CONDITIONAL USE HEARING - TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016 PAGE 1 The North Strabane Township Board of Supervisors held a Special Meeting- Conditional Use Hearing, Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at approximately 7:00 P.M., at the Township Municipal Building, 1929 Route 519, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania 15317. ATTENDING THE MEETING Brian Spicer, Chairman Robert Balogh, Vice-Chairman Marcus Staley, Supervisor Bob Ross, Supervisor ALSO ATTENDING THE MEETING Frank R. Siffrinn, Manager-Secretary Gary Sweat, Solicitor Joe Sites, Engineer Paulette Moyar, Planning Coordinator Deanna Kelly, Stenographer ABSENT FROM THIS SESSION Sonia Stopperich Sulc, Supervisor PUBLIC HEARING stated this is a public hearing on a conditional use application for the Concord Green Revised Final Master Plan reflecting the addition of the Enclave at Concord Green consisting of 25 townhouse units on 4.25 acres located on West McMurray Road in an R-3 district. At this time, I will turn the public hearing over to our solicitor. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is the time we have scheduled for the conditional use hearing on the application of Wexford Land Partners, LP for final approval of the Planned Residential Development for the Enclave at Concord Green. For the record, I will identify some exhibits before we hear any testimony. The original application by Wexford Land Partners for land development was received on March 29, 2016 and then revised on July, 27, 2016. The zoning officer for the Township indicated the applications were complete. We will mark the two applications as exhibit A. The hearing was advertised in the legal section of the Observer Reporter on October 4, 2016 and October 11, 2016. We will mark the advertisements as exhibit B. Notice was given to adjoining property owners within 300 feet of the proposed development. That notice will be marked exhibit C. The subject property is located on West McMurray Road in an R-3 district. It consists of 4.25 acres. The application is to modify the original approval given to the Concord Green PRD for the Enclave portion of the development from 19 carriage homes to 25 townhomes. I will ask Paulette Moyar, the Planning Coordinator, to come forward and establish where we are with these plans. Let s start with the original conditional use application for the master plan. Were you able to locate the plans? Do you know the date it was approved? July 20, 2005. Can you explain for the record what the plan shows? The plan shows the Master Plan that includes single family dwellings, townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, and an apartment building that will be built on a private lane, but it has not been developed yet. The property for the Enclave development on the 2005 plan showed what type of development?
CONDITIONAL USE HEARING - TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016 PAGE 2 Planned Residential Development. What type of structures? The original planned showed duplexes or carriage homes or whatever you prefer to call them. We will mark the 2005 Master Plan for Concord Green PRD as exhibit D. Now you received a revised plan, correct? They came before the Planning Commission last month. It was recommended for approval. When it was presented to the Board of Supervisors there was a discussion, because the original plan showed all the streets as private. The Board of Supervisors stated it wanted all roads to be public roads. We went back to the developer and this revised plan shows all roads as public roads. Is this the true copy of the revised plan that you are referring to, dated July 26, 2016? We will mark the revised plan as exhibit E. Was this revised plan and application reviewed by the Planning Commission? Last night. Did the Planning Commission issue a letter indicating its recommendation? What was that recommendation? The Planning Commission recommended approval to the Board of Supervisors with a waiver to the front yard setback from twenty-five (25) feet to ten (10) feet, and to the requirement for the minimum length of a public street affecting Lilly Lane and Azalea Court. We will mark the letter of recommendation from the Planning Commission dated October 18, 2016 as exhibit F. Thank you, Paulette. Applicant we are ready to hear your testimony. Marty Gillespie with Wexford Land Partners, LP We are the developer of the property. As stated, we were at the Planning Commission meeting last night. They recommended approval. The feedback the Board of Supervisors had was to make all the roads public. All the private roads would be taken care of by the HOA, the cost, snowplowing, replacement, etc. The request was to look at it as all public roads. We revised the plan with all public roads. The difference is private roads have a 30 foot right-ofway and the public roads have a 50 foot right-of-way. We are calling these carriage homes because the master bedroom is on the first floor. We are asking for approval of the revised master plan. We would then come back for final site plan approval. We are asking for two waivers, front yard setback and the length of the Lilly Lane and Azalea Court. The liquid fuels money is not significant, but that is something we can address in the site plan. Mr. Siffrinn What is the length of Lilly Lane and Azalea Court if they are not 250 feet? I do not know. Joe, you do.
