Monday, March 26, 2007
At 7:00 p.m. Chairman Robert Witmer called to order the Executive Session. In attendance were Supervisors Greenberg, Kuhn, Prousi and Sarosky. Also in attendance were John Nagel, Merle Ochrach, Jim Jacquette, Beverly Brown, Sam Dugan, Bruce Shoupe, Pam Gural-Bear and Jeffrey Gibbons. Personnel, potential litigation and litigation matters were discussed. The Executive Session adjourned at 7:35 p.m.
Chairman Witmer called the work session to order at 7:37 p.m. In attendance were Supervisors Greenberg, Kuhn, Prousi and Sarosky. Also in attendance were John Nagel, Merle Ochrach, Bruce Shoupe, Richard Brady, Pam Gural-Bear, Kevin Costello, Larry Gregan and Deb Rivas.
Annual reports for the Year 2006 were given by Chief Brady for the Police Department, Larry Gregan for the Finance Department, including the 2006 4th Quarter Budget Status, Kevin Costello for the Public Works Department, Bruce Shoupe for the Planning and Zoning Department, and Pam Gural-Bear for the Community Services Office. The Board thanked the department heads and employees for their efforts.
The next item on the agenda was a presentation from Chief Brady and Detective Ed Davies on the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). The PA Chief's of Police are accepting grant applications for the purchase of a remote terminal access to the AFIS database. This grant would be a 75% state / 25% local match, with Montgomery Township's 25% totaling $14,250. This equipment would allow the Police Department to directly process fingerprints and palm prints lifted from crime scenes into the local, state and national fingerprint databases. The Montgomery Township Police Department would serve as a regional central focus point for local police agencies to bring their prints here for processing. Detective Davies is a certified AFIS fingerprint examiner. The Board felt this was a project worth pursuing for our police department and those in the surrounding municipalities and suggested that Chief Brady move forward with the application.
Chairman Witmer called to order the regular action meeting at 8:15 p.m. In attendance were Supervisors, Greenberg, Kuhn, Prousi and Sarosky. Also in attendance were John Nagel, Richard Brady, Kevin Costello, Larry Gregan, Pam Gural-Bear, Bruce Shoupe, Merle Ochrach, Rick Tralies, Phil Wursta, John Chambers and Deb Rivas.
Under public comment, Sam Dugan, representing the Montgomery Township Municipal Sewer Authority, indicated that the Sewer Authority had been asked to donate a small portion of property that they own near the intersection of Horsham and Upper State Roads. The Sewer Authority has decided that if the Township will accept, it wishes to donate the entire one acre parcel to the Township for open space use. The Board was very appreciative of the donation. Jesse Hurd of 497 Doylestown Road said that he is very concerned about the accidents which are occurring in front of his property. He has been in touch with the Roadmaster who has made contact with PennDOT, however, nothing has been done to improve the area. The white posts which marked the roadway are missing and there have been four accidents in the last two months. Mr. Hurd asked the Township if it would make contact with PennDOT regarding this situation. He also mentioned that the pipe which runs under the road is clogged. Robert Kuhn mentioned to Kevin Costello that the timing of the lights at Five Points, specifically the 202 South light may need to be adjusted. Mr. Costello mentioned that improvements were planned for that area in the near future.
Merle Ochrach announced that the Board met in an Executive Session earlier to discuss matters of personnel and litigation and potential litigation with respect to the Sewer Authority. Those matters included Greenfield Dodge vs. Montgomery Township and Montgomery Township Sewer Authority and Hetherington vs. Montgomery Township Sewer Authority.
Chairman Witmer opened the Public Hearing for the Conditional Use Application for Greenway Development for the Zehr Tract at 8:21 p.m.. Notes of testimony were taken by Court Stenographer, Timothy Kurek. Gilbert High, Esquire represented the Township in this matter. Bruce Shoupe introduced the conditional use plan for the Zehr Tract and explained that the developer was presenting a plan for a 54 lot subdivision under the Historic Preservation Overlay District. Frank Bartle, Esquire, represented the applicant, Greenway Development, LP, and presented testimony from Wayne Rosen, general partner, John Kennedy, land planner, and Kirk Clauss, site engineer. Mr. Bartle summed up his presentation by saying that the applicant took the direction of the Township and presented a plan which conforms to the Historic Preservation Overlay District and meets with all the standards in the Township's ordinances. Overall, the Board indicated that it was pleased to see this type of plan for the tract of land and complimented the applicant and planner. The Board would have liked to have acquired the land for Township open space, but the price was too expensive. There was no public comment on the conditional use by any residents. The public hearing closed at 10:00 p.m.. Resolution #1 unanimously approved the Conditional Use Application for Greenway Development, LP.
Berwood Yost and Jennifer Harding from the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College made a brief presentation on their proposal to perform a Recreation Needs Assessment for the Township. Their proposal includes six focus groups, telephone or mail/online survey to between 800-1000 residents, an online forum for residents to share their opinions and tabulated results to be presented to the Township staff, supervisors and public. By resolution #2, the Board unanimously approved conducting a recreation needs assessment by the Center of Opinion Research of Franklin & Marshall in an amount not to exceed $12,500.
Under the consent agenda, the minutes of meeting for March 12, 2007, and the payment of bills were approved as submitted. Resolution #3 authorized the Township Manager to advertise for Ordinance #07-214 - Impervious Coverage Ordinance. Resolution #4 awarded the bids for Memorial Grove Phases I and II to Mark Shablin Landscape Contracting in the amount of $66,412 for Phase I and $41,960 for Phase II. Resolution #5 approved the escrow release for Bridal Path Manor. Resolution #6 approved the escrow release for 675 Bethlehem Pike. Resolution #7 approved the escrow release for Advanced Auto Parts. Resolution #8 approved the waiver of land development for 150 Demorah Drive. Resolution #9 authorized the Township Manager to advertise for bids for the Memorial Grove Sundial. Resolution #10 rescheduled the Board of Supervisors' April 23rd meeting to April 30th, 2007. Resolution #11 approved the 4th Quarter 2006 Budget Amendments. All consent agenda resolutions were unanimously approved by the Board.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m.