Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the June meeting of the Board of Supervisors. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Gallardo, will you please call the roll?

Absolutely. Ms. Hanna?

Here.

Mr. Layton? Here. Ms. Kane?

Here.

And Mr. Kiciak? Here. Also in attendance, our interim township manager, Ms. Teoli-Cools, solicitor Mr. Griffin, and township engineer Mr. Kessler.

Okay, thank you. Upcoming meetings and events. Our next Board of Supervisors meeting will be Monday, July 13th at 7 p.m. We have a couple special items and announcements. First, on behalf of the Board, I would like to recognize a special student, a special Boy Scout, to ask him to come up. Vincent Kutch, could you come up for your outstanding service? Family members and friends. And I was hoping maybe you could say a couple things about it. Sure.

So I did this project. I go to Veterans Park a lot normally. And I saw that there was an area in need, such as the Heroes Walk reflection path that was a little bit run down over the years due to weather and maybe some other things too from people using it. And I wanted to make it to its former glory to honor our community and the veterans that live in it.

Thank you. And they worked really hard all day. So on behalf of the board, I'd like to recognize and thank Boy Scout Vincent Kutch for his outstanding service, project, and the lasting impact it will have on our community. As a part of Vincent's journey toward earning the rank of Eagle Scout, he planned and led a remarkable four-part project that has enhanced our park while honoring those who have served our country. His project included the creation of a reflection path featuring wood chips and log borders, the construction and installation of approximately 10 birdhouses, the refurbishment of the Heroes Walk sign, and the replacement of the park bench slats with newly engraved wood honoring our veterans. While Vincent organized and led the project, it was truly a community effort. Vincent organized more than 35 volunteers who contributed time throughout the workday, including scouts, scout alumni, friends, family members, community volunteers, and elected officials, and township employees. Their hard work and dedication helped turn Vincent's vision into reality. So Vincent, thank you for your leadership, initiative, and commitment to service. The planning, coordination, and execution of a project of this scope required tremendous effort and dedication. Your work reflects the very best values of scouting and community service. We congratulate you on the successful completion of this important milestone and wish you the very best as you continue your journey toward earning the rank of Eagle Scout this fall. Please join me in thanking Vincent Kutch and all of the volunteers to help him make this project possible. And for that, we are also honoring Vincent with a certificate for his work. Up next, we have Supervisor Cain, who would like to share the Middletown Community Foundation Community Service Scholarship Award.

Yeah, I was hoping we could invite Juliece August with the Middletown Community Foundation to come forward to present the Community Service Scholarship Project.

by improving public service programs, thank you, with other Middletown community groups. I encourage everyone here to take a step by signing up for a local program, helping someone in need, assisting with a community initiative. All contributions matter. no matter what the size. Thank you to our township supervisor and to the board of supervisors for allowing us to present this award this evening. To Keenan Stahl, a 2026 graduate of LaSalle College High School, who's planning to attend Drexel University in the fall to major in finance, and you will also be rowing or playing lacrosse. Playing lacrosse, sorry about that. Keenan, you wanna come up and join us? Keenan's public service. Keenan's public service as a volunteer with the Leveling the Playing Field organization has been instrumental in helping them provide used sporting good equipment to under-resourced communities in and around the city of Philadelphia.

So thank you and congratulations, Keenan.

Could we have, officer, meet me up here, please?

Up next, we have our Pride Month proclamation by Supervisor Leighton.

Thank you. So this is a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month in Middletown Township. Whereas June is recognized as Pride Month in the United States and around the world as an opportunity to celebrate sexual diversity, promote equal rights, and build awareness of the challenges faced by the LGBTQ plus community and the work that still needs to be done. And, or as Pride Month is an opportunity to prevent discrimination and promote acceptance and inclusion of all and support the development of harmonious and respectful relationships amongst all members of our community. And whereas the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors created a Human Relations Commission in 2020 to defend the diversity of our gender and sexual minority communities and expresses a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our organization and our community. And now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors, proclaim the month of June as Pride Month. and shall fly the pride flag in front of Middletown Township Municipal Center during the month of June in expression of our support for inclusion, safety, and acceptance of members of the LGBTQ plus community. Be it further proclaimed that we, Middletown Township, encourage and support the celebration of June as LGBTQ plus pride month, proclaimed this day the 8th of June, 2026.

Thank you. Supervisor Kizak, could you read the Juneteenth proclamation, please? Yes.

