Summary of April 22, 2020, Newtown Board of Supervisors Meeting: Revised 2020 Road Program, Helping Local Businesses, More...

 

The following is a brief summary of the April 22, 2020, Newtown Township Board of Supervisors (BOS Definition) Zoom meeting based upon the official minutes of that meeting, which you can find here. In attendance and voting were Supervisors: Chairman Phillip Calabro, Vice Chairman Dennis Fisher, Secretary John Mack, member David Oxley, and member Kyle Davis. Also in attendance were: Township Manager Micah Lewis, Township Solicitor David Sander, Township EngineerLeanna Colubriale, and Township Solicitor Jerry Schenkman.

Development

Toll Twining Bridge Road Project: There was one unrelated email received from resident Ron Keiser of Twining Bridge Road stating he has heard nothing further about the Toll project on Twining Bridge Road. Mr. Sander replied that the conditional use matter will not be considered until the BOS holds their first in person meeting. He said the Township has received an extension from Toll until the BOS can hold an in person meeting; these questions can be brought up at that meeting.

Infrastructure

2020 Liquid Fuels Program: Ms. Colubriale said bids were opened on March 4, 2020 and 3 bids were received. She said as a result of funding and loans needed to support the project, it was recommended the bids be rejected and rebid with a revised and reduced scope of work.

Ratify Authorization for Township Engineer to prepare Road Program Bid Package using as much Liquid Fuels Funds over General Funds as possible. In response to Mr. Mack’s questions, Mr. Lewis said there is approximately $685K in the Liquid Fuels account and about $600K is targeted for improvements which will cover roughly 2.5-3 miles.

Supervisor Reports

Helping Businesses During COVID-19: Mr. Mack thanked residents for helping each other and suggested looking at the Newtown Business Association’s website (newtownba.org) for information on local businesses and how residents can support them. He reported The Patch has been maintaining a useful list including businesses that are open. Mr. Mack said he received a suggestion that the Township consider relaxing signage rules temporarily to help businesses promote to residents as many still must pay expenses while not bringing in any money. He mentioned speaking to owners of the shopping centers to see how they are handling the situation with their tenants.

Zoning

E30 Curative Amendment: Mr. Mack reported the Planning Commission (PC) met yesterday and discussed the Curative Amendment stating Newtown is quite ahead of the other Townships having had several meetings on the subject already. He said the PC came to a consensus on the number of fueling stations and pumps which should be consistent with all other gas stations in Newtown Township. Mr. Schenkman added that Upper Makefield and Wrightstown recommended the square footage be reduced from 6k to 4k and the minimum lot size of one acre and setback requirements are being looked at by Lisa Wolf of the Bucks County Planning Commission.

Votes on Motions

Not all motions may be included.

The following are my personal notes that I used to prepare for this meeting. I may not have asked all the questions in the notes at the meeting. You can also download the PDF version here.

Posted on 25 May 2020, 10:14 - Category: Board of Supervisors Minutes