HARRIS
TOWNSHIP
Planning Commission
Minutes – April 15, 2002
7:00PM
REGULAR MEETING
Others
Present: Tom Miller, D.J. Liggett
A. CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Duffy called the meeting to
order at 7:05 p.m.
B. APPROVAL
OF THE MINUTES
Chairman
Duffy announced that the minutes of the February 18, 2002 meeting would be
approved during the May meeting. There
was no meeting in March.
Chairman Duffy mentioned development of a
scenic/historic highway resolution. The
purpose would be to preserve historic roads and is a result of the concern
raised regarding widening Brush Valley Road.
Chairman Duffy asked Mr. Miller if this
could be a topic for a future meeting.
Mr. Miller replied that it could be.
Mr. Miller said some residents would like to see that part of Brush
Valley Road preserved as a scenic route, which would result in maintaining the
road differently. Mr. Miller stated it
is a proactive step for the Township.
Mr. Miller stated that the number of
trees that were being evaluated for removal by the engineer has decreased from
eighty-seven (87) to eleven (11) trees.
The eleven (11) trees will be replaced and the Harris Township Tree
Commission, in consultation with the Linden Hall Village Association, will
select the species to replace the eleven (11) trees.
Mr. Miller also stated that Mr. Yahner
spoke of regeneration, sometimes stating that saplings get cut in the process
of widening areas to be worked on and do not get replaced. Mr. Miller stated staff would look at
possible development of a maintenance program that would allow for the
regeneration of the trees that are removed.
Mr. Miller asked the Planning Commission
if they would be interested in looking at such a program, or if they wanted to
defer it to the Tree Commission.
Mr. Buckalew asked if the Tree Commission
normally reports back with suggestions.
Mr. Miller stated the Tree Commission reports directly to the Board of
Supervisors there can be interaction, but it is not required.
Mr. Weener asked if the State had to be
involved in designating a historic/scenic route. Mr. Miller stated the staff is researching this.
Mr. Weener then asked if the policy would
pertain to Township roads or if it could apply to State roads such as Linden
Hall Road. Mr. Miller replied it could
be expanded into a zoning district designation or an overlay district, but that
would depend on how it is developed.
Mr. Miller also stated that it might be
possible to consider an overlay district where certain types of activities
would be restricted.
Chairman Duffy asked if the policy could
easily by translated into an Ordinance.
Mr. Miller stated it could. He
added that if the Planning Commission decided to do a Policy and Procedure for
Maintenance only a Resolution would be needed.
If, however, the Township wanted the Policy to be enforceable, an
Ordinance would need to be adopted.
Mr. Benner stated the idea was good, but
questioned whether PennDOT had criteria for historic highways. Mr. Miller stated that is being researched
by staff.
Mr. Weener stated the Planning Commission
should be involved with the development of a resolution that would entail more
than just trees, but also include scenic road value.
It was by consensus of Planning
Commission members that staff should prepare documents for consideration, and
then schedule these for discussion at a future meeting.
1. LIGHTING ORDINANCE
Mr. Miller stated that the Board of Supervisors indicated
they are not satisfied with certain aspects of the Ordinance and instances
where there has been non-compliance to the Ordinance.
Mr. Miller also stated that the Zoning Officer had
investigated reported concerns about the ordinance and found each instance to
be in violation of the existing Ordinance.
He said staff is satisfied with the Ordinance as is and believes there
is no need to change it. The Ordinance
is returned to the Planning Commission to determine if changes are needed. If no changes are needed, the issue should
be removed from further discussion.
Ms. Berkey stated she was not in favor of further
discussion.
Ms. Kresen stated the Planning Commission spent a lot of
time creating the Ordinance and unless there is a specific issue that needs
attention, she did not favor continuing discussion.
Ms. Kresen moved to discontinue further discussion of this
topic.
Mr. Weener stated that he believes the Lighting Ordinance is
a "bad ordinance," not very enforceable, and is contradictory.
Ms. Kresen stated concern about being
"over-regulatory".
