Summary of 14 August 2024 BOS Meeting
This is my personal summary of the August 14, 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 to date. Also, access the (UNOFFICIAL) 2024 BOS Voting Record.
Agenda Items, Discussions, Decisions, and More
- Planning Commission Report
- Public Hearing
- Engineer’s Report
- Manager's Report
- Other Items of Interest
Commission Chair Peggy Driscoll presented a report with the Commission’s recommendations to approve the conditional use applications for Flourish Café, Love and Honey Fried Chicken, and Golden Girl. In addition, the Commission recommended that the Board forward the revised JMZO LI/OLI Overlay (see below) amendment to our Jointure partners for adoption. More details…
Public Hearing to Consider Establishing LI/O-LI Overlay District
The BOS voted 4-0 to resume this hearing. See pages 61 and 68 of the 2024 BOS Chronicle. As I explained in my recent Patch article (“#NewtownPA LI/O-LI Overlay Ordinance Problems”), I am opposed to this ordinance. This ordinance includes new uses that were not originally considered including APARTMENT uses, which I focused at the meeting:
Residential Density
The Business Commons Overlay plan developed by BCPC talks about Residential Density: “For all parcels within the Commons Overlay District, the density of residential dwelling units shall not exceed 20 units per acre of base site area, calculated over the entire tract acreage exclusive of the area of ultimate street rights-of-way,” says BCPC’s plan.
Meanwhile, BCPC’s review of the Corners at Newtown apartment complex, expressed concerns for its 20 housing units per acre density – a major “sticking point” expressed by several PC members. Regarding this plan, BCPC said: “We note that the nearby R-2 Residential 1-High Density District southwest of the TC District permits a maximum density of 3.90 dwelling units per acre which is currently the highest permitted density in the township...Township officials should determine if the proposed amendment to allow high density residential uses in the TC is appropriate from a planning and land use standpoint” (read the BCPC BET Plan review).
It seems to me that the BCPC is not being consistent regarding high density residential use – what’s not “appropriate” for the TC district should also not be “appropriate” for the Commons Overlay District.
PC Chair Peggy Driscoll repeatedly expressed concerns about the housing density and said to Supervisors: "These developers [are] coming in and what they're proposing is just ridiculous" (read “Planning Commission Report to #NewtownPA BOS”). If the current O-LI/LI Overlay ordinance is implemented, there will certainly be more “ridiculous” housing proposals by developers. JUST SAYIN’
Inconsistency with Comprehensive Plan/Over Development
Comments from a township resident are spot on:
“I think the Bucks County Planning Commission is trying to move Newtown in the wrong direction by recommending MORE areas for housing. Check out this article that predicts Bucks County population will experience DECLINE in the coming years (“Population of Bucks County expected to decline according to study”). It will be one of three area counties that do so while others may have population increase.
“BCPC is following an old formula as well as old data. Basically, they say since the county grew previously, it will keep on doing so which apparently is not at all the case.” [Read “The 2024 #NewtownPA Area Comprehensive Plan: Flawed Housing Analysis”]
According to the Comprehensive Plan (page 16): “The land currently zoned and available in the Jointure’s residential zoning districts is more than adequate to accommodate future development between now and 2030, even assuming that only a portion of the CM and JM districts is used for development.”
WHY THEN IS IT NECESSARY TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL APARTMENT HOUSING IN THE BUSINESS COMMONS – ESPECIALLY HOUSING THAT IS UNAFFORDABLE TO THE MAJORITY OF BUSINESS COMMONS WORKERS? [Read “PA Rents Out Of Reach For Workers - Including Workers in #NewtownPA, IMHO”]
In the end, the BOS approved 3-1 (Mack voting nay) sending the amendment – with “use by right” language, which bypasses approval by the BOS, for mixed use apartment buildings to the Jointure. Following that, the BOS voted 4-0 to approve sending the revised amendment – with “conditional use” language, requiring BOS approval – to the Jointure for approval. This means that the first version will be in effect while the revised version works its way through the Jointure for approval. How long that will take is debatable as Wrightstown and Upper Makefield Planning Commissions must review the revision and make recommendations to their Boards who will then vote on it and send to the Jointure for approval. This could take several months during which time developers can come in and propose projects under the “use by right” provisions.
View the following video clip from the meeting, which highlights my questions to the BCPC representatives and their answers:
Business Commons Sidewalk Project
Not on the agenda, but…
See page 72 of the 2024 Newtown BOS Chronicle.
The July 3, 2024 Engineer’s Report stated: “RVE has recommended authorization to advertise bids for the project. It is anticipated that a recommendation for award will be presented at the August 2024 Board of Supervisors meeting.”