CONDITIONAL USE HEARING - TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016 PAGE 3 Lilly Lane is 190 feet in length and Azalea Court is 215 feet. Is Wexford Land Partners, LP the record owner of this property? No, we have a contract on the property. The current owner is McCloskey. But the deed will come to Wexford Land Partners, LP? Who are the general partners? Myself and Dan Caste. Have the McCloskey s given their consent to the presentation of this request for a conditional use. Can you expand a little bit on the reason you are seeking the waiver for the front yard setback. What kind of hardship is that imposing on you if you are not granted the waiver? The configuration of the homes and the units would require us to eliminate some of the units. The whole reason for the change from the original master plan is because the road came off their private driveway. The McCloskey s decided they did not want that road coming off their driveway. The road will now come off West McMurray Road. This is the most efficient way to do it. Again, by going with the public roads, we are losing two units. Without the waivers, this type of unit cannot be built there. We feel the first master plan is the right product. If the Board decides not to grant the waiver, it would not allow for this type of unit. You would need to go with the traditional townhome. Did you review the issue of emergency vehicle turnaround with the Fire Chief for Lilly Lane and Azalea Court? No. We have not. Since this is a revision of the masterplan, we have not gotten into that detail. We did have PVE Sheffler run a truck through the turnaround. We will have that issue addressed before site plan approval. We have the Chief here tonight to ask him some questions concerning that issue. Mr. Siffrinn Marty, one last question. The original submission with the private streets reflected a cart way of 18 feet. You have since revised that to comply with the Township specification of 21 feet. That was not a waiver we requested. The plan does include sidewalks? Those sidewalks will be in the right-of-way. I believe a lot of the parking will end up in the right-of-way when we talk about 10 foot setbacks. No. We have it laid out so the cars would not encroach into the road or the sidewalks. The units that have the sidewalks are on one side. We measured from the sidewalk side to the garage, which is over 18 feet. The other side is 20 feet. You can fit two cars in the driveway. One of the things for final site plan approval that the Planning Commission discussed was guest parking. We will add the guest parking for final site plan approval.
CONDITIONAL USE HEARING - TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016 PAGE 4 That will be required on this plan. Mr. Siffrinn I believe it is a half a spot for each unit. We will need to add 13 guest parking spaces throughout the plan. The only concern I have is the turnaround for the emergency vehicles. I think you need to work with the Fire Chief on that issue. Does the public have any questions for? have you had time to review the original plan against the revised plan? Yes I did. They are in compliance. They have addressed all my comments. Did you write a comment letter? The comment letter is dated October 14, 2016. The Township supervisors requested that a public road be provided for the development. A 50 foot right-ofway has been provided, but only an 18-foot cartway has been shown on the plan. We questioned why the Township road standard is not being complied with consisting of a 21 foot cartway with 18 wedge curbs on each side. I questioned the length of Azalea Court and Lilly Lane relative to the eligibility for liquid fuels funds. The plan shows a 10-foot front yard setback for the buildings that face Azalea Court and Lilly Lane, a modification of 15 feet from the 25 foot requirement. All other comments are relative to site plan approval. Do you know what the loss of the liquid fuels would be to the Township? I don t believe it will be a significant amount of money, maybe $200.00 to $300.00. I notice you attached to your October 14, 2016 letter a site plan. Is that the latest version of the plan? Yes it is. We will mark Mr. Site s comment letter, dated October 14, 2016 with the attached site plan, as exhibit G. Would anyone else like to be heard? That will conclude the meeting. I am sorry we have to go back on the record to hear from the Fire Chief. Chief, did you have time to look at this plan? I did. Our biggest concern was the width of the street. We also have a concern on the hammer heads. I would like to get the measurements of our largest truck, which is the Aerial at 47 feet long. I will be more than happy to sit down with the developer and run the numbers. We need room to turn the truck around. The worst case scenario that could occur would be to back the Aerial into one of the streets. Is that going to be a significant concern? We are always going to pull in, but our biggest concern is the width of the street, which has been addressed. If we could reconfigure that hammerhead to give us a little more room, that would help. To answer your question, no. It is not going to be that big of a concern. Thank you. Have you looked at this in regards to the fire hydrants? No. Once we receive the site plan, we will mark the hydrants. I do know the pressure in that area is good. It will not be a concern.
CONDITIONAL USE HEARING - TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016 PAGE 5 Thank you. That is all I have. ADJOURMENT All business being concluded, the special meeting adjourned at 7:20 P.M. Brian L. Spicer, Chairman Frank R. Siffrinn, Manager-Secretary dmk