.
Ed Melhem, owner and his engineer Don Frederickson were present with final
plans for their development on
PUBLIC COMMENT – None.
PLANNING DIRECTOR’S COMMENTS – Carman
distributed a letter to the Commission from
On motion by Young, seconded by Grube, and
agreed by all, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Diane Grube,
Corr. Sec.