The Strawberry Acres AARC came before
the Planning Commission on Monday March 7 with two agenda items. The
first was to consider two zoning waivers, the second to consider the
overall preliminary plan. The bulk of the discussion centered on the
waivers and resulted in tabling one, and rejecting the second. The
discussion on the preliminary plan was tabled.
The
first waiver concerned allowing the Developer to use steeper slopes, or
vertical walls, for the retaining ponds internal walls. After
extensive discussion the Planning Commission tabled this waiver for the Developer to provide additional information. It appeared that
the Commissioners tended to agree with our position, but were looking for some
specific clarifications. It is possible that they will be allowed to
return to the March 28 meeting to provide these answers. If they are
allowed to return to the March 28th meeting it will be unusual since it
is the Township's rule that items to be considered must be submitted by a
specific due date about 1 month prior to the presentation (so by February 27). The Township is reviewing the legal background
for this and will make a determination and post
the agenda for the March 28 Planning Commission meeting later soon. At that time we should be able to look at the submitted
additional information on the Township website.
The
second waiver was a request to be exempt from the SALDO to connect the
proposed internal road system to the existing stub road off of Donna
Road. The lawyer tried unsuccessfully to claim that the existing stub
road was not a road, but a common driveway. He pointed to a tree and
other landscaping that seems to be encroaching on the standard road
right-of-way that the Township requires. This was in addition to the arguments that was
presented in the actual waiver request. This argument was met with
surprise from the audience and commissioners
both, and then was soundly rebutted by Township manager and others. We
again had the opportunity to express our comments on this new argument
as well as prepared comments against the previously submitted reasons
for not connecting the roads.
In the end the Planning Commission voted
to recommend disapproval of the waiver request to the Board of
Supervisors.
We will watch for the posting of the March 28 Planning Commission meeting and communicate the news when we get it.
