Summary of 10 January 2024 BOS Meeting
This is my personal summary of the January 10, 2024, meeting of the #NewtownPA Township Board of Supervisors (BOS). This is not a complete nor an official summary.
Access the 2024 BOS Chronicle for detailed summaries of all 2024 BOS meetings plus the BOS voting record (UNOFFICIAL) for 2024.
Agenda Items, Discussions, Decisions, and More
- Public Comments
- Newtown Walk Residents: Tara Blvd Crosswalk
- Reports of Committees, Boards and Commissions
- Supervisor John Mack – 4 Jan 2024 Zoning Board Hearing of Borscht Belt Deli Appeal
- Engineer’s Report
- DVRPC Regional Streetlight Procurement Program
- Richboro Road (SR 332) and West Hanover Street/Entrance to Tyler State Park
- Newtown-Yardley Road and Tara Drive Crosswalk Improvements
- Solicitor’s Report
- Schmitz PRD variance hearing – Impervious Surface Increase Concern
- Send LI/O-LI JMZO Amendment to the Jointure for Review
- December 2023 NTPD Report
- Other Items of Interest
Public Comments
Newtown-Yardley Rd and Tara Blvd Crosswalk
Newtown Walk resident Charles Feuer requested that the plan include decorative posts such as those being proposed by the Borough at Washington Ave and Lincoln Dr. He also requested an update on the ARLE grant application, which is intended to pay for this project. Al Default - an engineer - also mentioned the decorative posts and suggested the increased cost would only represent 3 or 4% of the total. He also asked that the township engineer look at improving the curb access to the crosswalk. Marc Bjorkman mentioned evidence of a possible rear-end collision at the crosswalk demonstrating the need for an overhead Rectangular Rapidly Flashing Pedestrian Beacon. Valerie Mahalik requested a timeline for the project. See video...
Reports of Committees, Boards and Commissions
Supervisor John Mack – 4 Jan 2024 Zoning Board Hearing of Borscht Belt Deli Appeal
I attended the 3-hour long Newtown Zoning Hearing Board meeting on 4 January 2024, at which was heard the appeal by the Borscht Belt Deli of a Notice of Violation regarding a neon sign in its window at 2124 South Eagle Road. The JMZO signage ordinance prohibits any sign “illuminated by the use of an inert gas or any form of exposed tubes.”
As members of this Board are aware, we voted 5-0 to oppose this appeal and Mr. Dave Sander, our Solicitor, represented the Board at the hearing. As you may also know, no decision was made regarding this case, which will be continued at the February 1, 2024, ZHB meeting. Meanwhile, the ZHB asked the parties to submit memoranda of law on the legal issues raised at the 1/4 hearing by January 22.
For more details, including resident comments and closing arguments, see “4 January 2024 Zoning Board Hearing Summary.”
Engineer's Report
Supervisor Mack asked Leanna Colubriale (RVE), the Township Engineer, to give the Board and the public updates on the following projects:
- DVRPC Regional Streetlight Procurement Program
- Richboro Road (SR 332) and West Hanover Street/Entrance to Tyler State Park
- Newtown-Yardley Road and Tara Drive Crosswalk Improvements
See the following video clip from the meeting for the details. Also see the 5 January 2024 written report.
Solicitor's Report
Schmitz PRD variance hearing – Impervious Surface Increase Concern
Supervisor Mack asked questions regarding the mitigation of increased impervious surface due to the installation of a large pool. He was concerned about the number of such variances that involve increased impervious surface. See the following video clip from the meeting:
The Supervisors approved the variance in a 5-0 vote.
Later in the meeting, Supervisor Snyder expressed HER concern as well: "what I'm getting to is that we are lenient sometimes in our storm water management and our impervious surface [allowance]. I don't think that should happen so much anymore. I think we have to tighten up on that. So I will be paying extra attention to things like that in the future."
LI/O-LI JMZO Amendment Sent to the Jointure for Review
The Board voted 3-2 to send the amendment to the JZC,
Supervisors Mack and Davis voted against sending the LI/OL-I JMZO Amendment to the Jointure for "Review." Mr. Mack agreed with the Planning Commission recommendation, namely "“The new draft lists the two proposed residential uses, mixed use development and Town Center Apartments as by-right uses. The Commission feels that as this is a completely new use we would like the Township to have the extra layer of control that ‘conditional use’ would add.” The Township Solicitor - Dave Sander - summarized the oversight that the BOS would have regarding these 2 uses, See the following video clip from the meeting.
Police Report
December 2023 Police Report, NT + Wrightstown
LINK TO FULL REPORT: https://rebrand.ly/Dec23_NTPD_Report
Highlights:
- 1,915 Total Incidents (2023 monthly average: 1,938 vs 1,718 in 2022)
- Average of 64 incidents per day in 2023 vs 56 in 2022
- Auto vs Pedestrian incidents (4 total in 2023 vs 7 in 2022)
- 88 Traffic Citations, 7 DUI arrests, 12 reportable traffic crashes (206 total in 2023 vs 45 for all of 2022), 3 hit and run incidents (read "Son Speaking Out After His Mom Was Struck Second Time By A Car at Buck Road Intersection In #NewtownPA")
- 20 Fraud incidents (162 total in 2023 vs 212 in 2022)
- 8 Harassment incidents (86 total in 2023 vs 76 in 2022)
- 0 non-fatal overdose (8 total in 2023 vs 14 in 2022)
- 2 Protection from abuse (56 total in 2023 vs 34 in 2022)
- 127 School Checks (1,572 total for 2023 vs 1,360 in 2022)
Official Video
Transcript
Download the unedited time-stamped transcript of this meeting prepared by Youtube from the video: download PDF file.
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