News Items
- Arcadia’s Highway Occupancy Application - PennDOT review letter requires that Newtown Township has had the opportunity to comment.
- 2022 Preliminary Budget - At the November 10, 2021, BOS meeting, supervisors approved the "hanging" (i.e., advertising to the public) the revised Preliminary Budget.
- Toll Bros Proposed Settlement Update - Toll Bros submit a revised plan that does NOT include access via Municipal Drive.
Arcadia’s Highway Occupancy Application #148702
On October 29, 2021, PennDOT returned Arcadia's Highway Occupancy Permit Application No. 148702 for revisions (read the letter).
Note that item (5) under "General" instructs Arcadia: "The Department requires written evidence, prior to the issuance of a permit, that Newtown Township is aware of the project and has had the opportunity to comment. Provide written evidence (e.g. municipal engineering review, council or planning commission meeting minutes, executed TE- 160, etc.), which is less than one year old, to satisfy this requirement."
The application involves the U-turn at Mill Pond Road. The Newtown Township Planning Commission (NTPC) has had an opportunity to comment on the "project," but perhaps not regarding the specific "project" that this HOP application refers to or within the past year. The BOS can authorize the NTPC to review the application at a PUBLIC meeting and provide a recommendation to the BOS. This authorization will be voted on at November 23, 2021, BOS meeting.
2022 Preliminary Budget Has Been "Hung"
The 2022 Preliminary Budget has been "hung," which means it is available to the public. I converted it to a searchable PDF so you can not only see the data, but you can more easily find the data you are looking for and copy it to analyze.
In this revised version of the "recommended budget," the 1.5 mill tax increase has been eliminated and money reallocated from the General Fund reserve will go into the Fire Protection Fund. Changes - especially CUTS can still be made to this budget before it is finally approved.
Toll Settlement Update
UPDATE (10 November 2021): At the November 10, 2021, BOS meeting, the Township Solicitor in response to a question from a 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.
UPDATE (22 October 2021): Toll submitted a "signal warrant analysis application" to PennDOT related to the intersection of Durham Rd. & Municipal Drive. In the Signal Warrant Analysis Cover Letter Toll traffic engineers said "It should be noted that the intersection does not satisfy the warrants for the installation of a signal, based on our analysis."
Some comments regarding the application:
- The analysis is based on a single day, Tuesday, September 28th.
- There is no mention of emergency vehicle traffic or public works traffic.
- There is no mention of this entrance also serving as the construction entrance.
- There is no mention of Delancey Court being a senior community. Seniors have a more difficult time accessing Durham Road without a signal.
- Table 1 assumes that 242 site trips will be generated each direction from the 45 homes in the new community but the hourly traffic flows seems less than that. Extrapolating that number to the 110 homes in Delancey Court would infer a much higher number than noted on that particular Tuesday.
UPDATE (27 October 2021): PennDOT responded via email, saying "The development left of township building does not meet warrants for new signal. PennDOT highly recommends development has access to existing signal at North Lane File #3401. We recommend installation of Ped facilities at existing North Dr Signal for easy access for residents to cross into each other neighborhoods and the placing ped signing at the Municipal Dr."
