[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:05] Good evening and welcome to the March 15th, 2023 Southway Hall Township Board of Commissioners meeting. I will call this meeting to order. If you would all please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, invisible liberty and justice for all.
[0:38] Thank you. I'd like to announce that all public sessions of the Southway Hall Township Board of
[0:41] The commissioners are electronically recorded, filed, and posted to the website for public access.
[0:47] I would also like to note that all commissioners are present this evening except for commissioner David Kennedy.
[0:53] At this time, I'll ask our township manager, Tom Pertrucci, to please review our public virtual meetings.
[1:00] Thank you.
[1:01] The rules are as follows.
[1:02] Currency of the floor for non-agenda items will be at the beginning and end of the agenda.
[1:07] Public comment will be limited to five minutes per speaker.
[1:10] For all listed agenda items, the board president will call for courtesy of the floor prior to the Board of Commissioners taking action on that specific agenda item.
[1:18] For in-person attendees, please raise your hand to be recognized and move to the podium when directed.
[1:24] You will be asked to state your name and address for the record and may them proceed with asking your question.
[1:29] For those participating virtually, please mute your microphone or telephone to avoid any background noise that may cause interference in the meeting.
[1:36] The chat box feature will be active throughout the meeting.
[1:39] If you have a comment or question, please type your full name and address into the chat box.
[1:43] The staff member monitoring go to meeting.
[1:45] Well, then a mutual microphone and you will have the opportunity to comment or ask a question.
[1:50] Thank you.
[1:51] Thank you, Tom.
[1:52] I'd also like to announce that the Board of Commissioners did meet an executive session this evening prior to our meeting to discuss legal matters.
[1:59] At this time, I'll go on to agenda item four courtesy of the floor.
[2:02] this is opportunity for public comment on any non-agenda items. Is there anyone in the audience
[2:07] or online who'd like to address the board at this time? Yes, sir. If you come up to the microphone
[2:16] and then just please turn on the microphone. The green light will come on and if you give us your name
[2:20] and address. There it's on. Excellent. Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Mark Bradbury.
[2:26] I live at 4279 Heather Court in South Whitehall Township.
[2:32] Here tonight just to briefly congratulate the board for finally getting a comprehensive
[2:38] plan, you know, will finally be done.
[2:43] I think the last one was 2009, is that correct?
[2:48] And I have one of my clients with me, but I had several other, some of them are dead already,
[2:53] that tried to get things re-zoned or changed or modified over the course of the last nine to ten years and we were always told that the way to the comprehensive plan is done.
[3:06] We don't want to make any decisions to the comprehensive plan is done.
[3:11] Unfortunately, that sometimes doesn't make any sense.
[3:14] I took the liberty of looking back at the 2009 land use future access areas, which a lot of people, when a comprehensive plan is done, take it at face value and look at it and say, look, I see opportunities here that the township looks like they're willing to back me up on.
[3:35] There's areas that show growth areas of different types of residential or commercial or different
[3:43] types of uses that are permitted by the NPC in a task ship.
[3:51] I was surprised when I looked through the new comprehensive plan and noticed that a lot
[3:59] of those had been taken away done away with completely and I understand that from conversations
[4:09] with some of your staff that when the rezoning does take place and I don't know when you're
[4:15] going to do it when I'm sure there is going to be some areas that are going to be rezoned
[4:21] or possibly amend it and when I say amend it I look at the areas especially on the future
[4:29] growth map that has the green, Jordan, Greek area, and then the green field, or I'm sorry,
[4:38] not the green field, the natural
[4:44] resources.
[4:46] Those areas normally are offered wetlands, steep slopes, floodplains, et cetera, and they
[4:51] make sense.
[4:53] They are absolutely necessary to keep the health of the township, keep our waterways clean,
[4:58] and help us with that.
[5:00] Ketelstain, healthy growth in the township. However, Mark, could I interrupt you just a moment. I didn't realize all of your comments were going to be regarding the comprehensive plan. Okay.
[5:10] is the public hearing. We will be conducting an actual public hearing and accepting public comment
[5:16] that you will have. Oh, after you do your presentation, sure. You're welcome to finish the comments now.
[5:22] I can wait until you're done. Or when we open up the hearing, if you'd like to have that included in part.
[5:27] I was almost done, but I'll wait until that happens. Okay, sure. Okay, thank you.
[5:33] All right, thank you. Anyone else in the audience with any comment on non-agenda items?
[5:38] Is there anyone online?
[5:42] Very good.
[5:42] Thank you.
[5:44] Moving on to agenda item five.
[5:46] Our meeting minutes from the March 1, 2023 Board of Commissioners.
[5:50] Meeting have been distributed to the Board for your review.
[5:53] Are there any comments or questions on the meeting minutes this evening?
[5:58] Hearing and seeing none, do I have a motion to approve?
[6:00] So moved.
[6:01] I'll second.
[6:02] All in favor?
[6:03] Aye.
[6:03] Aye.
[6:04] Any opposed?
[6:05] Motion carries four to zero.
[6:07] There are no ordinances this evening moving on to agenda item seven resolutions.
[6:13] I'm going to pass this portion of the meeting over to Dave Manhart, Director of Community
[6:19] Development to just give us an overview of the comprehensive plan before.
[6:23] Do we need to open the public hearing?
[6:25] Let me go ahead and open a public hearing and then I'll turn it to you in just a moment, Dave.
[6:30] This public hearing is a bit unusual for those of you that have knowledge about the news
[6:35] planning code or 10 public meetings, you probably recognize that most often,
[6:40] public hearings associated with an ordinance adoption or consideration for adoption.
[6:45] Resolutions which are on just about every agenda, almost never have a public hearing.
[6:52] But this is a process mandated by the municipality's planning code.
[6:56] And I would note for the record that the preliminaries that I refer to as advertising public notice and
[7:03] like under the MPC have been fulfilled for this public hearing.
[7:08] The purpose of a public hearing is two-fold.
[7:10] One is to inform the public, the other is to accept public comment for consideration
[7:16] by the board before the hearing closes and ultimately for consideration when there are decisions
[7:22] to be made such as can be made in the board discretion this evening.
[7:26] So with that having been said, the first component of that is informing the public and I'll turn
[7:31] that to Mr. Manhardt, please.
[7:34] Thank you.
[7:37] So with the comprehensive plan, some of the questions we've gotten a lot, and I kind of want
[7:45] to start with this, is what is the comprehensive plan and more importantly what is not a comprehensive
[7:51] plan?
[7:52] So a comprehensive plan from one is required by the MPC is Joe alluded to, is required for
[7:59] municipalities to have a comprehensive plan.
[8:03] The second thing a comprehensive plan does is it sets the vision for future growth development and preservation.
[8:13] It sets a high level policy and that it also lays the foundation for any regulatory decisions moving forward.
[8:25] What it is not, it is not a zoning ordinance change, it is not a zoning map change, it is not a change to saldo, it's not a change to the official map.
[8:38] So what the purpose of the comprehensive plan is when the legislature goes to make those changes a reference to the comprehensive plan to help inform any of those decisions.
[8:51] So, that's why a comprehensive plans are typically broader more of a policy document.
[8:59] So, that's an important distinction and it's been a lot of the questions that we've been
[9:04] fielding as staff throughout this entire process.
[9:08] So, I wanted to kind of get that out there first.
[9:11] First, the second part of this is how did we get to this point?
[9:21] Starting in 2019, almost four years to the day, actually March 13th was the first meeting.
[9:32] We started with the guiding principal meetings and we called that phase one.
[9:39] The way we structure the comprehensive plan is we wanted to do a big chunk of public engagement up front.
[9:48] To get as much public input as we could up front and then funnel that down into the comprehensive plan.
[9:55] So there were three years of...
[10:00] Public engagement, deliberate. Phase one was the existing conditions and guiding principle meetings that we had at the high school. Phase two were the where should we grow exercises that included the maps, getting people to have an idea where in the township might be appropriate to accommodate growth. Also where they would like to see protected and what they felt needed to be improved.
[10:29] We then, well, then COVID hit, so we had to make a pivot there.
[10:35] We prepared an online visual preference survey that was sent out, and that was in,
[10:43] we launched that in October of 2020, ran that through till February, got close to, I believe
[10:51] it was 700 responses.
[10:53] And the idea there was to figure out, once we know where the public wants things we should
[11:01] grow, how is it going to look?
[11:03] So we took that and then went into phase four where we split into working groups, specific
[11:13] based on specific topic areas.
