Pocopson Township
Chester County, Pennsylvania
 

Board of Supervisors’ Meeting

 Monday, August 11, 2003

 Sellers opened the meeting at 8:50 a.m. with the pledge of allegiance.  Supervisors Brutscher, Hubbard, and Bill Harwood were in attendance.  Also, in attendance was Township Solicitor, Andy Rau.

Announcements:  Hubbard said he is going to attend an emergency management seminar in August that is required by the County due to his status as the Emergency Management Coordinator.

Open Space Committee:  Hubbard said their monthly meeting is tomorrow night, and the Friends of the Park committee will be discussed.

Lian Drive:  Sellers said he had instructed Harwood to inspect Lian Drive so the 18 month maintenance bond could be released.

Chester County Prison Property:  Ron Nagle was present to discuss outstanding issues with the prison property including the right-of-way problem issue. Bill Waddington was present to review township PC issues with the Chester County Prison expansion project.  Waddington said that both the Juvenile Detention Center and the Prison Expansion Project should be reviewed together and treated as one application due to the overlap of these two properties and the storm water and sewage issues.  Mr. Nagle responded and said these applications were submitted as separate applications so the prison expansion project could go forward and be on a faster track due to the serious overcrowding problem at the prison.  Sellers pointed out that the storm water management plan applies to the entire county property as was discussed at a previous meeting with Fenn, Nagle,  the county’s engineering consultant and himself.  Mr. Nagle said the plans are to be kept as two separate plans.  Nagle asked the Board if an 8-1/2’ variance from the Right-of-Ways regs. was acceptable to the Board.  Brutscher pointed out that a waiver for 12-1/2’ would be necessary to keep the plan in compliance with the ordinance.  Mr. David Hartman, resident bordering prison property, requested the Board to not grant this waiver.  Nagle requested the Board to discuss traffic issues.  

At 9:19 a.m. Sellers closed the regular meeting and went into an executive session to discuss legal matters.  Sellers reconvened the meeting at 9:23 a.m. 

Andy Rau said the Supervisors are inclined to grant the waiver but any official action on a waiver would have to await a full review of the project.  Sellers said the storm water design issues for the JDC and the Homes’ impervious coverage will have to be worked out as the plans for the JDC proceed.  The Board will entertain the granting of the sight distance waiver as well.  Nagle said classifying the driveway as a collector road would require the County to meet the design criteria of a collector road.  Sellers said a driveway of multiple usage will have to comply with the township ordinance and meet specifications for a private road as stated in the ordinance even if Nagel’s contention as to the ambiguity of what is a collector road is accepted.

 John Wichner, engineer from Traffic Planning & Design, reviewed the status of the intersection of Route 52 and Unionville-Lenape Road.  He reported the intersection has been moved to the north to improve sight distance, and Route 52 will be widened slightly through the intersection area.  The sweep of Unionville-Lenape Road is per PennDOT standards and should improve safety on this road.  The 90 degree angle of the intersection would allow for a traffic light in the future if warranted.  The Board said they did not want the new Pocopson Home entrance to be located on Route 52.  Nagle said the road improvement agreements with the township would include a timeframe of construction and completion of the intersection improvements.  Yelton reported that the level of service presently is F (failing,) and the traffic engineer responded that with the new improvements, the intersection would remain at level F.  Andy Murphy asked about peak hour usage of the intersection. 

Charles Chu was present to discuss the sewage facilities management plan for the present problems.  The three supervisors expressed concern that Chu’s group was misrepresenting the Township’s position on a number of treatment system issues and negotiating with DEP behind the Township’s back.  Sellers said the prison is generating too much sludge because the limited size of the treatment lagoon, the use of surface aeration, and the limited aerated treatment time (3 days rather than 14) result in less digestion of solids.  Chu said the phagmites being used for the proposed reed beds are a non-seed propagating variety, and the reed beds would be moved to a location on the property so as not to impact the neighbors with odors from the reed beds.  Sellers pointed out that such beds do not treat sludge in the winter and infertile plants are questionable over time.  Chu said DEP prefers the type of treatment facility that was recently used on the Kendal Crosslands project.  Sellers said that what Chu was proposing was a sequential batch reactor, a system the Township wants no part of and one with a checkered history in this area and in any event, requires better operating capabilities than the County has shown in the past and expensive and frequent engineering oversight. Nagle said they are recommending the County hire a professional operator for the treatment plant.  Nagle asked what alternative to a treatment system would the Board like to see.  Sellers said he would like to see another or larger treatment lagoon with 14 days bottom aerated treatment and some bottom aeration of the storage lagoon to prevent the spring and fall epilimnion flip.  Chu questioned whether there was enough room for a treatment lagoon.  Sellers said that was a design problem, but most creative designers could come up with a solution if they had to.  If not, the Township’s designer could. 

