So Far In January... The Short Version

The Township Municipal Building has been a busy place during the first two weeks of January. The Board of Supervisors had their re-organization meeting and filled the vacancies on the appointed boards and commissions. The Elected Auditors met to set the pay rates of working Supervisors (those who work for the Township in other capacities) and gave them the same 4% raises that other Township employees are receiving in 2006.

The Zoning Hearing Board rejected the three variance requests by CVS (project now called Forks Commons), one for two uses on one lot, another for relief from the loading area requirement for the proposed fast food restaurant, and the third for relief from landscape requirements for the CVS loading area. CVS subsequently withdrew its request for Conditional Use from the Planning Commission agenda and for a Conditional Use Hearing by the BoS on 1/19/06. The new zoning ordinance, when approved, will allow two uses on one lot.

The Planning Commission voted to reject a time extension granted by Knollwood Estates Phase 2. The rejection was based on Fred Hay's (Keystone Engineering) letter from the summer of 2005 and the agenda item was for a Preliminary Subdivision. The planners felt that they hadn’t heard from anyone regarding the plan since last August and enough was enough. It will now go before the BoS and the Board can decide whether or not to accept the time extension. If they do, it will go back to the PC for recommendations. If they do not, the developer must resubmit plans. Two of the Supervisors were in the audience, Ackerman and Howell.

Dean Turner (PC) asked during the re-organization session, if the PC or the BoS was responsible for appointing the PC solicitor and engineer. Tamborrino told him that it was the Board’s role and Kline added that the Board did it at their last meeting.

A resident of Meadowlane Drive addressed the PC and told them that he will be losing three huge trees to Riverview Estates West developer Segal & Morel. Apparently the stone fence-row is wider than noticed when the project was under discussion and Segal & Morel’s promise not to touch the trees is not practical (for S&M). Zoning Officer Tim Weis will talk to the developer and remind them of their promise.

UMBT will have Don Del Maso’s proposal to assess school district impact fees on its 1/23/06 agenda. As soon as we know the time and location of the meeting, we will note it here on the FAC blog as well as on our website. Please contact him directly if you want to know more. He’ll be happy to hear from you.

The new Municipal Building will be open for business on Monday, January 23, 2006. The Township's website cautions all residents to use the Sullivan Trail entrance as the park entrance will be closed. We do not know if that is a permanent condition or just a temporary one.

There are a more details about all of the above on the Forksaction website. And, if you are curious about where a project is or what stage it's in, there is a chart of recent projects on the News Page. Check it out and don’t forget to vote in this week's survey!