[11:15] This is where people that had an interest in transportation could get involved and make
[11:22] recommendations, we had workbooks set up that helped people walk through that process.
[11:29] And then that kind of culminated with the, that ended the public engagement focus phase.
[11:37] The next phase was the joint comprehensive plan workshops with the POC and the planning
[11:45] commission where we as staff distilled all of that information, hopefully clearly, into
[11:53] goals and objectives and implementation items that we work through on the topic basis.
[12:00] That process took about a year, and here we are.
[12:07] So one of the things that distinguishes, in my opinion, and colleagues and staff that distinguishes
[12:15] this comprehensive plan is the amount of public engagement.
[12:20] We've had in addition to updates at regularly scheduled B.O.C. meetings and planning commission meetings.
[12:28] We've had five standalone public meetings, 16 joint B.O.C., planning commission workshops, 15 group workshops,
[12:39] seven open houses, four pop-up events, two plan and commission meetings that were dedicated to the Comprehensive Plan, and then the online
[12:50] visual preference survey. So there was a lot of public engagement throughout that process.
[12:56] The next thing I wanted to talk about is where we're going.
[13:00] Some of the things that came up during that public engagement process was having a clear road map to move forward with the comprehensive plan.
[13:11] There were a lot of comments early on, how do we know how we did on the 2009 plan?
[13:20] We didn't have that clear implementation item, so this comprehensive plan was very deliberate in laying out implementation items.
[13:29] So, that provides moving forward the framework and the action plan almost of how we get this thing off the ground, what we can do.
[13:40] And most of those implementations are related around or revolve around detailed plans.
[13:48] So those detailed plans will help any decision makers, the Board of Commissioners, make decisions for regulatory changes.
[13:58] So if there's a change to the official map, a change to zoning, a change to the saldo,
[14:05] those detailed plans in construction with the comprehensive plan are designed and
[14:10] deliberately prepared to give information so that the board can make educated decisions moving forward.
[14:21] In addition to establishing processes, if we need to do that, for implementation.
[14:28] So, that was another distinguishing aspect of this comprehensive plan.
[14:38] Thirdly, is how will we measure success that kind of ties into some of the comments
[14:44] from early on?
[14:47] Because we have it laid out with implementation, we can clearly see how we're doing on implementation.
[14:54] If there's something that slipped through the cracks, we know it's in there, we can go
[14:59] We'll back it.
[15:00] And then look at it and pull it out if we need to. The other thing that's recommended as part of this is a re-examination report. So that piece will force, and we'll have to figure out how it gets adopted in the details of it. But that will force the planning commission and the board of commissioners to periodically look at the comprehensive plan. And if things come up that require changes, we can go back in and make amendments or
[15:29] or tweak some implementation items and things like that.
[15:32] So that gives the broad framework of how it was laid out and kind of addresses some of
[15:40] the comments and concerns that we've heard going through this process.
[15:46] I do want to thank all the staff that was involved, the board members, past and present, staff
[15:56] a lot of people have worked on this and it was a great team.
[16:01] Great to be here, finally.
[16:05] Thank you.
[16:06] Thank you, Dave.
[16:08] Does the board have any questions of Mr. Mannhart?
[16:12] No questions.
[16:14] Thank you.
[16:17] Does the board have any comments before I open it up to the public?
[16:22] I'll certainly make a general comment.
[16:24] Dave, thank you for delineating the amount of work,
[16:28] work, man hours that staff and board, both this board and planning, have dedicated to
[16:36] this, but more importantly, I want to thank you and all of the team that has been involved
[16:40] for the outreach to the community.
[16:43] I think that was something that we heard over and over again that the community did not
[16:48] feel like they had a voice, and you provided, you and the team, multiple options for the
[16:57] public to participate, whether in person, online, a survey, an open house.
[17:04] So I want to thank you for bringing the community together, and the product that has come
[17:09] out of this is excellent, and I look forward to the next steps.
[17:16] And just to follow up on that is, the implementation is, again, we're going to be reaching out to
[17:22] public during that implementation phase as well.
[17:26] So it kind of I kind of see that public involvement kind of died down during the workshops because we were going through a lot of it
[17:34] But now with implementation I see us ramping it back up.
[17:41] I do have one comment as well
[17:43] I wanted to thank you and all the staff. This has been a really long journey and
[17:49] It's really a great plan. It's a happy day
[17:52] And I want to also commend you in the built-in
[17:55] and re-examination and the implementation, because what good is it if we do it, we spend all the work on it and we do it and we put it on the shelf and we don't come back and revisit it.
[18:04] So I'm really happy that that was done, I thank you very much.
[18:09] I'll just have two brief comments, first Dave, thank you for your leadership and to the entire team.
[18:16] It's a great product that you have assembled here for us, so I'm very appreciative of that.
[18:21] Okay. And my second comment is just to the entire board, assuming that we adopt the comp plan at the conclusion of this hearing, for us, it's really not, it's the end of one process, but it's the beginning of another.
[18:39] And now that all the consultants and the planning commission and staff and our board and previous boards included have kind of left their mark on the comp plan, it's on us.
[18:51] to make sure that it's implemented.
[18:54] The 2009 comp plan, if you go back and read it,
[18:58] calls for a lot of the same changes that are in this comp plan.
[19:02] And it makes the argument as to why we should zone certain areas,
[19:07] certain ways, what programs we should look at
[19:09] for the long-term health of our community.
[19:12] But the difference is subsequent boards after the 2009 comp plan
[19:18] didn't have the structure to implement it and chose not to implement certain provisions.
[19:23] So it's great that we have this comprehensive plan before us, but
[19:28] it's on us to provide the direction and make sure that we're implementing the provisions in a timely manner.
[19:34] So I think that will have just as much of an impact on our community as the long community center development of the complaint.
[19:45] So I would just ask the board to keep that in mind as we move through the next phase of this long
[19:51] Project in the best interest of our community.
[19:57] Thank you commissioners, and I would just observe since
[20:00] Yes, everyone who spoke, each commissioner and Mr. Manhardt have talked about the implementation, just so the public in the audience is aware. A comprehensive plan really is a document that as Dave said is visionary by itself, it really has no teeth or no enforceability. It's the implementation created by the vision of the comp plan that really is where the revered meets the road. That said, I'll now open up to the public, and I think it's appropriate since Mr. Bradbury was already speaking.
[20:28] he has an opportunity to finish his comments and
[20:35] I would just as a matter of record note that because this is a public meeting we're now into the public hearing component of it and because the township does record its meetings that what you've said already mark will incorporate into the public hearing.
[20:57] I think really my ending statement is what this whole conversation is about.
[21:05] I could get into what I thought about how things should have been done.
[21:09] And I did attend some of the meetings, and I thought it was, you know, quite a gallon
[21:14] effort, especially after all of what I saw was taking place over the years trying to get
[21:21] different projects done. I'm on the other side. I work with my clients and, of course, I work with the township.
[21:28] I'm a resident here, so I have a lot of skin in the game.
[21:33] My biggest issue with a comprehensive plan,
[21:37] it's not just with Southwide All Township, it's with any township. It is a device that was put together by
[21:46] people who were educated in various areas of the growth, health, safety, and welfare of our community.
[21:56] It is a guiding tool.
[22:00] It should not be wheeled like a sword, and that's the tough part with a comp plan.
[22:05] What I have found is that book that gets put up on the shelf at whatever 2009.
[22:14] When the township needed to use it and they would say, well, what you're proposing, doesn't match what we have in our constant comprehensive plan, they pull it out and throw that at my clients or myself and say, that's why we don't want it.
[22:29] On the other hand, if it didn't agree with the comprehensive plan but it was something that they want it, they would ignore the comprehensive plan.
[22:39] And I would come and say, I would argue, I'd say, well, why are you letting this developer do this?
[22:43] It's not part of the comprehensive plan, it's totally against it.
[22:47] So, and I know that Joe was trying to tell people that this is not an ordinance.
[22:52] This is just a guiding tool.
[22:55] My biggest concern is the implementation of what's happening next as we re-examming the zoning districts.
[23:03] districts. Take a look at what we want to change. Obviously, I spoke to, or my clients
[23:11] spoke to Greg today, and they were talking about different zoning districts. And basically
[23:17] the conversation ended that we're not going to really change the base districts. If you
[23:22] are of a neighborhood commercial district, it will probably stay neighborhood commercial.
