EAST BRADFORD TOWNSHIP
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TASK FORCE
MINUTES OF OCTOBER 14, 2002

The October, 2002 regular monthly meeting of the East Bradford Township Comprehensive Plan Task Force was held Monday, October 14^th in the Township Administration Building, 666 Copeland School Road, West Chester, Chester County, Pa., 19380-1822 , and was called to order by Mike Lynch who reminded everyone about the Task Force Township Tour scheduled for Saturday, October 26^th at 8:30 am as well as the Keep East Bradford Beautiful Roadside Litter Clean-up scheduled for Saturday, November 2nd at 8:30 am.

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Dr. John B. Hagens, BOS Rep/Chair of Task Force

Dr. Anthony Biacchi, PC Rep

Bruce Knapp, HC Rep

Mary Sue Wiedmer, HC Alt

M. John Johnson, OSRB Rep

Peter Orr, P & R Rep

Peggy Scholl, HARB Rep

Stephen McCulloch, CCPC, Senior Planner

Hillary Krummrich, CCPC, Staff Planner

Mike Lynch, Township Manager

H.William Sellers, Planning Consultant

Jean Renshaw, Esq., At-Large

Bruce Molholt, EAC

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Kathryn Deaville, PC alternate

Carl Buscaglia, ZHB Rep

George Fasic, At-Large

Robert Korbonits, PC alternate

OTHERS PRESENT:

Robert Harsch, PE

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Minutes of the July 8, 2002 regular meeting were motioned for approval by Mike Lynch. The minutes and copies are available for review at the Township Building.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Mike Lynch introduced Bruce Molholt, the new representative to the Task Force from the Environmental Advisory Council. Bruce gave us a brief background of his interest in the two committees and how it fits into his business background.

Mike Lynch asked that the Task Force work on a planning process to include administrative issues and to establish ‘Lunch box’ items to be addressed.

OTHER BUSINESS:

Stephen McCulloch and Hillary Krummrich started the meeting with a discussion on the three locations for their road/traffic survey. The final agreement, after much discussion, included Valley Creek Road and Route 322 (tube count) - - Frank Road/North Creek Road and Route 322 intersection - - Allerton Road/Creek Road and Route 842 intersection. It will be discussed/decided at a later date if the Task Force would like to add North Creek Road and Route 162 and assume the costs . CCPC will also do 162/Creek Road, which will give Bob Harsch the 162 information he wanted.

The survey will take place between Tuesday and Thursday on the day of the count and will be conducted from 7:00 am to 9:00 am and again at 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm. Bob Harsch requested a truck vs car count on Copes Bridge.

The bike signs on 322 and Creek Road are still standing, and need to be removed.

The upcoming survey of residents in the township was discussed and the opinion was that this should not be rushed. It could be mailed out the middle of January. Under the agreement with the CCPC there will be 1,000 survey mailings completed on a random basis. The discussion on the percentage of response prompted a request for more than 1,000 mailings. Mr. McCulloch requested the committee come back to the survey discussions after completing review of Preliminary Assessment Draft. The Task Force picked up where they left off at the last meeting and discussions were started with (H) Natural Resources. Dr. Biacchi would like to see regulations for potential harvesting of Forestry included. Dr. Hagens suggested that we include something on preservation of forestry with complete definition to be worked on later. Peter Orr requested the Brandywine Conservancy Water Management Plan should be built in. Stephen McCulloch advised that the County Watersheds Plan will be addressed and approached from the land use issues. The deer population was discussed and Stephen McCulloch stated that one of the areas of the Natural Resources Componant would be wildlife and the effect on surrounding areas. Under (I) Historic Resources, Mary Sue Wiedmer asked that the Township be responsible for Historic Districts now in jeopardy and be sure funds/grants are available. Adaptive reuse of Historic areas and changes in zoning to support the areas. Jean Renshaw suggested that the Township Ordinances need to be receptive to the Historic areas in case someone would want to build a large building, or shopping center next to anything identified in a Historic district. Stephen McCulloch pointed out that grants are more available when Historic Districts/Resources are identified in the Comprehensive Plan. Mary Sue Wiedmer advised that there are currently 180 such sites identified. Cultural Resources (J) and Recreation Resources (K) will stand as is. Land Use and Its Regulation (M) started questions on what the Township objectives would be for land use, and Bob Harsch replied that Open Space and land easements would/should be top priority.

Dr. Hagens discussed the PEG (Public Education Government) channel and was interested to know if there would be any interest by Township residents to such a program. It was suggested that this may be a question that should appear on the survey.

Anthony Biacchi would like to see the plan address the protection of living space and updating ordinances so that these items could be evaluated and changed as needed. East Bradford needs to be a dynamic Township with maps and ordinances that can keep up with the constant changes.

Peter Orr wants to have specific goals/plans so that there is something to measure success/failure.

After completing the discussions on the Preliminary Assessment Draft Mr. McCulloch returned to the public survey. Committee discussed their concerns with participation and how could there be a higher response rate than is usual. Could something be on the web site? Since there would be no control this may not be feasible. Stephen McCulloch reminded the Task Force that a survey should be simple and not used as a means for sending out information. Since opinions were varied and numerous, it was decided, upon a suggestion from Jean Renshaw and Dr. Hagens, that Mr. McCulloch should rewrite the survey so that format is uniform with demographic questions last.

Contract with CCPC calls for 1,000 mailings and it is estimated that 20/23% response will be good. It was asked if Township could send out more than 1,000 and Stephen McCulloch said that was not possible because of contract, but he would look into how much it would cost the Township to conduct the additional surveys.

A revised draft will be worked out with Tony Biacchi, John Hagens, Bill Sellers, Mike Lynch and Stephen McCulloch and be ready for the next meeting. The next meeting will be devoted entirely to the survey.

NEXT MEETING: Monday, November 11, 2002 at 6:30 pm

On a motion by John Johnson, seconded by Bruce Molholt, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.

Submitted

Lenore B. Guthrie

Recording Secretary