December 2022 update - after BoS mtg

 

Last week's Board of Supervisors meeting was a success. The discussion from the Supervisors clearly showed to the Developer that they are tired of the extended process this has taken, the numerous delays, and the poor quality of the work being done by the developer. The setting of the February 7th deadline for  Board of Supervisor action based on a January  24th Planning Commission action cuts a full month off the Developer's time line. It puts pressure on them to have a complete and accurate package submitted to the township by the 21st of December.  That is great!

However, we all know that it will not be as it seems.  If the soil sample indicates arsenic in the soil the township will need to grant them more time to develop a soil remediation plan and revise that portion of the document.  If there are questions with the new Landscaping plan, the traffic study, the proposal to improve the Overlook/Clearview corner, or any other portion of the plan that is close but not good enough, and the planning commission asks for improvements, will the BOS take the action to turn down the plan or give it another extension? They continually must weigh the legal need to act in "good faith."  If they don't feel that the plan is good enough and they turn it down they know that the Developer will take it to court to force a decision. If the court case wins it is questionable that the Judge will order improvements, return it to the township for further action, or order it approved as is.  

 On another note, the "Preliminary presentation of proposed building renovations" turned out to be something not connected to the former Strawberry Acres at all, so no worries there.

 

December 2, 2022 update - pre-BOS Mtg

The North Whitehall Board of Supervisors posted the meeting agenda for the December 5, 2022 meeting was published late. There are two items about Strawberry Acres. 

First, is the expected request for approval of an offered time extension - this is boiler plate, and although we will again mention the number of times this has been extended, it is fully expected that the Board will approve it as a matter of course.

The second is "Preliminary presentation of proposed building renovations". We can only speculate that this is for the existing farm house and related barns. As far as it is known, this was not presented at the Planning Commission meeting of November 22nd, nor are there any submitted plans for either the November Planning Commission or the December BOS meeting. Therefore, we plan to request that the BOS not take any action on this, or even consider it, without any plans being made available to the public for comment.

Also, we have multiple concerns about the soil samples that a team was seen collecting recently. Trust that these concerns will be shared at the meeting.

Update November 30, 2022

Various neighbors report that a company has had representatives to take soil samples from the former Strawberry Acres property. We're keeping an eye on this and hopefully things are being done according to the correct procedures.

November 2022 Update

Cancellation of other scheduled agenda items at the September 27th Planning Commission Meeting allowed consideration of the Strawberry Acres AARC revised plans.  The good news is that following extensive discussion the Commission tabled review of the plans, and did not forward it to the Board of Supervisors (BOS) consideration at their October meeting. They directed the Developer to revise the plans and re-submit them for consideration at an upcoming meeting.

The Commissioners reviewed the comments by the Township Engineer and Zoning Officers indicating specific issues where the plans were not compliant with township ordinances. The Developer in turn indicated that they will revise the plans to be in compliance with the issues raised. However in order to revise the plans the Developer will require several weeks of work before the plans are ready for re-submittal. In accordance with the standard practices of the Planning Commission, plans must be submitted at least 1 month prior to the meeting in which they will be considered to allow sufficient time for review by the Township Engineer, Zoning Officers, and members of the general public. This means that the earliest meeting that the Planning Commission will be able to consider the changes is the November meeting, but only if the Developer succeeds in submitting the plans by October 22nd. If they don’t meet that date then it cannot be considered until December 28th meeting. This in turn means that it is likely that the Township Board of Supervisors will not be able to consider any recommendation by the Planning Commission until after the December 6th BOS meeting. Currently the Township has a deadline of December 6th to take action on the Development. Therefore the Developer indicated that they will offer the Township an additional 3 to 6 month extension of the consideration deadline. The BOS will need to accept this extension prior to or at their December 6th meeting or act to approve or reject the Development.

Various images also raised issues with the plans as presented. Heather discussed issues with the traffic study prepared by the developer.  Key issues she raised are that the study only considered one day of traffic during the summer, and used tables for urban and not rural traffic, therefore any result determined by the study is inaccurate. Ellyn addressed multiple environmental issues. The most important is that the Developer has not conducted a study to determine the level of contaminates in the soil, and although they stated that a testing contractor has been hired, they could not provide a testing plan or even describe a plan. Ellyn stressed that the proper plan would require a grid of testing locations, and testing would need to be conducted at several depths below the surface to a depth 2 feet below planned excavations. She stressed that the samples taken should be split and studied by two labs one representing the Developer, and one the Township. In addition the Township should witness the sampling to insure that it is performed in accordance to the plan reviewed by both the Township and interested parties, and approved by the Township.  The Planning Commissioners appeared to favorably accept this recommendation. Tom again pointed out several significant and insignificant issues with the plan as prepared.  One key point that he raised is that the prepared plans is how the Developer communicates what he intends to do, and the quality of the work he intends to perform - this is so significant that the Licensed Professional Engineer directing the work signs a statement indicating that the details in the plan are accurate and correct to the best of his knowledge.  Signing this statement with multiple obvious errors indicates a true lack of quality in the work. This point was made to the Commissioners during the meeting, and Tom presented written comments for review by the Township and the Developer.