Nagle stated the revised Prison plans were not ready for review by Fenn.  Given that, he requested that the Planning Commission review the plans at its September 17^th meeting and forward the prison plans to the Board for their consideration by the end of September.  This should allow sufficient time for all outstanding reviews to be completed.

Sellers requested that Nagle have the County’s engineer calculate and present storm water analyses and preliminary plans for the entire site so the Board and township engineer could review the overall impacts of existing and proposed projects and their solution before acting on final approval of the county prison expansion project.

1)      Brutscher moved, Hubbard seconded, to accept the County’s request for an extension of time for the Preliminary Land Development Plan Additions and Renovations to the Chester County Prison dated March 13, 2003 until Monday, October 13, 2003.  Motion carried.  All in agreement.

2)      Brutscher moved, Hubbard seconded, to accept the County’s request for an extension of time for the Preliminary Land Development Plan of the Chester County Juvenile Detention Center dated March 13, 2003 until Monday, October 27, 2003.  Motion carried.  All in agreement.

Olmsted Subdivision:  Brutscher discussed the request for a street name change at Olmsted Subdivision, Traylor Drive, by a new resident on that street, Andrea McCormick.  Brutscher presented information about Olmsted that showed the street names were named for American artists of this century and requested that the Board not allow the street name due to the fact there is a respectful theme to the names of these streets.  She also presented a letter from NVHomes that stated they were not in favor of changing the street name.

1)      Hubbard moved, Brutscher seconded to retain the name of Traylor Drive in the Olmsted subdivision.  Motion carried with all in agreement.  The secretary will send a letter to Mrs. McCormick advising her of the Board’s decision.

Brutscher also presented a request from NVHomes to the Board to allow a house number change from four to two on Edmundsen Drive in the Olmsted Subdivision due to a request from the couple who purchased the house who believe that the number “4” is specifically associated with death in their heritage and culture.  NVHomes has agreed to assume any costs associated with this change.  Sellers said he would like to see the new number reflected on the plan and the plan re-recorded and a copy placed in the township office.

2)      Hubbard moved, Brutscher seconded to change the house number four to two Edmundsen Drive as requested by NVHomes in the Olmsted subdivision.  Motion carried with all in agreement.  The secretary will send a letter to Lee Beaudoin, NVHomes, advising her of the Board’s decision, along with notifying the postmaster and County 911 coordinators.

Baily/Brandolini Subdivision:  Frone Crawford was present to discuss the Baily Farm subdivsion conditional use stipulations.  Also present were Bruce Balbirnie and Jim Brandolini.  Frone reviewed the changes and discussed sidewalks along the entrance boulevard and the trail that would be constructed along Corrine Road.  Crawford said that the Bailys’ are willing to grant an easement for the bicycle trail but would request it not be constructed until their death.  Brutscher had a question about sidewalks and street width.  Gary Burcham addressed her question and said the sidewalks were removed so sheet flow of storm water would not be interrupted.  Crawford said the sidewalks could be placed on the upper side the street.  Sellers said a trail should be located internally in the subdivision.  Waddington expressed his feeling that sidewalks should be located on both sides of the road.  Brandolini agreed to show a plan with sidewalks on one side of the plan.  Brandolini discussed the treatment plant and showed the location of the plant on the plan.  Brandolini said some of the plant would be located on the portion of the property that the Bailys are retaining.  The stipulations of the conditional use agreement were discussed as follows: 

Items:

10-g.Whether or not there would be a sewage tie in fee for the 10 houses that border the Baily Farm property on Corrine Road.  No decision was reached.  (The applicant proposes $1,000 hook-up fee - The township feels it should be free due to the inconvenience the development will place on these residents.)

