MINUTES

DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY                              LOWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP

REGULAR MEETING                                              JANUARY 16, 2017

The following were in ATTENDANCE: 

AUTHORITY MEMBERS                                        TOWNSHIP PERSONNEL

Max Stoner, Chairman                                                 Erin Trone, Township Assistant Manager

Peddrick Young, Vice Chairman                                   Mary Ellen Banks, Recording Secretary

John Eby, Secretary                                                      Steven Miner, Solicitor

Salvatore F. Marone, Treasurer                                    

Edward Black

PUBLIC IN ATTENDANCE

None.

Mary Ellen Banks, Recording Secretary called the meeting of the Lower Allen Township Development Authority to order at 6:04pm and announced Proof of Publication was available for review.

REORGANIZATION

Mr. EBY made a motion to nominate Mr. Max Stoner as Chairman of the Development Authority for 2017. Mr. BLACK seconded the nomination. There were no other nominations and Mr. Eby moved that the nominations be closed. Motion carried, 5-0.

At this point, Mrs. Banks turned the meeting over to Chairman, Mr. Stoner.

Mr. EBY made a motion to retain the same 2016 officers:  Vice-Chairman (Peddrick Young), Secretary (John Eby) and Treasurer (Salvatore Marone) of the Development Authority for 2017. Mr. BLACK seconded the nomination. Since there were no other nominations, Chairman Stoner stated the nominations will be closed. Motion carried, 5-0.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 19, 2016

Mr. EBY made a motion to approve the minutes of the September 19, 2016 meeting. Mr. BLACK seconded the motion. Motion carried, 5-0.

PUBLIC COMMENT: There were no comments from the public.

DISCUSSION: 2017 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN PROCESS

Mrs. Trone explained it has been over ten years since we adopted our previous Comprehensive Plan which means it is now time for an update. There was a selection committee which reviewed seven different firms and interviewed three of them. The committee ultimately selected Michael Baker as the consultant for this process. On February 15^th, they will be having their kick-off public meeting and part of this process is to have a Citizen’s Advisory Committee which will spearhead the process; they will be the ambassadors of the Comprehensive Plan; there are twelve people taking part in this with ten of them being residents and two being staff including Daniel Flint and herself. The committee is expecting to get a lot of public comment and they will meet around ten times in the next year. They hope to complete 8-10 different projects in the next ten years that the Township is going to be working towards implementing. Discussion ensued.

DISCUSSION: PUBLIC HEARING FOR REZONING FROM R-2 RURAL RESIDENTAL TO R-3 MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL ON 30-ACRE TRACT NEAR ROSSMOYNE ROAD AND LISBURN ROAD

Mrs. Trone explained the public hearing was held last Monday evening and will be continued. This is near where Arcona is being developed and is about 30 acres and includes two owners. There is a contract pending with one property owner (29.5 acres) which is a local for-profit health care provider. In the meeting, they got thru the staff presentation and heard from a few of the public that attended. It is to be continued on February 23^rd @ 6:00. Mrs. Trone is willing to take any comments from this Board to the public meeting.

STAFF UPDATE

John Eby reviewed the following:

• Marzoni’s – This project was first approved in 2007 and has been resurrected; it is located in the Rossmoyne Business Center. They are in pre-final inspections; there are some details left and it looks like in the next couple of weeks, they will get all of the approvals necessary from building and zoning to schedule an opening.
• Capital City Mall – we previously discussed that at the East End towards Penney’s there is a bump out approved to the Old Navy store. Last year was a very busy year for musical tenants in the mall. Now Sears is closing leaving a significant 100,000 square feet down to 50,000 square feet store as a new anchor store with several smaller stores making up the remaining 50,000. The Sears end will be reconfigured in 2017 and has the Commissioner’s approval as of last Monday.
• Arcona – the point of Highpoint is fairly nearing build out; they have to figure out what to do with Building J pad site, the only building that hasn’t been constructed yet. The one remaining phase (1.5 of first phase) is across Arcona Road which is what is presently developed and town home construction has been started there. (This is the last sub- phase of phase 1.) Phase 2 had been approved in preliminary form for 2.1 and 2.2 last year. 2.1 (the apartments) was approved in final form and is not yet started. They have begun construction beginnings of Strong Road which is coming out from Arcona Road entrance into Highpoint, aligns with this road toward the railroad then makes a j bend toward Rossmoyne Road and terminates. That part has been constructed to service both the town homes and the lead-in to the apartments.
• Office Building at Westport – this is located on Lena Drive, lot 11. The building is framed, roofed and they are pouring the floor slabs. This will conclude the available lots in Westport.
• 2016 recap – Mr. Eby explained the Township had the 3^rd highest year of tenant move-around at the Capital City Mall. They also issued 798 permits; explained technically they issued far more than 798 counting all permits; making it easily over 2000 last year with some buildings getting well over 50 different types of inspections each.

Erin Trone reviewed the following:

• Gettysburg Road update – Mrs. Trone explained they met with HRG, the consultant on this project two weeks ago. In addition, they met with Bethany Village and Dairy Farmers of America to give them updates since they are the two property owners that will be impacted by this project. The plan is to elect the project in the summer, start in the fall and finish up in the spring. When they met with Dairy Farmers about traffic flow patterns during construction to share possible plans, Dairy Farmers stated they are confident there won’t be a problem and will have their drivers do turn-around on their property. This will save a lot of construction time. We do not have to build a wall due to the sound study; however, we may be building some berms. Discussion ensued.

Mr. Marone questioned where the Authority is concerning the Department of Corrections. Mrs. Trone explained this may be a good time to look at it since they may be more open to further discussions. She has contacted one of the lobbying firms that she is familiar with and told them this may be a good time to renew talks and move forward.

NEXT MEETING OF THE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

The next meeting of the Development Authority is scheduled for Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at 6:00pm.

ADJOURNMENT

Mr. EBY made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. MARONE seconded the motion. Motion carried, 5-0. Meeting adjourned at 6:42pm.