[23:26] If it's highway commercial, it will probably stay highway commercial. It's residential,
[23:31] Because you don't want to create non-conforming uses by changing a zoning district so that the people that live there have to get a variance every time they want to put up a garage or do something different, which actually happened.
[23:43] It's a drone, I believe, not too long ago.
[23:46] But my concern is that those districts will have things added to them that will make
[23:56] it prohibitive to utilize it the way it's being utilized now.
[24:02] For example, if you have a neighborhood commercial and the zoning district says you can have 80%
[24:09] in previous coverage.
[24:11] Well, now if it falls within the green zone,
[24:16] you can keep it neighborhood commercial,
[24:18] but anybody in the future, we only want 20% coverage.
[24:21] And I'm trying to inform my clients
[24:22] that even if you're told the district isn't gonna change,
[24:26] that those are some of the things that can take place
[24:30] when rezoning occurs or zoning ordinances are amended.
[24:34] So I just asked this board to please be very careful
[24:39] and don't use this as a sword. Use it as a guiding tool to guide yourselves and our community and
[24:48] listen to the community's input before any massive changes take place. On step at a time.
[24:56] And again, I'm going to try and as things
[25:00] Let's go on. I know I couldn't get to all these comprehensive meetings. It was just went on for so long, but when zoning districts change, I am going to ask that I'm informed with each time a zoning district is going to be modified or amended so that I can come in and at least keep my clients appraised of what could happen. Like I said, real quick, I looked at the 2009 plan and the areas that were shown for future
[25:29] Your growth are now covered up in areas where they don't want any growth.
[25:36] So if you're a land buyer or your person that lives here in the township, and you think
[25:41] well, I'm going to look at the comprehensive plan, I'm going to use this as a guide to
[25:44] see how I'm going to structure my life and my business, or what I do for a living, and
[25:50] all of a sudden the runs pull out from under you.
[25:53] It's kind of a real slap in the face, it's tough to take.
[25:56] So, I know this is not a zoning ordinance, but it certainly has enough weight that it can sway or change people's vines as to what shooter shouldn't be done in that particular area of the township.
[26:14] So, use it as a guide out of sword.
[26:17] So, I'll ask. Thank you.
[26:19] Thank you.
[26:23] Is there any on else in the public that has a comment with respect to the conference of plan resolution?
[26:31] Do we have anyone online that would like to comment?
[26:36] There's three participants, I'm not seeing any comments or any hands raised.
[26:42] Give it a second in case someone does want to raise a hand or make a comment.
[26:47] And once we know for sure, I'm Mr. Bradbury, yes, sir.
[26:53] Just one last thing real quick.
[26:56] If I do come in here again with a client who would like a zoning variance or a zoning change or something to do with their property,
[27:06] I would please ask the township not to tell us the way to the next comprehensive plan comes out so that they can make a decision.
[27:13] Like I said, some of my clients passed away waiting for it, so it's not as funny as we like to make it seem, but please don't let us do that again.
[27:23] Thank you.
[27:24] Thank you.
[27:27] Chris, are we still a negative on the online participation with the comment?
[27:31] Yes, yes, there's no comments.
[27:34] Once again, anyone from the public that would like to speak and address this matter?
[27:38] Going once, going twice.
[27:40] No more hands, no more comment from the public.
[27:43] Are there any final comments or questions from Board of Commissioners?
[27:48] Seeing none, hearing none, I will close- Oh, Chris, did you want to say something?
[27:51] There was a participant earlier who was in and who just left but came back.
[27:57] Can we just confirm that there's no?
[27:59] Please do.
[28:00] Is there anyone online who wishes to make a comment?
[28:13] Any final comments or questions from any member of the Board of Commissioners?
[28:18] Seeing none and having no public comment to add to what's been said already, I'll close this public hearing.
[28:23] Then I'll turn it back to our Board President if you wish to proceed with entertaining emotion.
[28:28] action to adopt the resolution I'd be within your rights to do so.
[28:31] Thank you very much, Attorney Zator.
[28:33] At this time do I have a motion to adopt the plan and
[28:39] title the 2023 Southway Hall Township Comprehensive Plan?
[28:43] Some moved.
[28:44] I'll second.
[28:45] All in favor?
[28:46] Aye.
[28:47] Aye.
[28:47] Any opposed?
[28:48] Motion carries, four to zero.
[28:51] Thank you.
[28:51] And thank you again to staff.
[28:53] Thank you, Mr. Bradbury, for your comments as well.
[28:57] Thank you.
[28:58] Congratulations to the staff.
[29:01] Thank you.
[29:01] I have champagne in the car.
[29:03] Right.
[29:07] We'll have a little tailgate.
[29:11] You've earned it.
[29:13] Moving along on our agenda, we have Resolution B, a resolution of the Board of Commissioners
[29:18] of Southway Health Township, authorizing the Township Manager to execute an agreement with
[29:22] Aqua, Pennsylvania, incorporated, providing for a cost-sharing arrangement for road
[29:27] Good restoration work to occur in South Wales Township, and I will turn this over to our Township Manager, Tom Petrucci.
[29:33] Thank you, Commissioner Kelly.
[29:35] If the board is okay with this approach, I'd like to review 7BN7C, both resolutions collectively and ask for separate action on each.
[29:43] That makes sense, sir.
[29:44] Okay, thank you.
[29:45] So the Township Management is looking to move forward with cost share agreements with both UGI and Aqua.
[29:51] The cost share agreement with UJI's work for it, they would conduct on the township on various roads, including Huckleberry Road 20-
[30:00] First Street, 24th Street, Belmont, and North 25th Street portions thereof. The agreement would be for $99,960. The agreement with Aqua is for a water main replacement project to take place at Country Club Gardens, and that agreement would be for $82,320. The overall concept of these agreements is that in lieu of Aqua or UGI, conducting pavement restoration work, the township local forces
[30:29] is would actually conduct both milling and asphalt resurfacing.
[30:34] And essentially, Aqua and UGI would be paying the township for the materials to conduct that work.
[30:39] And the township would take on the milling as part of its overall milling bid to ensure
[30:45] that the work is completed in accordance with township specifications.
[30:49] So these agreements are possible due to the requirements of Chapter 30426,
[30:55] which is work in street right away, or township in easements.
[30:57] Section J, which specifies when full with paving restoration is work, work is required by the township's street excavation ordinance.
[31:06] I'd like to thank Herb Bender, Director of Operations for making the contacts with UGI and Aqua.
[31:13] We view this as part of a two-tier process in which the aforementioned ordinance was first adopted in 2019.
[31:20] This is the second part of the process whereby we work with the utility providers to ensure
[31:27] that the township is getting full with paving restoration to meet its needs and also to ensure that the infrastructure of the township is replaced on an ongoing basis as well by the utility providers.
[31:40] So it's a win-win for the township, as we view it. Any questions?
[31:48] I
[31:50] have a comment, which is can't be taken as a question.
[31:54] So as I understand the explanation, Tom, actually this is a win for
[31:59] the rate pairs of both Aqua and UGI, is that correct?
[32:04] Yes, it's a win-win for the utility providers as well as the talent ship.
[32:08] So we actually can, it costs them a little bit less.
[32:12] And then whereby we're actually paying, we're receiving the money to conduct the work at the same time.
[32:19] The other thing we have to remember is, in the ordinance for the paving requirements where Aqua is putting the water main NUGI, they would only be required to do a half mill and overlay, so now we will be getting full with mill and overlay on these roads.
[32:38] And includes both the scratch and wearing courses, yes.
[32:43] So, Herb in taking this on, which I think is very nice, are we subtracting from the schedule that you had planned for the rest of the year on other roads?
[32:56] No, we will still do our budget, too.
[32:59] Our full paving this year, and next year, we will incorporate this work to give it one year for full
[33:05] settlement and then put that in the 2024 budget to pay these roads also.
[33:14] Very nice, thank you.
[33:18] My only comment would be I know that the township did paving in house last year in the comments that we received from the residents were so favorable and they were very thankful for job well done.
[33:32] So I want to praise you and the public works team who took care of that and it's exciting to know that we're
[33:38] going to be paving all of these roads now in house in that same fashion.
[33:43] So it's a benefit to our residents as well.
[33:45] Thank you.
[33:49] I'm from the board.
[33:51] I do have a quick question.
[33:53] When this job is going to be started, residents will have a quick notification, right?
[34:00] Are you planning to notify them through Nixel and door hangers and so forth?
[34:04] For the milling and the old road?