The Commissioners also questioned the Developer about a standard provision in the SALDO (standard development plan requirements) that stub roads left from previous adjacent developments such as ours must be extended and connected to the roads of the new development.  The Developer indicated that they did not design this feature and intended to request a zoning Variance to not perform this requirement. This was discussed in depth by the Commissioners with no formal decision at this time.  Each Commissioner stated their current view with members on each side of the issue. Several residents living in the Laurel Wood development indicated that they are not in favor of interconnecting the internal road of the two developments due to safety concerns with young children in the existing development.

 Next: The Developer must redraw the plans and re-submit them to the Township. The Township will then schedule them for discussion at the next Planning Commission meeting that meets the existing rules for review time.  That submittal must also contain a plan for soil sampling, the testing of the samples, and how the soil must be handled based on the level contamination. If the plan package does not satisfy the Planning Commission then they may either again table action while changes are made or, make a recommendation to the BOS to not approve the plan. If the revised plans are acceptable then they can make a recommendation to the BOS to either approve the development with their comments, they can forward it to the BOS without a recommendation, or they can forward it to the BOS with a negative recommendation. In parallel with this, the Developer will need to formally offer to the BOS an extension of time, and the BOS will need to formally accept the extension or take a formal Approval or Rejection action. We will keep up with the developments as they occur.

September 2022 Planning Commission Meeting

The Strawberry Acres AARC is on the agenda for the Planning Commission meeting this Tuesday, Sept.27, 2022 at 7:30pm.  Just a heads up they are the next to last item on the agenda, and it might get bumped to the next meeting.

September 2022 AARC development update

The Board of Supervisors accepted the Developer's extension of the time the Township has to review and take action on the Strawberry Acres AARC Land Development proposal at the August 1, 2022 meeting. The Site Developer had until the end of August 2022 to submit the new plans. And, they did so.

The Township posted the Site Development Plans for Strawberry Acres late the afternoon of 9/7/2022. You can look at the plans on line at the North Whitehall Township website (go to the Planning page, select agenda option, above the table select the plans link, select the September 2022 folder, Select the Strawberry Acres sub-folder).  Alternatively, if you want Tom could copy them to a disk or memory stick for you.

Note the upcoming meetings:

• The Planning Commission will reviews the plans at their meeting September 27, 2022 at 7:30.
• Board of Supervisor Action.  Assuming the Planning Commission makes a recommendation at it's September 27th meeting then the Board of Supervisors will review at this will be either the  October 3rd or November 7th 2022 meeting.
  

Upcoming Meetings - August 2022

The upcoming meetings of the North Whitehall Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission are key meetings in the progress of the Strawberry Acres development. Please attend if you can!

August 1, 2022 - North Whitehall Board of Supervisors meeting. 7:30pm at the Township Building

August 23, 2022 - Planning Commission meeting. 7:30pm at the Township Building

Tonight! Board of Supervisor's Meeting!

Tonight! (Monday, 7/11/2022), the Strawberry Acres Development is on the agenda for the Board of Supervisor's meeting to request another extension to submit error-free plans. Tonight, the supervisors must decided whether or not go allow the extension.

Please Come to the June Planning Commission Mtg!

Strawberry Acres has made it to this month's - June 2022 - planning commission meeting, as there is a new submission from the developer.

We have not had a lot of time to review the submissions, but Tom has looked at them and will present the shortcomings he found (and there are many).  I hope to be able to speak on the traffic issues.  

Please try to make the meeting.  It is this Tuesday, June 28, at 7:30pm at the North Whitehall Township Building.

Please come to the April 4, 2022 Township Mtg!

 

At the March 7, 2022 North Whitehall Township Board of Supervisors’ meeting, the developer for the former Strawberry Acres property asked for another extension on presenting plans for the project; however, no one was present to represent them or state a reason on why another extension was needed.  

 

The supervisors were ready to approve the requested 3 month extension for the Land Development Plan until Tom  requested that they consider the whole 8 year history of this project.  The Supervisors then entered a discussion on the project, the requested extension, and why another extension was needed. After this discussion , they broke their standard approval of this type of request and decided to give the developer a 30 day extension only, and want the developer to come before the Supervisors in the April 2022 meeting to discuss the project, what they need the extension for, and when they really will be in a position to present updated land development proposal.    

 

Please attend the April 4, 2022 Board of Supervisors meeting (mtg at 7:30pm at the North Whitehall Township building).  We will need a large group to show support for not approving additional extensions.

 

Thank you!