27 October 2021 BOS Meeting Summary

Report from Technology & Communications Committee; PennDOT Multimodal Transportation Fund Grant Resolution; Weed Ordinance – Authorization to Advertise;Toll Settlement Meeting with Residents More...

This is my personal summary of the meeting. View the Official Minutes and see my Notes below.

Public Comments

Delancey Court HOA President Asks About Toll Meeting

Joseph Hillock, President of the Delancey Court Homeowners Association, wanted to know when the township would host a promised meeting with Toll Brothers, Supervisors, residents, and PennDOT.

At issue was the proposed settlement between Newtown and Toll to build 45 homes in Philadelphia Archdiocese property located at the corner of Durham Road and Twining Bridge Road. The settlement specifies a single access to the development via Municipal Drive. The residents of Delancey Court have voiced safety concerns regarding this plan and want to know why the plan does not follow PennDOT recommendations to use North Drive as an access road (read "Newtown Residents Dissatisfied With Toll Brothers Plan").

Mr. Calabro suggested that Delancey Court residents were "selfish" and went off on a completely irrelevant tirade about the history of Delancey Court and how much it owes the township for getting the development built. “But nobody knows that history…the only thing you know is that you're there and nobody else can be around…”, he said. Mr. Hillock tried to say the history of Delancey Court is irrelevant, but Mr. Calabro kept cutting him off.

Calabro asked if Mr. Hillock would be happy if the BOS approved a new plan with two access points: North Drive AND Municipal Drive. There was one catch: Delancey Court would then be "taken out of the equation."

UPDATE (10 November 2021): At the November 10, 2021, BOS meeting, the Township Solicitor in response to a question from another Delancey Court resident, revealed that the BOS reviewed a new plan submitted to the township at an Executive Session prior to the public meeting. He indicated that this new plan specifies access ONLY via North Drive and does NOT include any access via Municipal Drive.

All neighboring residents of Delancey Court, Society Place, Whispering Woods, Twining Bridge Road in the vicinity of the proposed project will receive a letter from Toll regarding this plan in the near future,

The supervisors have not yet approved the settlement with this new plan.

Reports of Committees, Boards and Commissions

Technology & Communications Committee

The T&CC met on Monday, October 15, 2021. Two major items were discussed:

Review of the township website analytics. See "The First View of Newtown Township Website Analytics!" for my analysis. Also, see a collection of the data. Dan Williams, Chair of the T&CC reviewed a Draft Presentation of his professional analysis that he hopes to present to the BOS at a future date.

Refer to my Meeting Notes for further details.

Engineer's Report

PennDOT Multimodal Transportation Fund Grant Resolution

From the October 7, 2021, Monthly Engineering Report: RVE (the township engineering firm) provided the Township with information pertaining to the grant on 9/28/2021. RVE is seeking a consensus from the Board to proceed with an application for sidewalk connections within the Business Commons .

It was decided that the Engineer should draft the grant application.

Solicitor's Report

Weed Ordinance – Authorization to Advertise

There was a lively debate regarding the proposed amendment to the township's Vegetation (i.e., "Weed") Ordinance.

The amendment was recommended to the BOS the SALDO Ad Hoc Group, which included members of the Newtown Township Environmental Advisory Council (EAC), Planning Commission, and Parks and Recreation Board. EAC member Jan Filios spoke about the need for updating the ordinance and gave her thoughts regarding the penalties.

The BOS unanimously approved advertising the amended ordinance.

My Meeting Notes

Embedded below are my notes from the meeting. You can also download the PDF file.