[34:06] Yeah, we're going to follow the same process we do for our in house paving.
[34:10] Nothing will change for notification of properties or anything.
[34:14] We will post the streets, we put door hangers out.
[34:17] We notify 72 hours in advance when we're coming.
[34:20] Sometimes even more, but yes, they will be no more.
[34:23] Okay, all right, great.
[34:24] And I also wanted to thank you for being so specific with the areas you put the streets.
[34:29] And it gave me a very clear concise idea of where this was going to happen.
[34:33] So I appreciate that, thank you.
[34:36] Any other board coming at this time?
[34:39] any public comment? Anybody online?
[34:45] Okay, hearing and seeing none, we'll have to take these
[34:48] one at a time. Do I have a motion to proceed with a resolution B, providing for the authorization
[34:55] of the township manager to execute an agreement with AquaPensalvania Incorporated?
[35:01] Or cost sharing arrangement for road restoration work to occur in South Wales Township. So moved. Second. Motion, the second, all in favor. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries 4-0. Moving on to resolution 7-c. We have a resolution of the Board of Commissioners of South Wales Township authorizing the Township Manager to execute an agreement with UGI Utilities Incorporated, providing for cost sharing arrangement for road restoration work to occur in South Wales Township.
[35:30] Do I have a motion to approve said resolution?
[35:32] So moved.
[35:33] Second, all in favor?
[35:34] Aye.
[35:35] Aye.
[35:35] Any opposed?
[35:36] The motion carries 4 to 0.
[35:38] Thank you.
[35:39] Moving on to agenda item 7D.
[35:41] We have a resolution at the Board of Commissioners of South Wales Townshipley High County, Pennsylvania
[35:46] authorizing the Township Manager to execute a utility relocation, occupancy, and cost
[35:51] sharing agreement with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and I'll ask our Township
[35:55] Manager to present.
[35:57] Thank you.
[35:57] As part of the Tillman Street Bridge Utility Relocation Project, the township must remove and relocate the sanitary sewer mainline located on the Tillman Street Bridge, which is SR-1,2002.
[36:09] And it's located over the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension.
[36:13] The Turnpike is commissioned by offering to reimburse the township 50% of the costs associated with the work, minus any betterments and charges for interest on construction money as laid out in the agreement.
[36:23] The utility relocation occupancy and cost sharing agreement is enclosed for reference the above the resolution authorizes the township manager to execute the agreement on behalf of the township and the agreement that you see is pretty much other standard template boilerplate agreement with the term by commission.
[36:41] Thank you, Tom. Any board comments or questions on this resolution?
[36:48] Any from the public?
[36:51] Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve said resolution?
[36:55] I'll make that motion, is there a second?
[36:57] Second.
[36:58] I have a motion, a second.
[36:59] All in favor?
[37:00] Aye.
[37:00] Aye.
[37:01] Any opposed?
[37:02] Motion carries four to zero.
[37:04] Moving on to agenda item E.
[37:05] We have a resolution for a 2023 DCNR Community Conservation
[37:09] Partnership Program Grant Application.
[37:11] I'll turn it over to Tom.
[37:15] Thank you.
[37:16] So in talking internally with township staff, including Christopher
[37:21] for a stroller, long-range planner, we are recommending that the township apply for a $200,000 matching grant to supplement the township's $1 million transportation alternative set aside TASA grant to construct segments 41 to 45 of the Jordan and Creek Greenway, which is from lap road to where Mill Road Incover Bridge Park.
[37:45] The reason that we are asking to supplement the original $1 million funding is that the costs
[37:53] of what the final bid will be for this project once the tax grant is actually advertised
[38:00] in the ECMAS system as per Penn.recarments, the final cost is somewhat unknown.
[38:05] So while we do have an estimate at this time, we're kind of not operating in terms of the hard numbers at this point because we don't have the hard numbers back.
[38:20] So that goes for both the final construction costs as well as the inspection costs.
[38:25] So roughly, you know, you have your million dollar project and then you have approximately 12% of inspection cost as well, which is $120,000.
[38:36] So there was always a potential that the grant, the project will come in under bid, but that's highly unlikely in today's environment.
[38:46] So we're trying to supplement the funding with a $200,000 DCNR C2P2 grant, which is the Community Conservation Partnership Program.
[38:58] So, essentially, we would be using the task of money to match the DCNR grant, so there wouldn't be an additional amount of financial output.
[39:07] But however, I want to be clear, and we'll also get into this with agenda item 7G that this is a reimbursement grant for the TASA grant.
[39:18] So that we'll have to put out the money, ensure that that money is provided for in the 2024 budget, and then seek reimbursement through the state.
[39:28] So we're trying to ensure that we are in the best case scenario that we have more than enough funding to account for the entire project.
[39:38] Thank you, Tom.
[39:40] Other any board questions on this agenda item?
[39:43] Commissioner Osborne.
[39:44] Thank you, Commissioner Kelly.
[39:45] Tom, let me not assume I know the answer.
[39:48] So, how was the amount of $200,000 arrived at as far as, you know, for the grant application?
[39:56] That's a great question.
[39:57] So basically,
[40:00] Because the inspection costs are estimated to be around $150,000. We kind of use that as the benchmark. There was a little bit of some guesstimation going on. It's not a hard, fast number, but it's basically where we felt comfortable that we wouldn't be asking for too much money, where we could still justify trying to supplement the overall costs of the tassar grant.
[40:29] And if everything becomes maxed out in terms of construction and the inspection.
[40:36] If I may add, just so we are working through the design and engineering process now we
[40:42] are at 90% engineered.
[40:45] So we do have fairly good cost estimates as of today, but knowing the market materials cost
[40:50] and the unforeseen ability to get a contractor to come in at our estimated budget.
[40:57] But as of today, we're looking at roughly around a million dollars for construction alone.
[41:03] Taking into the fact that as Tom mentioned, we need to look at inspection services.
[41:07] These are things that we would budget for at the end of this year for a 2024 budget.
[41:13] So really the purpose of this grant is just to be proactive if we are looking at that same construction cost plus the construction inspection services that would be required for this project.
[41:24] These are things we would have to budget for regardless.
[41:28] So the idea of getting the grant funding, applying for the grant funding now, is we'll know if that's coming out of the township budget, or if we can supplement that cost in 2024.
[41:39] But again, it's by probably October is when we'll have the project that to bid and we'll look at what the actual estimates will come in from potential contractors.
[41:51] Okay, thank you.
[41:53] Yeah, they're looking to actually let the project by October.
[41:57] So we'll have, they'll open the bids by October.
[42:01] So we'll have all those numbers available.
[42:04] Any other forward comments or questions?
[42:07] Anything from the public?
[42:10] Mary Ann Singh, none do I have a motion to approve set resolution?
[42:13] Some move.
[42:14] I'll second.
[42:14] All in favor?
[42:15] Aye.
[42:16] Any opposed?
[42:17] Motion carries four to zero.
[42:19] Thank you.
[42:20] Moving on to agenda item seven.
[42:22] We have a resolution extending the conditional preliminary final approval granted to a major plan entitled proposed parking lot improvements,
[42:29] 798 houseman road, turn it over to Greg Adams, planning department.
[42:35] Thank you.
[42:36] This is an application to further develop the property located at 798 houseman road.
[42:41] The plan proposes the construction of a new driveway aisle in the elimination of 13 parking spaces,
[42:47] stormwater management improvements, and the installation of a new waterline.
[42:50] All on a point 0.81 acre portion of the 6.072 acre site.
[42:57] The Board of Commissioners granted preliminary final approval of the project on February 17th, 2021.
[43:04] On February 2nd, 2022, the Board of Commissioners granted a 12-month extension to the approval of the project.
[43:11] And a month ago, February 13th, 2023, the Board of Commissioners granted a 30-day extension
[43:17] In order to observe the results of the current effort to bring the 798 houseman buildings water line connection into compliance with the township's regulation.
[43:26] The applicant's team here is here, here tonight, for an update and to request spoiler alert a three-month extension.
[43:39] Good evening, Anthony Brickdown, behalf of the-
[43:41] You just make sure the microphone's on, sir.
[43:43] Yeah, obviously.
[43:44] Thank you.
[43:44] Good evening, thank you for your time, Anthony Brickda, representing Leavale Health Network.
[43:51] So the recitation by Mr. Adams is correct, basically to bring the board up to date if you're not already aware from materials that were submitted as part of the agenda.