16.   Sellers suggested that the storm water recharge problem should be addressed     and resolved between the land owner and the applicant.

21.  Balbirnie agreed that the fee in lieu of would be set at $2,500, after three years $3,000 to be paid to the township at the time of building permit issuance.

22.  The bikeway would go in at the time of the sale of the farm or the death of Bernard and Jane Baily whichever occurs first.

23-f. Remains unchanged.

26.  Use of Building materials was discussed.  Brutscher asked if the applicant would supply samples of the building materials.  The applicant agreed to her request.

32.  Sellers said this item relating to front yard and side yard setbacks will have to be discussed at a future          meeting due to time constraints today. 

Crawford said he would do one unified document of the stipulations on the new agreement for the Board’s review and acceptance.  The Board agreed with his suggestion.

Sheeder Property/Toll Brothers:  Andy Rau asked the Board for direction to begin drafting a potential decision for the Toll Brothers PRD Hearings.  Rau instructed the Board to identify areas where the application is not in compliance with the ordinances and whether the decision should be drafted as a denial or an approval with conditions citing deficiencies under the current zoning ordinances.  The Board briefly discussed Mr. Rau’s recommendations and voted as follows:

• Hubbard moved, Brutscher seconded to approve the township solicitor’s drafting a proposed Toll Brothers PRD Hearing decision in denial form for consideration, based upon the plan deficiencies under the current zoning ordinance.  The action is to approve drafting only, and is not a decision on the application.   Motion carried.

Northbrook Orchards:  Hubbard read a request from Alan Johnson, Northbrook Orchards, asking for permission to use a temporary entrance for the farmstand business while the main parking lot is being improved.  The Board briefly discussed this request and voted as follows:

• Hubbard moved, Brutscher seconded to grant permission for a temporary entrance during the construction of the improvements at the Alan Johnson, Northbrook Orchard’s barn.  This entrance is granted for a period of 1 week.  Motion carried.  All agreed.

Other Business:

Andy Murphy requested the Board to be aware of the drainage issues on the Meshurle property.  Harwood assured Mr. Murphy that he would continue to regularly inspect this property for storm water issues.

The Hipkins property agreement was discussed with Andy Rau.  Rau said the residents have to notify the zoning officer whenever activity is occurring on this property in order for the zoning officer to site Mr. Hipkins if a violation of the agreement is occurring.

Harwood reported that Mr. Gorman has constructed an accessory building with no building permit at his property in Red Bridge Farms.  Harwood said he would investigate further and issue a stop work order if necessary.

Harwood requested the Board to send a letter to our senator and representatives and urge them to support the proposed gasoline tax increase, and especially, to maintain the agreed to 25% share for local government which would allow the township to receive more liquid fuel tax money. The Board agreed a letter will be sent by the secretary.

BVA, Bob Struble, asked Brutscher if she could look into some signage for Route 842 in front of the BVA to help slow traffic flow in this area.  Harwood pointed out that this is a state road, and the township is not allowed to post signage on this road.  Hubbard suggested notifying the state police to increase patrols in this area for a period of time to help slow motorists down.  Brutscher asked the secretary if she would copy a previous letter to PennDOT and send it to them again.  The secretary agreed to take care of this request.

Busby Property / Lot Line Change:    Harwood asked the Board if they would approve and sign the plan for the lot line change on the Busby property.  Brutscher and Hubbard agreed that the supervisors need the PC recommendation before they could approve the lot line change.  The secretary said she would put it on the next Board meeting agenda for discussion and approval.

Minutes of July 28, 2003:  Hubbard moved, Brutscher seconded to approve the minutes as revised of July 28, 2003 submitted by Lisa Moore, PC Secretary.  Motion carried.

Adjournment:  The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 a.m. 

______________________                                                    _____________________

Karen J. Eckard, Secretary                                                          H. William Sellers, Chair