Summary of 27 March 2024 BOS Meeting
This is my personal summary of the March 27, 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
- Reports of Committees, Boards and Commissions
- Reports of Officials
- Engineer’s Report
- Solicitor’s Report
- Manager’s Report
- Other Items of Interest
Reports of Committees, Boards and Commissions
PC: Newtown Artesian Water Company Filtration Plan
“The applicant is seeking relief to put a 2000 square foot, two-story addition onto the existing building with a 36.46-foot rear yard setback where 60 feet are required and a maximum height of 40 feet where 35 feet is the maximum and a special exception for an F-1 use in the R-1 zoning district. The members voted to recommend that the Board support the application as the addition is needed for monitoring water quality under expected new DEP and EPA requirements.”
See Solicitor’s Report…
PC: Durham Investments Day Care/Medical Building Plan
“Applicant is seeking approval of conditional use for two buildings, a D-2 medical office, 6,000 square foot building and a C-10 childcare facility on a 10,000 square foot building with associated play area, parking and roadway improvements on a 4.9-acre parcel. The applicant has agreed to modify the plan to place all parking at the rear of the parcel. Three residents of Delancey Court spoke in opposition to the plan because they feared increased traffic inconvenience and requested that a traffic light be installed at the intersection of their development and the municipal complex. The Commission recommended that the Board approve this application subject to compliance with the CKS review letter dated February 23, 2024.”
The supervisorts took no action on this issue.
Reports of Officials
John Mack: Human Resources Commission Meeting
- The Human Relations Commission (HRC) met on 20 March 2024.
- The HRC approved to have a member attend Supervisors' meetings once a month.
- Members also agreed to possibly collaborate with Barbara Simmons, (Retired Peace Center CEO) and Bucks County Community College on a Community Murals project for K12 Students. The college would provide instructors to help K12 students paint murals in the Township.
- The Commission would like a small budget to purchase table banner for use at local events.
John Mack: 25 March 2024 Meet Mack Monday Meeting
The MMM agenda Items included:
- License Plate Reader Cameras Approved
- Newtown Artesian Water PFAS Filtration Plan – concern from CB resident re noise; asked if a tree buffer could be planted
- Roberts Ridge Park Lawn to Meadow Conversion – concern regarding the seeding; I asked: Does the DCNR create the Request for Proposal [via PennBID?], which would spell out the details? I'd like to see that RFP and/or have the EAC look it over and advise the BOS as to its details
- Washington Crossing Bridge Replacement Plan – residents OK with the idea
Video of the presentation made at the meeting:
A MMM participant asked how people learned about the recent “shelter in place” incident at Headley development and wondered how the police department/township notifies residents of such incidents. Read the summary of the 25 March 2024 MMM Meeting for details about this program.
To subscribe to Nixle via text, simply text your ZIP code or keyword to 888777.
Engineer’s Report Items
2024 Liquid Fuels Road Program
The recommended paving includes (see maps)…
Base bid:
- Eagle Rd. (portion), Farnsworth Way, Ashford Way, N&S Ascott Ct., Amaryllis Ln., Lotus Pl., Campus Dr; $542,114.10
Alternate bids:
- Alt #2 Cypress Place; $70,660.00
- Alt #3 Coachwood Ct; $43,005.45
- Alt #4 Mulberry Pl; $24,053.65
- Alt #5 Monterey Pl; $30,890.05
- Alt #6 Mahogany Walk; $33,783.80
For a total of $744,507.05.
The supervisors approved the program 5-0.
This totals 1.99 miles of township roadways. Note that there are approximately 71.3 miles of township roads requiring repaving every 20 years. Therefore, to merely keep up with current roadway conditions 3.56 (71.3/20) miles of roads should be repaved per year. On average, only 2.9 miles of roads will have been repaved in the period 2019 through 2024. Thus, in those 6 years 3.96 more miles of road were added to the “need repaving list!”
Lower Dolington Road Trail Guardrail Repair & Relocation Update
Supervisors were informed that the Solicitor will send the contractor a notice to comply. I guess there will be an “or else” such as “see you in court” or something similar. The details of the message to be sent, however, were not revealed.
Manager’s Report
February 2024 Newtown Fire & Emergency Services Report
The combined response to calls for services = 106
Newtown Township Inspections
- 72 Fire Safety
- 3 Use & Occupancy Inspections
- 1Fire Alarms
- 1 Sprinkler
- 2 Consultations
Newtown Borough Inspections
- 1 Fire Safety
- 0 Use & Occupancy Inspections
- 1 Fire Alarm
Solicitor’s Report
Authorize advertisement of a public hearing to consider adopting Comprehensive Plan
The Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve advertising the public hearing, which will take place on May 22, 2024.
In order to help Newtown Township residents prepare for the scheduled May 22, 2024, public meeting, I plan to prepare several short synopses of major sections of the Plan. The first synopsis (see insert below), which focuses on Principle #1 - PROMOTE SMART GROWTH, was published in the April 2, 2024, issue of the Newtown Patch.
From this point forward, any changes that are proposed to be made to the Comprehensive Plan, except spelling, punctuation correction or similar minor change, will trigger the restart of the review process and may require additional public hearings.
Newtown Artesian Water Company Building Addition
COMMENT: From a Country Bend (CB) resident [Polly Neher Breithardt]: “Good morning! We received a variance application notice. It looks like the water company is looking to make a two-story building behind our neighborhood and closer to our neighborhood property line than required. If I read it correctly. Is there a way to … require … replanting more evergreens on the property line with us? Our backyard stares almost directly at it. Over the years, the trees taken down have made it much more visible, and the noise from their dump trucks at all times - many tines at 10 pm - is crazy. It's like a dump for them.”
This matter will come before the Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB) at it April 4, 2024, meeting. The supervisors made no motion regarding this application. The Solicitor, however, informed me that I and other residents who received a notice by mail from the ZHB, can be a “party to the case” and participate as a witness. Testimony from witnesses are part of the official record.
My Personal Meeting Notes
I prepared the following personal notes prior to the meeting, adding vote counts and answers to questions. View the notes embedded below or download the pdf document.
Official Video
Transcript
Download the unedited time-stamped transcript of this meeting prepared by Youtube from the video: download PDF document.
Connect With Us