[44:00] We did attempt to insert and insert a valve at significant cost to separate the water lines, unfortunately it was unsuccessful.
[44:10] So the status is right now is we're looking for another solution, which I believe is going to require coordination with the township's professional staff to get a meeting to go to the next step.
[44:22] So we're certainly optimistic that we can solve this in the next month, but we're requesting three months just to avoid having to come back if it's not successful because as the board is aware, it's been particularly costly and difficult process to solve.
[44:36] So to avoid coming back every month or every meeting, we're asking for the three months with the expectation that it will be resolved before then, just to avoid coming back and taking your time.
[44:47] We have Zach Lawnsleger from the Health Network to provide a little.
[44:52] So,
[44:55] we had a meeting just recently with...
[45:00] Some of the guys from the public works. So we do have a plan in place to try going out a little further to some other valves to close it. Our problem is we have to make sure that once these lines are separated, we still have enough for our fire suppression system. So that's why we're trying to shut these valves down before we separate the line. But I think we have a pretty good plan in place and hopefully the next week or two.
[45:31] time
[45:34] with so we can.
[45:38] Excellent, thank you.
[45:40] Herb, did you have anything to add from the township perspective?
[45:44] No, Zach is correct.
[45:45] We have been talking almost daily with him coming up with the plan.
[45:50] He is correct.
[45:51] An insertion valve is $1,000, a couple of thousands of dollars.
[45:56] They did try it.
[45:58] It did not get the shutdown.
[45:59] down, so now we are going to try shutting two valves down from Luther Crest and one of
[46:05] our valves down. We believe we were out, exercised our valve already, listened on it, we believe
[46:13] we have a shutdown on our valve. The next step is to close our valve, close the two valves
[46:21] that Luther Crest check the hydrant for any flow. If there's no flow at the hydrant,
[46:26] We leave the two of Luther Cress closed, open our valve, and then we take the fire flow test to make sure they will have enough fire protection.
[46:36] And then, if they don't, in the meantime, we have to reopen those valves, and then we have to come up with a plan of how they're going to get enough fire suppression.
[46:46] Very good, thank you, Herb.
[46:48] I'll open up to the board if there's any questions.
[46:50] Thank you, Commissioner Kelly.
[46:52] Just my curiosity, you mentioned that you're unsuccessful in the attempt that you actually told us about a month ago that you're going to give it a shot.
[47:04] Are there, is the problem that the isolation valves that you needed to hold to execute this project are not holding or what is the engineering issue?
[47:15] Yeah, the valve center in place aren't holding, so you can't isolate it.
[47:22] We can't isolate it, and the new plan we came up with is going to actually shut the water down to the whole building.
[47:29] So we're just trying, that's what's taking time to, just trying to coordinate this.
[47:33] What's going to be the fate of the valves that are not holding?
[47:37] Is that anything within your jurisdiction and can fix now or not?
[47:45] Without a shutdown? No, they cannot be fixed right now. They have to be able to shut the water down first and then fix everything that would need to be fixed.
[47:55] But that system is private, where those valves are not holding, so the township, we shouldn't say we don't have any say, we can ask them to fix them but they own those valves. We do not own those valves.
[48:09] Okay, that was kind of the corollary to my point.
[48:12] The fate of those vows is not in your hands because they're privately owned.
[48:17] The isolation vows that are not holding, is that right?
[48:22] I think you're saying they're not in the townships hands.
[48:23] Yeah, they're not in the townships hands, they would be in LVHN's hands that are not working.
[48:29] Oh, so LVHN owns the vows that are leaking?
[48:35] That are not closing all the way, I believe yes.
[48:38] Yes, yes. Okay, so let me go back to my original question. What's the fee to those valves that you can fix or replace?
[48:47] Is that of importance at all in this topic?
[48:51] I mean, yeah, we would like to get them replaced.
[48:55] We just have to make sure that there's one step further you can go where their valves don't close.
[49:01] Yes.
[49:01] We hold the master valve outside of their area that we can close to close the water off at that time.
[49:09] No, that has to work.
[49:10] Our valve has to work.
[49:11] Yes.
[49:12] We need to go back.
[49:13] Correct.
[49:14] Okay.
[49:16] Maybe it was a convoluted way of getting to it, but that was my question.
[49:19] The valves that are won't close fully.
[49:23] You intend to replace them as long as you can get a clean shot off upstream of them?
[49:29] Yeah, that would, that would be the, the phytoplane, yeah.
[49:32] And that can all be accomplished in the next three months, possibly?
[49:37] Well, the thing that we're talking about right now is just getting the separation.
[49:42] Right.
[49:42] That's the biggest thing that they get off of the Luther Cress lines.
[49:46] So that's what we're trying to accomplish first.
[49:49] Yeah.
[49:49] Once that is done, they have complied with the township regulations.
[49:54] So then, for them, the repair of the valves would be on them to repair.
[50:00] There are valves.
[50:03] And once those lines are separated, some of those valves are irrelevant at that. Correct. Yeah, I can picture that. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for indulging me. We have a comment from the board. Hasn't been an easy road for you. And I wish you the best. I really do. Good luck. Any public comment on this resolution? Hearing and seeing none, drive a motion to approve said resolution? Second.
[50:30] In the second, all in favor?
[50:32] Aye.
[50:32] Aye.
[50:33] Any opposed?
[50:34] Motion carries 4 to 0.
[50:36] Thank you, gentlemen.
[50:38] Moving on to agenda item 7G.
[50:40] We have a resolution of the Board of Commissioners of South Wales Townshipley High County, Pennsylvania.
[50:45] Authorizing the execution of an agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
[50:49] for acceptance of transportation alternative side funds for the Jordan Creek Greenway and covered bridge park.
[50:55] I'll turn it over to Tom Petrucci.
[50:57] Thank you.
[50:58] As previously mentioned, this is for the TASA grant for the Jordan Creek Greenway from Wear Mill Road to LAP Road through Coverage Bridge Park.
[51:09] I wanted to very strongly point out the fact that this is a reimbursement grant for a million dollars whereby the township needs to put out the funds and then we seek reimbursement.
[51:19] So basically the township has been diligently working with its consultant, Michael Baker International,
[51:27] to go through the various administrative requirements with respect to environmental
[51:32] clearances, utility clearances, ownership, title clearances, in order to let this project
[51:40] through PennDOT's ECMS system.
[51:42] So the project manager who's Christie Barry from McCormick Taylor has given the green light
[51:49] for the township to sign the reimbursement agreement to allow the next steps in the project
[51:53] to commence, which would be the bidding of the project by August with the opening in
[52:01] October. Basically, from the date of the execution of the agreement, the township has five years
[52:08] to complete the work. We hope to be well before that completion date, as previously noted,
[52:14] of the bulk of the work will be completed in 2024.
[52:20] So basically, we're confident that we are moving in the right direction with respect
[52:25] to all the aforementioned clearances.
[52:27] We don't anticipate any type of legal issues with getting those, obtaining those clearances.
[52:36] I would say at this point, we're close to 90 to 98% done with all of that work.
[52:43] And once we get the green light to proceed with the bid, most of that underlying work has already been conducted by the consultant.
[52:52] So we are actually had a schedule.
[52:55] Excellent, thank you, Tom.
[52:58] I just had a question on the reimbursement portion.
[53:01] I understand that the township will have to fund the project and then be reimbursed by the state.
[53:08] Do we send our reimbursement requests in as we are invoiced by the different contractors?
[53:16] Is it quarterly or is it when the project is done?
[53:19] Give me a sense if you could of how this would work to first to get the reimbursement.
[53:24] There is a schedule.
[53:26] I'm not sure, I don't think it's every invoice that's put in its more enthased projects.
[53:32] The most important thing is the pen dot review of the reimbursement, so we'll often probably finish the section of work, send that into pen dot, their review could take a little longer, and I'm sure by that time, we'll send in another reimbursement, so it's important for us to budget appropriately so that we can understand that we will have open bills that the township will need to pay until we get each phase back, but it's to the best of my knowledge, it's not a
[53:59] 100% reimbursement, it is in sections, 100% at one time, I should say.
[54:05] Yeah, looking back at the last tax agreement we had, I'd have to say it's closer to like more like a quarterly reimbursement to give you a time frame.
[54:13] It wasn't like an actual hard deadline, but it seemed to me like we were getting payments at least court on a quarterly basis.
[54:23] And was the last tax agreement for the first segment of the greenway?
