April 2023 Planning Commission Meeting

As of 4/8/23, Strawberry Acres is on the agenda for the Planning Commission Meeting which will be on April 25th at 7pm.  Please try to attend.  They are again requesting a waiver on the stub road and hope to get a waiver on the detention pond slopes.

Strawberry Acres AARC, March 7 Planning Commission meeting results

 

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.

Upcoming Planning Commission Mtg on March 7, 2023

Please note there will be a special Planning Commission Meeting on March 7, 2023 at 7pm concerning Strawberry Acres.

 The Developer has come back to the Planning Commission and stated that they would not present an updated plan until the Township acted on the waiver request, and asked to be put on the February agenda.   The Township looking at the already extensive agenda for the February meeting determined that it would not have time to review either the Waiver Request or overall plan review scheduled a meeting for March 7 to handle the Strawberry Acres items and to balance the work load between the normal February meeting and the special meeting.

We feel strongly that the waivers should not be approved and a group of us will be present at the meeting to discuss our concerns. Please join us to show your support.

2nd January 2023 update

The Strawberry Acres AARC  discussion has been taken off of the January Planning Commission meeting agenda, and will most likely not be on the February 2023 agenda. The Township has reviewed the provided plans and changes are needed. They feel, after reviewing the code, that the Township can ask the Developer to make the changes without it happening at the meeting, and feel that this is a better course of action. We'll keep you updated as more is known.

January 2023 Update

Note - Strawberry Acres developer got their plans in on time and will be on the agenda for this upcoming Planning Commission Meeting on January 24th.  Please note the meeting will start at 7pm, not 7:30pm. We will update you when we've had a chance to review the documents.

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.