The "Deemed Approval" Situation

Don't panic over the latest news in the possible development of the former Strawberry Acres property.  Although the developer claims he has approval to go forward with his plans, North Whitehall Township disagrees and is continuing to reject his proposal.

The Developer's Claim:

• On August 5, 2015 the developer of the proposed Strawberry Acres property posted a sign on the property and placed in The Morning Call claiming that they have "Deemed Approval" to proceed with the development.
• According to state law, a township must hold a hearing on such matters within 60 days of a proposal.  
• The developer claims that North Whitehall Township failed to hold a hearing on the proposal within the required time frame after they submitted a proposal in August 2014.  As such, the developer is acting as if the request was granted by default. 

The Friends of Laurel Wood have investigated this situation and spoken to the North White Township Manager.  Here's his view of the situation:

• The Township REJECTED the submittal in August 2014 stating that the application was incomplete in that it did not address the zoning issues previously identified by the Township.   The most important issue that they raised is that the submittal did not include the full sewer system run by a public authority that the Township told them was required as well as other zoning issues.
• The Township took this action by sending formal letters to the owner, his lawyer as other key individuals.
• The developer, nor any of his representatives, did not contact the Township to question or file an objection to the Township decision.  The developer did not take actions to pick up the submittal documents when the Township asked them to pick them up.  In fact, the developer did not contact the Township in any manner until the notice was published approximately 11 months later.
• The Township is moving forward with a legal response in the Commonwealth Court of Common Pleas to refute the claim of deemed approval and uphold the current status of the proposal being rejected.  This needs to be done within 60 days according to the law.  The Township's lawyer will have the procedure filed by Monday, August 10.
• The question before the court will be if the Township acted correctly, within the needed time frame, and properly notified the developer of the status.  If they did the claim of deemed approval will be disallowed.  Please note, the zoning issues are not relevant to the court case.
• The court proceeding is open to the public and you are welcome to attend to witness the proceedings.
• The sewer system will require a second completely independent Conditional Approval by the Township.  There has been no submittal for this, and it was not covered in the Legal Notice published by the developer.

Friends of Laurel Wood  will be monitoring the situation and the board members meeting to discuss strategy.  Please continue to follow the blog for further updates.