[54:26] It was, it was about $567,000 and we did successfully complete that grant and we did confirm we received all of the funding that we were supposed to.
[54:38] So the townships, we at least have the administrative background even though it might have been different people working on it, but we do have the background of already having gone through this process.
[54:50] Thank you very much.
[54:52] Any other comments or questions from the board?
[54:55] Any from the public?
[54:58] Hearing and seeing none do I have a mo-
[55:00] Motion to proceed with said resolution.
[55:04] motion. motion. motion. second, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries 4-0. Thank you.
[55:12] Moving on to agenda, we're going to skip down to motions.
[55:16] Board of motion 8A,
[55:21] number Collins, Captain Brown to assist with a motion to proceed with the adoption of the entire civil service eligibility list for patrol officer in the software health township police department.
[55:33] Yes, good evening, the commissioners.
[55:35] The police department has conducted civil service testing for entry-level patrol officer via the Leia County Chiefs Association Consortium Test.
[55:42] All aspects of the testing process have been completed to include a physical assessment, written examination and oral examination.
[55:49] The Civil Service Commission has certified the eligibility list on Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
[55:55] There is no expense to this testing process.
[55:57] I am requesting the Board of Commissioner to make a motion to adopt a newly certified
[56:01] civil service list for entry-level patrol.
[56:04] Thank you, Captain Run.
[56:06] Any questions or comments from the Board?
[56:09] Anything from the public?
[56:11] Hearing anything, none.
[56:12] We have a motion to approve said motion.
[56:15] Some moved.
[56:15] I'll second.
[56:16] All in favor?
[56:17] Aye.
[56:17] Aye.
[56:18] Any opposed?
[56:19] Motion carries 4-0.
[56:21] Thank you.
[56:22] I'm going to go back up then to Resolutions, Agenda Item 7-H.
[56:25] We have a resolution extending conditional offers of employment for the entry level position of patrol officer in the township's police department to candidates number 6-3-3-2-3,
[56:37] number 8-0-8-4-6, and number 6-6-1-1-7, conditioned upon the individual's satisfactorily completing medical and psychological examinations to confirm their fitness for duty, and I'll again turn this over to Captain Brown.
[56:55] Yes, the police department is in the hiring process for vacant entry level patrol officers.
[56:59] We have three positions open via civil service guidelines and need the board of commissioners
[57:04] to extend the conditional offer of employment to the next eligible candidates on the civil service list.
[57:09] Thank you, Captain Ron, for any board, comment or questions on this agenda item.
[57:13] Any from the public?
[57:15] Hearing and seeing none, do I have a motion to approve said motion?
[57:19] I'll make that motion, is there a second?
[57:21] Second, motion in a second on the floor, all in favor?
[57:24] Aye.
[57:25] Any opposed?
[57:26] Motion carries, 4 to 0.
[57:28] Thank you, Captain Rahm.
[57:30] Jumping back down to motions at motion 8b.
[57:34] We have a motion to approve no trespassing markings signage
[57:37] at Davis Smith Open Space Property at 1036 Springhouse Road.
[57:42] And the last temperature to present.
[57:44] Thank you.
[57:46] So basically, recently the township received an inquiry
[57:50] as to whether a resident could basically traverse the Davis Smith open space property.
[57:59] And the answer has to be no because the Davis Smith open space property is currently set
[58:07] up as an active farm.
[58:07] It's really not a township park or a place of a public gathering location.
[58:15] So generally as property owners, the township is required to maintain the Davis Smith open
[58:19] in space property in a relatively safe condition so that people who come on to the property do not suffer an injury.
[58:25] The degree of liability would depend on the legal status of the visitor, the condition of the property, and the actions of both the owner and the visitor.
[58:33] Or if the person is injured as a trespasser or a child, or whether the both the owner and the visitor are at fault for an injury.
[58:42] In this case, the township is not permitting public access, so visitors to the property are considered trespassers.
[58:49] I know it's like a negative connotation word, but that's what they would be considered.
[58:56] In other words, you're entering the property without any right to do so.
[59:00] So there's no implied promise that the property is considered safe.
[59:04] As it is likely that people could enter the property, then the township has a duty to give reasonable warning to prevent injury.
[59:11] Under Title 18, the state crimes code, it gives lands owners the option of using purple paint,
[59:16] rather than signs to post their properties as prescribed by a law, and alert others that lands are private and
[59:23] trespassing is not permitted.
[59:24] This law went into effect in 2020.
[59:27] In talking over this with Township Staff, the recommendation is to use a combination of purple paint, as well as signage, indicating that the property is an active farm, and that's the reason why it is being posted as a no trespassing location.
[59:45] And the idea would be to post the more direct signage at areas where there's easy access
[59:53] to the property.
[59:54] and other locations we would use the purple paint primarily along the split rail fence.
[1:00:00] Entries that are on the property. And the purple lines must be eight inches long and one inch wide. And the bottom of the mark must be no less than three feet or more than five feet from the ground. And paid in marks are not more than a hundred feet apart. With that, I would seek to allow us to go forward with that plan. Thank you, Tom. Thank you for bringing us to the board's attention. And for seeking out
[1:00:29] a solution to a resident's question on this property, I had personally never heard of
[1:00:35] the purple law, and I appreciate that you're going to use a combination of both signs
[1:00:39] and the purple paint for those who may not be aware. So I'll open up any other questions
[1:00:45] from the board. I do have a question, a comment, I guess. I'm glad to that you're using both.
[1:00:53] Oh, it is a question.
[1:00:55] Will this maybe be advertised on the website so people know this is what it is because
[1:01:00] honestly, before tonight's meeting, I didn't know what the purple paint wall was either.
[1:01:05] Yeah, we can certainly do that even using the diagram that we had in the packet, which
[1:01:12] I think is very informative and very clear and concise.
[1:01:15] Thank you.
[1:01:17] I just have one question.
[1:01:18] question. I know you mentioned this came from a resident question, but have we had a problem
[1:01:25] with dress passers on this property? I don't know if we're necessarily monitoring that.
[1:01:29] But has there been a lot of foot traffic on to the property since the attention required it?
[1:01:34] No, no, not to my knowledge. We're just trying to be proactive. But the resident in question did ask
[1:01:40] if they're not allowed to go to be at the property? Why is it not posted as such? Which I thought
[1:01:45] What was a valid question?
[1:01:50] Come to the microphone please.
[1:01:55] Michael Hirsch, I love on Lowell Street.
[1:01:59] I just thought when the township owned the property,
[1:02:03] maybe we would get a chance to have a sidewalk.
[1:02:06] The public walks on Springhouse Road to the synagogue,
[1:02:11] Westwood Heights, Springhouse Middle School.
[1:02:15] And I thought that would be an opportunity to have a trail
[1:02:17] or something, and we're gonna have a fence
[1:02:21] where the purple is going to go.
[1:02:24] So with regard to any improvements in that area, part of the deed restriction on that
[1:02:32] property is one of the exceptions is the township can put in a perimeter trail.
[1:02:38] And since that perimeter trail is not in place, it's not safe, and it's active agriculture
[1:02:46] culture so who knows what it's really out there.
[1:02:49] So that's why we're doing that now.
[1:02:52] With regard to sidewalks,
[1:02:55] that area has come up in conversations
[1:02:57] as part of our newly adopted comprehensive plan.
[1:03:04] So it's definitely an area that's on our radar
[1:03:08] and one of the implementation items
[1:03:10] is an active transportation plan.
[1:03:12] and so that talks about bicycling and pedestrians
[1:03:17] and making connections and corridors
[1:03:20] and things areas that connect,
[1:03:23] in this case, a potential recreation area
[1:03:26] to a school in neighborhoods.
[1:03:29] So it's something that, as I kind of alluded to earlier,
[1:03:34] is establishing the process for getting these things implemented.
[1:03:39] You know, we'll study, we'll make these recommendations and then eventually they get to cap
[1:03:46] on improvements and we can start looking for grants to do things like that.
[1:03:50] Yes, I won't advocate on your person.
[1:03:53] I'm there too.
[1:03:54] Thank you for your question.
[1:03:57] So any other public comment on this motion?
[1:04:02] Any from the public online?
[1:04:04] None online?
[1:04:06] Nothing.
[1:04:09] At this time do we have a motion to approve said motion?
[1:04:11] A second, all in favor?
[1:04:14] Aye.
[1:04:15] Aye.
[1:04:15] Any opposed?
[1:04:16] Motion carries, 4 to 0.
