CONDITIONAL USE HEARING

A conditional use hearing for Michael Wozniak was called to order at 7:42 p.m. by Chairman Kenneth Miller. Others in attendance were Supervisors Zoe Perkins and Karl Brachwitz, Manager Allen Heist, and Solicitor Allan Greenwood. This hearing had been duly advertised as shown by the proof of publication.

Mr. Wozniak's application indicates that he wishes to use the property at 976 Pottstown Pike, in the Planned Commercial zoning district, as a home and garden center as permitted as a conditional use in the Township Zoning Ordinance. Mr. Wozniak also operates a similar center in Frazer.

Mr. Miller noted that reviews had been received from the Township Planning Commission and the EAC, as well as the Chester County Planning Commission and the Township Engineer. Craig Kologie of Castle Valley Consultants (Township Engineer) set forth the ordinance inconsistencies per his review letter: 1) Visual screening when adjacent to residential use: existing trees can be used. 2) Parking in front yard setback: Mr. Wozniak noted that most of the surrounding commercial uses have parking in this area. 3) Rear yard depth: requirement is fifty feet when abutting a residential district. Since this property is in the PC overlay district, this does not apply. 4) Accessory building locations: not to be located in the front yard or within ten feet of side or rear property lines. Storage bins are located along the south side yard line approximately three feet from the line, with a portion of one bin within the front yard. Mr. Wozniak indicated that the bins are located where they are in order for the back wall of the bins to form a retaining wall for fill material from the Pickering Valley site. 5) Driveway location: must be no less than ten feet of a side or rear property line. A new driveway originally shown to be closer than ten feet to the rear line has been relocated. 6) Other conditional use application requirements: water supply, sanitary sewage disposal, and stormwater management facilities must be shown. Mr. Wozniak will supply information from the County Health Department indicating existing approved well and sewer facilities. Stormwater management will be handled by construction of a seepage bed as indicated on the revised plan. 7) Official map: a potential Route 100 by-pass has been proposed. Mr. Wozniak is willing to discuss this matter if his property is involved.

Another issue discussed was Rt. 100 access. Stephen Siana, who owns neighboring properties, noted concern with safety issues as tractor trailers will be delivering materials. Mr. Wozniak indicated that PennDOT has given verbal approval but a permit has not been received as yet.

After discussion of zoning issues regarding parking and accessory building location Mr. Wozniak agreed to pursue these issues with the Zoning Hearing Board. In order to be able to open his business, he agreed to comply with the zoning regulations by only partially filling the storage bins while waiting for the ZHB hearing and, hopefully, approval.

Solicitor Greenwood will set forth the conditions, which will be made part of a written decision to be acted on by the Board at their Friday, March 13 meeting at 3:00 p.m. Mr. Brachwitz made a motion to continue the hearing until the Friday meeting; it was seconded by Mrs. Perkins and carried unanimously.

Jane Gaffer raised the question of why there had been no court reporter present. Manager Heist explained that even though in the past the Township has used one, the Municipalities Planning Code does not require a court reporter for conditional use hearings. The Board will discuss this further and set policy for future conditional use hearings.

The hearing was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

REGULAR MEETING

The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors was called to order at 8:40 p.m.

Dump truck - Two bids were opened on Friday, March 6 at the 3 p.m. meeting of the Board of Supervisors, with two bids presented:

O'Connor Freightliner, Inc. of Bristol, PA	$115,415.00 base bid $118,745.00 with 3 optional extended warranties
Keystone Mack Sales, Inc. of Conshohocken, PA	$116,510.69 base bid $121,660.69 with 3 optional extended warranties

Both bids appear to meet specifications, except that the O'Connor bid states that they would not commit to a 6 month delivery. Therefore, Mr. Miller asked the Board to consider awarding the bid to Keystone Mack. A lengthy discussion followed among Board members and Jim Dougherty of U.S. Municipal Supply (truck body) and George Steigerwalt of O'Connor Freightliner. These two gentlemen insisted that the Keystone bid should be rejected because it was received late (3:10 p.m.), even though they had called ahead and notified the Board that they had been detained. They also stated that no dealer would be able to meet the 6 month delivery because Allison Transmission has been holding things up. After discussion, Mr. Brachwitz made a motion to reject both bids and advertise for new bids; it was seconded by Mrs. Perkins and carried unanimously.

Treasurer - General account balance, $241,901.55; state account balance, $9,223.05; total, $251,124.60. Kimberton sewer account balance, $8,640.65; Road repair loan account balance, $11,515.97; St. Stephen's Greene water account balance, $232.66; St. Stephen's Greene sewer account balance, $5,217.94.

Tax Collection - Received from Berkheimer Associates: Delinquent, $1,677.59; road repair debt service, $1,117.26; earned income tax, $37,461.37; total, $40,256.22. Received from Chester Co. real estate transfer tax, $8,506.41.

Building Inspector - February: 7 building permits issued, reviewed 7 plans, made 16 inspections, issued 4 use and occupancy permits; fees, $2,143.60.