Chairman Duffy stated there is a motion to recommend no
additional changes be made to the Lighting Ordinance at this time.
Upon motion made by Ms. Kresen and seconded by Ms. Berkey,
the Planning Commission voted to refer the Lighting Ordinance to the Board of
Supervisors with recommendation that the ordinance receive no further changes
at this time; Ayes - 6; Nays - 1 (Mr. Weener).
2. OFF-STREET PARKING
Mr.
Miller stated the Board of Supervisors sent this issue back to the Planning
Commission because they were not sure the parking requirement for the
agricultural and forest zoning districts need to be as stringent as they are in
other zoning districts.
Mr.
Miller stated that the Board of Supervisors seemed satisfied with the number of
parking spaces identified for each use, but the issue is whether the parking
lot should be paved and there were questions about whether bumper blocks were
necessary or not.
Planning
Commission members agreed that all off-street parking areas in the Agricultural
and Forest zoning districts should be "mud-free", and stabilized.
Upon
motion made by Mr. Weener, seconded by Mr. Benner, Planning Commission members
moved to direct staff to create a draft ordinance requiring
"mud-free" stabilized surface for all off-street parking in the
Forest and Agriculture Zoning Districts; the draft shall contain a definition
of "mud-free"; and further, there shall be no requirements for
islands, trees, or bumper blocks for off-street parking in the Forest and
Agriculture Zoning Districts.
By
consensus, Planning Commission directed staff to prepare the ordinance document
in accordance with the motion and forward it to the Board of Supervisors for
adoption.
3. URBAN
SPRAWL
Mr.
Weener asked how Growth Boundary is defined and asked what type of
inter-connectivity the Planning Commission wanted to preserve/create for Open
Space, i.e., bikeways, streams, roads, etc.
Mr.
Benner asked if the Township should have a Local Comprehensive Plan in addition
to the Regional Comprehensive Plan.
Mr.
Weener asked how many ADT's would be generated by the proposal development of
the former Springfield Mobile Home Park and how the local streets would accept
this additional wear.
Mr.
Weener suggested that Planning Commission members and staff begin by reviewing
one property and it's interconnectivity with surrounding development including
green areas, pedestrian walkways and links, etc. It was suggested that the Harpster Farm property be the first to
be analyzed.
Mr.
Weener suggested that several other areas be added to this analysis, referring
to the page entitled "Harris Township Major In-Fill Development
Areas" distributed by Ms. Liggett.
Mr.
Weener requested the R-3, 10 acre, Torrey Lane property, R-2, 11 acre, Torrey
Lane property; and R-2, 47 acre property "behind Country Place" be
added to the R-1, 72 acre Harpster Farm evaluation.
Planning
Commission members agreed to the addition of these three properties.
E. REPORTS:
Zoning Permits:
Mr. Miller stated that permits for
February, March, and April would be circulated at the May20th meeting.
CRPC:
Mr. Weener stated he attended the
meeting. Corey Miller, Executive
Director of U.A.J.A. was present and discussed the Beneficial Reuse Project
report and presented a time schedule for implementation.
Village
District Study Committee: Vice-Chairman Potter reported the committee is
using reports from 1988 and 1998 to guide the development of the current
report. The Committee discussed HARB
and identified the need for a demolition ordinance. They also discussed reducing the size of the Village. Mr. Potter said the problem seems to be one
of scale related to size of some businesses.
Ag
Security Area: D.J. Liggett stated there would be a public
meeting Thursday in the Boalsburg Fire Hall at 7:30PM about 120 property owners
will be invited to attend.
Mr.
Potter indicated he had some confusion about the various Ag-Preservation
programs and asked Ls. Liggett if Planning Commission members could receive an
explanation of the various programs.
F. ADJOURNMENT.
Upon motion made by Mr. Weener and seconded by Ms. Kresen,
the Planning Commission moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:45PM; Ayes-7, Nays-0.
Respectfully Submitted,
__________________________________________
Thomas C. Miller, Secretary/Treasurer