[1:04:18] Moving on to agenda item 8C.
[1:04:20] We have a motion to proceed with the installation of three temporary sewer meters at Dornie Park.
[1:04:25] And I'll ask our director of township operations her vendor to present.
[1:04:30] Yes.
[1:04:31] Public work sewer division is respectfully asking permission to move forward with installing three
[1:04:36] temporary sewer meters just outside Dornie Park to make sure the sewer readings are
[1:04:42] We are coinciding with the water meter readings.
[1:04:45] Basin 51 is one of the basins we have significant eye and eye,
[1:04:49] getting into the sewer lines.
[1:04:51] Attached to the memo is a map of where the temporary meters would be installed.
[1:04:56] We have solicited two quotes.
[1:04:58] One was from Mr. Rehab.
[1:05:00] For $13,050, and the other quote was from Flow Assessment Services for $28,950. These meters will be installed for three months, April, May, and June for the wet weather conditions and months. The action we're requesting is approving a motion to proceed with installing three temporary sewer meters. And this money will be taken out of the EPA sanitary
[1:05:29] We sue our repairs capital, which was budgeted for $285,000.
[1:05:35] The reason we will be fine to cover this $13,050 is we have done most of our work in the presidential area that was supposed to be outsourced to a contractor.
[1:05:49] We have done it all in-house, so we have saved significant amount of money doing that already.
[1:05:54] And with talking to Dornie Park, they are an agreeance to pay for 50% of these meters also.
[1:06:02] So our portion will only be half of that $13,050.
[1:06:07] Thank you, Herb.
[1:06:08] And thank you for working with Dornie Park to partner with the township for this.
[1:06:13] One of our other questions or comments on this agenda item.
[1:06:18] I had one comment, I just thought it was a big gap between the two estimates.
[1:06:22] Yeah, there's other companies out there, but these two are very good at it, and we want
[1:06:28] to get precise numbers since this is part of the Climb's Island problem and the I and
[1:06:33] I, so we want to get very good data.
[1:06:37] Any
[1:06:40] other comments from the board?
[1:06:41] Any from the public?
[1:06:43] Hearing and seeing none, do I have a motion to proceed with said motion?
[1:06:47] I'll make that motion, is there a second?
[1:06:48] Second.
[1:06:49] All in favor?
[1:06:50] Aye.
[1:06:51] Aye.
[1:06:51] Any opposed?
[1:06:52] motion carries 4 to 0.
[1:06:53] Moving on to agenda item 9.
[1:06:55] Thank you, her correspondence and information items.
[1:06:58] I'll turn it over to Tom to review our upcoming meetings.
[1:07:02] Thank you.
[1:07:07] Lost on the area.
[1:07:09] Okay, upcoming meetings for which the details are posted
[1:07:12] on the website, or as follows, Thursday, March 16th,
[1:07:15] 7.30 p.m. tomorrow, the Planning Commission,
[1:07:19] Monday, March 20th, 6 p.m., the Green Advisory Council,
[1:07:21] Also Tuesday, March 21st, 6 p.m. crime watch meeting and Wednesday, March 22nd, 7 p.m. zoning
[1:07:28] hearing board. All meetings will be held here at the township.
[1:07:32] Excellent, thank you. Moving on to agenda item 10, direction and discussion.
[1:07:37] agenda item A, we have the resignation of a planning commission member effective early
[1:07:42] June of 2023 and Tom, if you'd present.
[1:07:46] Thank you.
[1:07:48] Yes, so we have received one notice that a Township Planning Commission member is going
[1:07:54] to be moving out of the Township effective in the beginning of June, so then I am seeking
[1:08:01] at this point permission to proceed in accordance with the citizen advisory policy to advertise
[1:08:08] for that notice of position on both the Township website as well as the Parkland Press and
[1:08:12] to try to gain applications for which an interview would be scheduled at a later date at a subsequent public meeting of the board.
[1:08:21] Excellent. I'm just curious, is it too late to put an announcement in the newsletter that's going out?
[1:08:28] I don't believe it's too late, so the only question would be when the newsletter is going out, it may not hit and it's going to hit right probably at the same time when you're maybe conducting interviews.
[1:08:41] That would be my only concern.
[1:08:46] Any board comments on this agenda?
[1:08:48] My only question is, are we allowed to conduct interviews before the resignation is effective in early June?
[1:08:56] Or will we have to wait until the resignation is effective before we?
[1:09:02] I think you can accept the resignation at any time.
[1:09:06] So, I mean to me, I think you have to be proactive because the planning commission is a very important agency of the talent ship.
[1:09:13] So unless Attorney Zaydor sees a problem with it, I personally can identify an issue with it.
[1:09:20] I agree with the Township Manager, not only is it prudent, but there's no legal impediment to proceeding that way.
[1:09:29] I have no feedback.
[1:09:30] I think it's the plan that you have in place to go ahead and proceed is excellent.
[1:09:35] Any other comment from the board for direction?
[1:09:42] Moving on to agenda item 10B.
[1:09:45] The Ridge Farms Phase 1 signalized intersection plans to see the crystal of art and
[1:09:50] Walbert Avenue confirmation of powder-coded black color for mast, arms, poles, and all
[1:09:55] other components.
[1:09:56] I'll ask our township managers to present.
[1:10:00] Thank you. So, as part of the HOP work for rich farms, the developer, K Walbert, has agreed to provide powder coded, mass storms, poles, as well as controller, and all other associated equipment for the signalized intersection upgrades that are slated to take place at that location. I wanted to just make sure the board was aware of this, and that it is the intention of the township to try to seek
[1:10:29] to allow for this type of aesthetic upgrade for all signalized intersections in the future along that corridor, if possible.
[1:10:40] And assuming no objections to this, we would then notify the developer to go ahead and order the items,
[1:10:48] especially given the long lead time for these items.
[1:10:52] Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
[1:10:55] I'm certainly in favor of this.
[1:10:56] I think it'll be a great upgrade aesthetically for the township.
[1:11:01] Any other comment from the board?
[1:11:04] I have a comment.
[1:11:05] Thank you, Commissioner Kelly.
[1:11:06] Tom, thank you for the explanation.
[1:11:09] I really, you know, we talk about the comprehensive plan and
[1:11:13] consideration of zoning, rezoning, amended zoning.
[1:11:17] But one of the things that often gets overlooked is the aesthetics of what it is that is legally allowed to be placed where it's placed.
[1:11:26] This to me is such a nice thing to start.
[1:11:33] As I travel west on 22, get off on Cedar Cress Boulevard.
[1:11:39] What I see to the right is not a very nice entrance into South Whitehall.
[1:11:44] We can't do anything about that, but what we can do is what you're doing, and that is the next major intersection after that going north on Cedar Crest can have a nice aesthetic look, especially if we can make it uniform, you know, as it applies.
[1:12:02] That's something that we can do that adds a lot of attractiveness to the township.
[1:12:09] So thank you very much to you and staff for thinking about that because it's often overlooked, but it really is so important.
[1:12:16] It's part branding, too, in a way, right?
[1:12:21] We did ask for it as well for the 3-0-9 Betterment Project.
[1:12:24] I don't believe we've received confirmation on that to date, have we?
[1:12:28] So they did ask for the specs for it, and the idea is to ask for the corridor.
[1:12:38] So it would start with the Walbert 309 and then as we go down or make upgrades or grant funding becomes available, we have all of our lights in the palm along this cord or as a starting point in that uniform color is kind of the intent.
[1:13:01] And so the Pendot is receptive to including that at that intersection.
[1:13:10] We'll see how that goes, but as of right now, they are receptive to it.
[1:13:17] I think, and I talked my only with Dave and I think Tom and her too.
[1:13:21] I think that we've asked for it and Rich Farm said, okay, which was great.
[1:13:28] Is it benefit to the township, but I think that if, you know,
[1:13:32] the township or the board chooses to, we can implement this by adding into our standard
[1:13:37] construction documents. So instead of it being an ask and either someone saying no, or we don't
[1:13:43] want to, we can almost make it a standard. So I think that probably with staff's help developing
[1:13:51] either a plan of this is a corridor we want from here to here or from here to here and we want
[1:13:56] to do this one too. Or we want to do all of them in the township however it comes out, we
[1:14:02] could add that to the construction specifications and then it gets adopted and then it's, I don't
[1:14:09] want to say instant, but almost instant from that point forward that the developers are,
[1:14:13] it's a requirement rather than a, an ask.
