PLANNING COMMISSION

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TASK FORCE

MINUTES OF JANUARY 12, 2004

The January, 2004 regular monthly meeting of the East Bradford Township Planning Commission Comprehensive Plan Task Force was held Monday, January 12^th in the Township Administration Building, 666 Copeland School Road, West Chester, Chester County, Pa., 19380-1822 and was called to order at 6:30 pm by Tony Biacchi, Task Force Chair.

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Dr. John Hagens, Board of Supervisors Rep

Mike Lynch, Township Manager

Robert Harsch, Special Projects Engineer

Peggy Scholl, HC/HARB Rep

Mary Sue Wiedmer, HC Alt

Dr. Anthony Biacchi, PC Rep and Chair of the Task Force

George Fasic, At-Large

Peter Orr, P & R Rep

Patrick Sampsell, Rettew Assoc

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Mark Piazza, EAC Alt

Robert Korbonits, PC Alt

Patricia Murnane, HC

M. John Johnson, OSRB Rep

Jean Renshaw, Esq., At-Large

Carl Buscaglia, PC Rep

Bruce Molholt, EAC

OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE:

Robert Buckalew, EBBA

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Minutes of the December 8, 2003 regular meeting were motioned for approval by Peter Orr and seconded by George Fasic. The minutes and copies are available for review at the Township Building.

ADMINISTRATIVE:

The next Comprehensive Task Force meeting will be held on Monday, February 9, 2004.

At 5:30 pm Dr. Hagens, Dr. Tony Biacchi, and Mike Lynch met with Patrick Sampsell of Rettew Associates to discuss and review the current and future time frames on completion of the Comprehensive Plan. Patrick had a chart showing the current budget on estimated chapter developments. Future Land Use, Chapter 4, was scheduled for three meetings and to date there have been six meetings on this one chapter. Since there is a need to have this Plan adopted in July of 2004 the discussion centered around whether there needed to be more meetings, or if work could proceed on time. Dr. Hagens felt that Chapter Four was the most important chapter and he had no problem with the time frame. Dr. Biacchi agreed that the Task Force had worked through the tough parts and the balance of Chapters should stay on an even course. There may need to be one extra meeting

toward the end of the work sessions and no one had a problem with this schedule. Patrick pointed out that since the Comprehensive Plan is a "big picture plan" the committee needs to stay focused. Dr. Hagens suggested using "bullet points" with reference in text for details, and Patrick said he could make those changes after the Task Force completed Chapter Four. That way everyone could review this format and decide to use/or not use.

At 6:30 pm the regular meeting was opened by Dr. Biacchi and he reviewed for all members what had been discussed and why the concern. He asked that as members read the chapters and have any questions, or changes, they should immediately contact Patrick with this information rather than hold up the progress of the regular meeting. Patrick then went over the chapters that needed to be covered and how important it will be to stay on schedule.

Dr. Biacchi announced that Carl Buscaglia will have to resign from the Task Force because of business demands, and Robert Korbonits will resign because of his recent presidency on the board for Country Week Association.

Patrick then started the final review on Future Land Use, Chapter four.

On page 3 there will be a change from "Encourage targeted commercial and other non-residential opportunities within the township as well as maximizing the use of existing non-residentially zoned land" to "Permitting the appropriate use of non-residential opportunities within the Township". Mr. Buckalew, representing the East Bradford Small Business Association, read a statement on the concerns of this group with the views that the Township seems to have regarding the small business community. After discussion on this subject, Mr. Buckalew was asked to submit a statement from the EBBA to be inserted in a later chapter.

On page 19 Mary Sue Wiedmer and Peggy Scholl pointed out that historical properties should not be "targeted for adaptive reuse", but that property owners should be able to request help if they are interested in using their historical structure for reuse. George Fasic suggested wording that the Historical Commission should assume a proactive role in providing historical structure owners with information on pending legislation and be a resource for information. Dr. Biacchi asked Mary Sue to go over the chapter and get corrections to Patrick before the next meeting.

Mary Sue asked if the township would allow a liquor license since earlier discussions centered around encouraging restaurants. Mike Lynch advised that the ordinance would need to be changed under a referendum. The township is currently a dry township and the plan would be to consider such a referendum.

On page 20 under Rural Residential, George Fasic would like to have the wording inserted with the Conservation Easement areas to state "Brandywine Greenway Corridor". Discussion followed on how these lands would be used and it was pointed out that each easement would dictate how each individual parcel could be used.

Patrick will mail out the final draft on Chapter 4, and again asked that any questions be addressed immediately and not wait for the February meeting. Patrick also pointed out that Vegetation Removal, Tree Protection Standards, and Deer Management will be moved to Chapter 7, Natural and Water Resources. The Task Force then started work on Chapter 5, Transportation.

Dr. Hagens discussed the dangerous intersection at Rt 162 and Highland Road and thought this should warrant a traffic light, especially after the completion of Brookworth. Mike Lynch and Bob Harsch both thought that this would not be approved by PennDot.

George Fasic asked that, starting with page 2, under Functional Classification, more details should be inserted on what these roads are as far as cross section, depth, width, buffer zones, etc.

Page 7, third bullet point, eliminate the word "preliminary."

Patrick advised that he would mail out all corrections and asked that members of Task Force read the Transportation Chapter 5, and Historical and Cultural Resources, Chapter 6. Get all comments to him early and be ready to complete the work on these two chapters at the February meeting.

At 8:45 pm Dr. Biacchi made a motion to adjourn and this was seconded by Dr. Hagens.

REMINDER: NEXT MEETING WILL BE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2004 AT 6:30 PM.

Submitted,

Lenore B. Guthrie