The August 9, 2024, Engineer’s Report states: “RVE is continuing to work through comments from PennDOT, the grant funding agency, to address said comments to the bid documents. Once completed, the project will be advertised for bid.”
QUESTION: What were PennDOT’s comments?
ANSWER: The Township Engineer – Dominic Cundari – responded via email prior to the meeting: “You are correct, we did anticipate having this out to bid with a recommendation for award at the August meeting. In coordinating this project with PennDOT (they are funding this through the Multimodal Transportation Fund grant) they took a bit longer to review than we had expected and had some comments on the plans which they wanted us to address. We’ve been working through those and are looking to get this out to bid as soon as possible. The comments consisted of some technical questions, some drafting questions on the plan set, and some recommendations. If you’d like to go through them all we certainly can, please let me know. They are all minor comments.”
Authorize Advertisement of Bids for the Newtown Township Pedestrian Upgrades
See page 71 of the 2024 Newtown BOS Chronicle.
The RVE August 9, 2024 Report states
- “The Traffic Signal Permit Plan was submitted to PennDOT on 7/12/24 and an anticipated response date was set by PennDOT for 8/11/24.
- “RVE is actively working on the bid documents for both crosswalk locations and has requested authorization to bid the Newtown Township Pedestrian Upgrades project.”
QUESTION: HAVE WE RECEIVED PENNDOT’S RESPONSE?
ANSWER: As of 11:24 AM on 8//13/24 – “We have not gotten a response from PennDOT on the Sycamore/Silo permit signal plan yet. Obviously, August 11th has come and gone so we have actively been reaching out to them. So far, this has not delayed us in getting the bid documents together.”
View the following video clip from the meeting starting at the point where this issue was discussed:
The BOS voted 4-0 to approve the advertisement of the bid for the combined projects.
Meanwhile, Charles Feuer – resident of Newtown Walk – spoke with PennDOT’s Pat McCourt on Thursday after the BOS meeting. Mr. Feuer asked what the status was of the Sycamore silo application and Mr. McCourt said “The project is in the queue and seems ‘in order’”. He said “if Dominic Cundari had asked for it to be expedited, it would [have been] because this is a pedestrian crosswalk situation.” Mr. Feuer confirmed that the approval will get out to Newtown Township by Monday, 19 August 2024.”
I hope that this delay in enhancing pedestrian safety at the Tara Blvd crosswalk does not result in another death due to inaction by the township. I emphasized my point by holding up a package containing my Spitznas vs Newtown wrongful death suit deposition transcript.
deposition related to the Spitznas vs Newtown wrongful death suit.
Recall that Mr. Spitznas was killed while crossing N. Sycamore St at Silo Dr.
According to the Manager’s Report: “The 2024 Road Program has been completed. As you are aware the Township is required to ‘obligate’ (meaning spent or have a signed contract for a service) the American Rescue Funds by the end of 2024. With the AV System project coming in below budget, and the RRFB Signal upgrades now being funded by grants, we have completed the exercise of determining what funds will remain in the account that have not been obligated or encumbered to another project.”
Highlights from the July 2024 Newtown Township Police Department Report:
- 2,551 Total Incidents (versus 2023 monthly average: 1,938 and 1,718 in 2022)
- Average of 82 incidents per day (versus 64 incidents per day in 2023 and 56 in 2022)
- 0 Auto vs Pedestrian incidents (2 YTD versus 4 total in 2023, 7 in 2022, 5 in 2021)
- 236 Traffic Citations, 1 DUI arrests, 16 reportable traffic crashes (104 YTD, 206 total in 2023 and 45 for all of 2022), 8 hit and run incidents (39 YTD versus 48 in 2023)
- 9 Fraud incidents (90 YTD versus 162 total in 2023 and 212 in 2022)
- 1 DUI Arrests (32 YTD versus 44 total in 2023)
- 5 Retail Theft (34 YTD versus 23 in 2023); e.g., July 12, 2024: retail theft at Lululemon -These incidents seem to be increasing, mostly involving Ulta Beauty and Lululemon
- 3 Narcotics Possession (28 YTD versus 22 in 2023)
- 0 Non-Fatal Overdose (6 YTD versus 8 in 2023)
- 0 Safe 2 Say (29 YTD)
- 133 School Checks (1,485 YTD versus 1,572 total for 2023 and 1,360 in 2022)
My Detailed Notes
The following notes were prepared prior to the meeting. View the notes embedded below or download the pdf document.
Official Video
Transcript
Download the time-stamped transcript of this meeting prepared by Youtube from the video: download PDF document.
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