[1:14:16] So I think that thought behind the board, if you see corridors, I think a corridor's, that
[1:14:24] would be a great way to start the process.
[1:14:27] Thank you for adding that Tommy I appreciate that comment and I would certainly be an agreement to looking into that as a standard.
[1:14:34] We're actually in the process of working with Tony's office to update the many specifications for the construction standards so that will be a future agenda item in the near future.
[1:14:43] And one of the things he talked about in the Newly Adoptic
[1:14:46] Plan was the looking at corridors and, you know, identifying
[1:14:53] areas that are appropriate for enhanced streetscape, like
[1:14:58] poles.
[1:15:00] All that. So, that's incorporated in that plan. Very exciting things. So, that's coming in the implementation of the newly adopted plan.
[1:15:13] There's no other comments moving on to direction and discussion item c, solid waste, recycling contract with waste management, notification of termination of current contract, effective 12, 31, 20, 23, and temperature, if you'd please present. Thank you. So, no official action is requested.
[1:15:32] from the board this evening, but I did want to update you that pursue into the legal contract
[1:15:39] between the Township and Waste Management. Waste Management has provided a certified letter
[1:15:44] that they will not be extending the Township's current solid waste and recycling contract,
[1:15:48] the beyond the end of 2023. The reasons that were cited included external and economic factors.
[1:15:56] So the township will have to proceed with the new bid, so that we are ensuring that as
[1:16:03] of 1-1-20-24, that we have a contract in place.
[1:16:08] To that effect, I have assembled a task force consisting of the employees that have the
[1:16:14] most direct knowledge of the operation of the current contract and can provide valuable
[1:16:19] input to the township and how the service options should be construed for the next contract.
[1:16:25] So with that, we will be working to provide you with options for your consideration at subsequent meetings.
[1:16:33] And the intent would be to revise the specifications and then have them go before the board as well as a legal review.
[1:16:42] Excellent Tom, thank you, thank you for bringing that to our attention and we certainly do look forward to future information as you and the task force move forward with this.
[1:16:50] Any other board comment on this agenda item?
[1:16:54] Okay, moving on to direction and discussion item D.
[1:16:57] Ridge Farms, K-builders, Wallward Avenue, and Cedocrestville of our HOP Improvement Project noise ordinance overnight construction operations request.
[1:17:07] Tom, I will ask you to present on this as well.
[1:17:10] Thank you.
[1:17:11] So for the Ridge Farm phase one project, the HOP has been approved.
[1:17:16] The first phase of the work includes stormwater piping to run across Walbert Avenue at four locations at Walbert Avenue in Cedar Crust Boulevard.
[1:17:26] Due to the anticipated traffic congestion for these pipe crossing installations, Ridge Farm is requesting to mitigate traffic delays by working overnight.
[1:17:41] primarily the time period of working would be limited to 9 p.m. the 12 a.m. and 4 a.m.
[1:17:47] to 7 a.m. So there will be some type of use of hydraulic hammers, saw cutting with the
[1:17:54] roadway as well as general excavation type of equipment in use. However, as part of that,
[1:18:03] You know, there's also a plan in place whereby, you know, dumb trucks would not be permitted
[1:18:08] to swing the tailgates and assist in dumping material from their better chassis, which
[1:18:13] can be very, as if you've heard it, very disturbing sounds.
[1:18:18] You know, basically, tamping machines would be used solely for compaction materials.
[1:18:25] They're trying to minimize the disturbance as much as they can.
[1:18:31] Herbender and I did look at the HOP itself.
[1:18:35] Basically, the developer is not permitted to restrict traffic during AM or PM rush hour
[1:18:44] times anyway, so this night work is almost essential in that case in order for them to proceed
[1:18:50] with the work.
[1:18:51] work, the township views the overnight work as a compromise in terms of not impacting
[1:19:03] the corridor with traffic during the day, which would be more of a impact to the overall
[1:19:12] township.
[1:19:14] So to that effect, we would be notifying any impacted areas, which would be primarily
[1:19:22] long like Shenandoah Court, the homes that are located there, in order to try to make
[1:19:29] sure that everyone's aware of this work taking place. Her vendor has implemented a schedule
[1:19:37] whereby his either himself or other employees would be monitoring this work, and if there
[1:19:44] is an excessive noise disturbance, then they would be able to readily respond on site.
[1:19:50] So, we're doing everything we can to try to minimize the impact.
[1:19:54] I just wanted to make sure that the board is aware of this and whether you are in line
[1:19:59] with
[1:20:00] Are thought presses? Thank you, Tom. I appreciate you and Herb and all the staff involved that you're doing everything that you can to alert our citizens and to have their safety and their livelihoods and time at home protected as much as we can as a township. So thank you for having them. First and foremost, as we look at this growth is always a little bit painful and it's going to be a little bit difficult.
[1:20:29] when they're doing that road work, but we know that it needs to be done.
[1:20:33] So I appreciate all the work and the outreach to the residents through NICSLE and other methods so that everyone's aware.
[1:20:41] Anyone else have any comments?
[1:20:44] Thank you.
[1:20:45] Thank you.
[1:20:46] Moving on to agenda item 10E.
[1:20:50] Transportation needs assessment for inclusion on transportation improvement plan.
[1:20:54] Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, Lehigh Valley Transportation Study, and I will, will you take this one as well?
[1:21:01] Yeah, I'll provide an overview and then, if there's any more specific questions, I will turn it over to Dave Mannharn.
[1:21:08] But the township did receive notification that the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission has begun their transportation needs assessment.
[1:21:15] So what that is is basically, it's a series of meetings that will help shape the next
[1:21:25] transportation plan, so transportation planning typically covers a period of about 25 years.
[1:21:31] The current document is entitled Future LV, so it's actually available on the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission website.
[1:21:40] But essentially the plan is divided in a short range, mid range, and long range elements, including the transportation improvements plan.
[1:21:50] So those projects are those that are likely to begin during a four year period, mid-range projects are comprised of projects that had not started during the four year period of the transportation improvement plan and they're slated to begin in 2023, 2030 and long range projects are candidate projects to be programmed in the future years, 2031, the 2045.
[1:22:12] The Township Doves have a scheduled meeting this Friday with other surrounding municipalities
[1:22:18] as well as LVPC to begin to try to work on reviewing the current projects to include
[1:22:26] potential new projects and to ensure that the projects that are being reviewed are consistent
[1:22:32] for the region and consistent with other planning documents as well as our newly adopted comprehensive
[1:22:39] plan.
[1:22:41] So, basically we did provide a summary list for you of some of the current items that are already on the plan, as well as other items that we would like to see added to the plan.
[1:22:55] So we're going to review that more in depth, just wanted to make you aware of it.
[1:23:00] The final list may be subject to change depending on the outcome of those reviews.
[1:23:05] But we want to make sure that we are being proactive.
[1:23:09] We're staying on top of this process so that we can make sure self-weight health
[1:23:12] health is represented in the planning documents for transportation.
[1:23:18] Excellent, Tom.
[1:23:19] Thank you very much for that information and for keeping us informed.
[1:23:23] Are there any board comments or questions, any from the public moving on to old business?
[1:23:30] we have none. Agenda item 12, courtesy of the floor. Again, opportunity for any member of the public to address the board for any non-agenda items. Is there anyone here who would like to address the board?
[1:23:43] Anyone online?
[1:23:45] Okay, hearing and seeing none, moving on to agenda item 1390 in motion to authorize payment of invoices and disbursements.
[1:23:51] Some moved.
[1:23:52] Second.
[1:23:53] Motion in a second, all in favor?
[1:23:54] Aye.
[1:23:55] Aye.
[1:23:55] Any opposed?
[1:23:56] Motion carries 4-0.
[1:23:58] We have no executive session scheduled this evening.
[1:24:00] I need a motion to adjourn.
[1:24:02] Commissioner Kelly.
[1:24:04] Before we have the motion, may I make a comment, please?
[1:24:07] Of course.
[1:24:08] You've always run a very efficient meeting, and it seems longer than it's been, but it looks like we're done in 25 minutes.
[1:24:16] So congratulations.
[1:24:18] That is a miracle I have performed.
[1:24:22] Thank you, Commissioner Osborne.
[1:24:25] So I need a motion to adjourn.
[1:24:27] So moved.
[1:24:29] Second.
[1:24:30] All in favor?
[1:24:31] Aye.
[1:24:31] Motion carries.
[1:24:32] Have a good evening everyone.
[1:24:33] Thank you.