East Marlborough Township
Planning Commission
Minutes of May 1, 2018
Cuyler Walker, chairman called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the township building. Additional Commissioners present: Charles Streitwieser, Jane Donze, and Mary Nell Ferry. Pat Montague was not present. Also in attendance was Laurie Prysock, Township Manager. There was a quorum present.
1.Public Comment Period
No Public Comments
- Minutes of March 27, 2018
Motion to approve the minutes of the March 27, 2018 Planning Meeting as submitted by Laurie Prysock, Township Manager. Motion approved 4-0.
- Citadel Bank Review
Applicant came before the Commission for recommendation of final plan approval for the Citadel Bank Project on Route One. The plan is similar to a TD Bank plan approved by the Commission five years ago. Review letters were submitted. The letter from Vandermark& Lynch, Inc.was closely reviewed.
Township Supervisors had some conditions from the previous plan presented.
- Citadel Bank cannot comply with the requirement to use red brick material for the building product due to Citadel Bank’s branding. All of their building use stone and red metal roofs. Supervisors waived the condition to use red brick as the primary building material.
The Commission reviewed the Township Engineer’s recommendations they addressed the following recommendations:
- Plans should show trees that are 36” or greater and need to be perseved
- Penndot permits allow right in and right out- no planned improvements
- Trash dumpster will be enclosed, the new location is set back less than 100 feet from property line as shown on the plan
- The site will stay lit from dusk to dawn due to safety concerns. There will be an ATM machine on the site with down cast lighting, similar to the lighting at the neighboring Walgreens building
The motion to grant the waivers to the applicant was approved.
The applicant is asked to confirm items three, four, five and seven from the review letter with the Township Engineer for the record prior to requesting final approval. Citadel Bank is on the agenda for Monday’s meeting.
- Doug White Plan Review
Mr. White stated he is looking to move forward as soon as possible. He would like to start construction in July, and minimally begin on the two large retaining basins. Applicant submitted conditional use plans for approval.Review letters were submitted to the Commission for discussion.
The Recreation facilities for North Ridge were discussed. Page 2, comment 2 from the April 26, 2018 Letter noted that North Ridge does not appear to provide 3 acres for recreation facilities. Applicant stated Northridge has 3 acres through out development, sidewalks are not on each side but inter connect to one another through out the subdivision. There is no planned playground. Chairman Walker stated that the township engineer, Mr. Hatfield should have an opportunity to hear their response at Monday’s meeting
In response to questions from Committee Member Mary Nell Ferry, Mr. White stated North Ridge would be marketed to an older population. A similar development located in Paoli is priced at $900,000 to 1 million for single homes. The homes offered in North Ridge will be twin homes. Price point will be about half the price of the homes in Paoli. The planned building materials include, stone and siding, may use Hardie Plank siding as opposed to stucco.
The conditional use plan shows lighting in the neighborhood. The Township engineer does not want streetlights on the roads. Request to waive township requirement for street lighting. Motion to grant conditional use order to remove street lighting was approved.
Traffic study was previously completed, they will re-submit if necessary. The applicant is requesting waivers under item number 10. The Commission made a motion to approve six items under Number 10, specifically a-f. The motion to approve waivers for items a-f under item 10 was approved. The applicant may return next month with final request for waivers.
Applicant requested waiver to item #12, the length of Road A exceeds 500’
The motion to allow Road A to exceed 500’ was approved.
Vertical curbs have been approved for the neighborhood. A wavier for the pathway width of 24’ was requested. The engineer felt the pathway should be larger than the suggested 24’ requested. The neighborhood would not allow on street parking. Everfast gave approval for the development to use their parking lot for overflow parking needs. Signs would be posted through out the development that no on street parking is allowed. The applicant received approval to the waiver for a pathway of less than 60’. Both TP&D (Traffic Planning and Design) and Jim
Hatfield recommend a 36’ pathway. Applicant stated a 24’ pathway is appropriate for a residential development that does not allow on street parking. In a letter dated January 25, 2018, the Fire Chief from Longwood Fire Company stated he did not have an issue with 24’ wide pathway and rolled curbs in the proposed development. There will be 24’ of blacktop than the rolled curb. The motion to waive the 36’ pathway requirement and have a 24’ pathway was approved.
Additional requests for wavier on road requirements may be necessary. The Commission approved to accept the township engineers conditions on the road requirements in question.
Applicant requested a wavier for 75’ instead of 200’ for the roadway. TP & D may not have had the technical information on the existing retaining basin. The wavier was necessary due to the two existing retaining basins. Chairman Walker suggests the traffic engineers offer their input even though the land development has been approved.
Current plans show the proposed driveways are less than 40’ from intersections; the township requirement is 50’. The applicant requested a wavier for a reduction from 50’ to 40’. The Commission requested to have TP&D to offer their input on safety concerns.
There was a question on the Glackin, Thomas & Panzak letter from Lisa Thomas, #7 on Page 3. Sidewalks were requested to be moved to the North side of the development. The plan shows sidewalks inter connect through out subdivision. Applicant was not sure if Lisa Thomas was addressing the conditional use order from 2017, rather than the conditional use order from 2018. The applicant will seek clarification from Glackin. The committee did not feel the sidewalks has to be on the North side, and were comfortable with them inter connecting through out the subdivision.
Committee member Charles Streitwieser questioned the walking trails; he did not see the trails on the plans. The applicant responded that Everfast did not want walking trails on their private property. The plans shows new walking trails that connect to the CK property. The walking trails as on the current plan, provide a better and safer access to connect to additional pre-existing walking trails.
The Commission suggested the applicant attend the next planning commission meeting for additional waivers needed after addressing core issues with the township engineer. Applicant could then request to go to final approval the following month.
The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.