Zoning Officer - February: 4 inspections, 4 reviews, 5 zoning projects.

Fire Company - Ludwigs Corner: 2 automatic alarms, 1 accident.

Solicitor - Mr. Greenwood reported: 1) Discussion with Mike Morgan regarding outstanding engineering fees; he will endeavor to set up a conference phone call. 2) Paperwork regarding a real estate purchase for a new Township building. 3) Issuance of a citation, which was resolved amicably.

Planning Commission - February 19 meeting: Correspondence, received revised copies of the N. Federation's Sustainable Watershed Management draft stormwater management ordinance, PA Rt. 100 Corridor Study, worked on the "tier approach" for the draft zoning ordinance, recommendation of the draft zoning and subdivision ordinances to the Board for public hearings, Polay curative amendment, Wozniak conditional use, Kling subdivision, Robinson sketch plan.

EAC - March 2 meeting: Correspondence, reports, regional household hazardous waste collection program, Township park, trails, land trust organization, Highlands Historic District, maintenance of dirt and gravel roads, Matthews Run and Robinson subdivisions. Two memos from the EAC were acted on: 1) Miller Trail: Solicitor Greenwood will send a letter to Mr. Miller informing him that the "present condition of the trail has the potential to negate protection under the Private Lands and Public Recreation Act." Rusted metal posts and string, as well as a pile of debris are making use of the trail dangerous. 2) N. Federation's draft stormwater management ordinance (see PC report above): Mrs. Perkins stated that this document has the potential to be one of the most important planning documents we would use, however in its present form it is lengthy and cannot be understood. The Board authorized Manager Heist to send a letter to the N. Federation upon receipt of a review done by Castle Valley Associates that the Township wants to participate but that the initial draft has led the Township to decide that we will not participate if this draft document is not revised. Manager Heist will pass the EAC memo on at the next N. Federation meeting and follow up with the letter.

Chester Co. Conservation District - As part of the PA Stream RELEAF Project, the Conservation District will be acting as a clearing house for distribution to landowners of trees and shrubs made available because of the purchase of a tract of land by the PA Dept. of Corrections on which to build a new prison. This tract was formerly a nursery farm and has over 1 million tree and shrub seedlings growing on it. During the Conservation District's 50th anniversary they would like to see 50 miles of stream buffer planted in Chester County.

Sheeder Mill - Stephen Siana, developer of this approved (1990) subdivision, presented a plan entitled "Road as-built & lot line adjustment plan", which includes the as-built plan for Hunt Hill Road and a reconfiguration of lots, resulting in one additional lot for a total of 17 lots. Several changes were made to Hunt Hill Road during construction, and the legal work related to it needs to be completed before some limited clearing is begun. Mr. Siana was hoping that a subdivision application would not be necessitated by the addition of one lot but after a lengthy discussion, a motion was made by Mr. Brachwitz to approve the road as-built as presented and the concept of the lot-line adjustment reflected on the same plan subject to the obligation of the developer as to the division of two existing lot into three lots, which requires the submission and approval of a minor subdivision application; it was seconded by Mrs. Perkins and carried unanimously.

Liversidge - Gene Richards was present to clear up some items needed for final approval. A meeting is set up for Manager Heist, Fronefield Crawford, and developer Jonathan Thir's attorney John Good to discuss the Mill Road issue. Mr. Richards was given some assistance with wording for a trails easement note. Mr. Richards will attend the 3 p.m. Board meeting on Friday with revised plans, including these and other changes, seeking final approval.

Tom Rice, property owner adjacent to Wetherill Estates, gave the Board an update on his attempts to reach a settlement with the developer to replace his dry well or provide hook-up to the Wetherill Estates water system. There is a temporary hook-up in place now. His attempts have not been successful to date; there may be a private lawsuit between him and the developer. Mr. Rice brought up the fact that DEP requires community wells to have a 100' setback from adjacent buildings; Rice's property line is 25-30' from the Wetherill Estates well location, with building setbacks within this 100' radius. Manager Heist was authorized to contact DEP concerning their setback and isolation regulations and possible effects from the Wetherill Estates well location.

Signal Service - After consideration of the February 5 memorandum offering a LED traffic signal retrofit kit and traffic signal underground location, Mr. Brachwitz made a motion to have the LED kit only installed, which will be done at the annual relamping operation; it was seconded by Mrs. Perkins and carried.

Cooks Glen Road - In response to a request from Robert Ellis for an update on this issue, it was noted that the Solicitor is still working on it.

Suburban Cable - Manager Heist reported that Suburban's threshold for cable hook up is 25 residents/mile. Pughtown Road has an average of 12/mile; therefore, there will be no hook up beyond its present location.

Kip Archinal gave the Board an album of photos taken at the annual July 4th parade.

Township Building - Manager Heist has not been able to obtain three cost estimates for the exterior painting of the Township Building. If possible, this matter will be taken up at the Friday meeting.

The bills list dated March 9, 1998 was unanimously approved with a motion from Mr. Brachwitz and a second from Mrs. Perkins.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:53 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,