This is a proclamation recognizing Juneteenth and Middletown Township. Whereas on June 19th, 1865, months after the Civil War ended and more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing enslaved people, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to free 250,000 people still held in bondage. The arrival of Major General Gordon Granger and his troops signaled that the federal government would not relent until the last enslaved people in America were free. And whereas on Juneteenth, we commemorate that day and honor the tireless work of abolitionists who made it their mission to deliver the promise of America for all Americans. And whereas June 19th has a special meaning to African Americans, and is called Juneteenth, combining the words June and 19th, and has been celebrated by the African-American community for over 150 years. And whereas in 2019, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed Act IX, declaring Juneteenth National Freedom Day a statewide holiday, And whereas in 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday, and now therefore be it proclaimed that we, the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors, proclaim June 19th as Juneteenth in Middletown Township, and be it further proclaimed that we, Middletown Township, encourages all residents to learn and understand the significance of this celebration in African-American history and the heritage of our nation. Middletown Township Board of Supervisors proclaim this eighth day of June, 2026. Thank you.

And one final proclamation, Pendale Middletown Township Emergency Squad Summer Food Drive. Board of Supervisor Gallardo, could you please present that?

Sure. Just a notice, really, that Pendale Middletown Emergency Squad is in partnership with Redner's Warehouse Markets to help feed local children this summer. They're doing it with a community food drive. Collection day is going to be June 14th. And basically, summer should be a time for children to enjoy being kids, not worry about where their next meal will come from. Your donations support local food pantries serving families and the Nesaminy community throughout the summer. There's a list that'll probably go out on social media, I'm not sure. or the Township website with suggested donations. There's two drop-off locations, which is the Pendell Middletown Emergency Squad on Lincoln Highway and the Redner's Market in Levittown. So together we can help ensure that no child goes hungry this summer.

Thank you. Next up, public comment. At this time, I'd like to invite the public to make any comments. For the Board's consideration, please state your name and address for the record. and limit your comments to non-agenda items. At this time also, if you would like to leave because you have other plans and don't want to stay for all of the fun agenda items, please take a moment to do so. The microphone was very busy with all of the special announcements this evening. Okay. Okay. Sorry. Go ahead.

Hi. Dave Cahill, 462 Cynthia Ave, Pendle. Former member of the Pendle Fire Company. Still looking for the loan information for Tower 8. Getting closer. So, as you all know, I appealed the response that I got back from the township for a copy of the loan application documents to show the income. I went to Harrisburg and they made a final decision that I made the same request three times. My requests were not the same, they were all different. So, but that's another story for another day. So I wanted, there was a signed affidavit between Sarah Steers from the lawyer's, the solicitor's office for Middletown and Rich Schramm. There were some questions that were asked by the solicitor and answered by Mr. Schramm. I wanted to go over a couple of the answers. Is that okay, did anybody read the final determination from the appeal, any of the supervisors? No? Stephanie, welcome back. Did you read the final determination? No, okay. So Mr. Stram stated during the meeting with Sarah, that the Pendell Fire Company is exclusively funded through federal and Commonwealth grants, donation and tax monies collected by the township. I contacted Brian Fitzpatrick's office and Joe Hogan's office. And I did not get, I asked for any of the grants, copies of any of the grants they received for Tower 8, and I got nothing in return from either office. So Mr. Schramm went on to state that the fire company does not earn an income or generate revenue. Am I boring you? Am I boring you too? Okay. Yeah, you're kind of out of the loop on this because you weren't. Most of my questions that were asked, you weren't elected. You and Ryan weren't elected yet. So I pretty much knew that there was no income or revenue by the Pendell Fire Company. So Mr. Schramm went on to say that the budget reflects the amounts expended by the township for fire protection services and fire apparatus repairs, maintenance and purchases. That's the operating expense money that the township gives to the fire company. It's about, I don't know the exact number. I think it's about 125 grand a year. So, but what was interesting was the answers that Mr. Schramm gave about communication with the township regarding annual payment to the Kansas State Bank and the Pendell Fire Company apparatus fund balance following the fire company's 24 and 25 annual payments to Kansas State Bank. Mike, you kept telling me you didn't know anything about the Pendell Fire Company nor you didn't know anything about the loan. about any loan payments.

I still don't.

Stephanie, you said the same thing. But Mr. Schramm said that he was in the communication with the township regarding the annual loan payments that I believe were 67,400 hours a year. That would have been the same for the years 2024 and 2025. Do you have a comment, Stephanie, about not knowing? You want to change your answer? No, your answer's still the same? That you didn't know anything about the Pendell Fire Company or the loan?

Mr. Cahill?

Yes.

Mr. Cahill, I'm trying to follow along. What is your question and your comment right now?

The township told me for a year and a half that they didn't know anything about the Pendell Fire Company or their loan payments. And now Mr. Schramm's answers are contradicting the answers that you gave me when I started asking about this in August of 2024. So I had already asked Mike, you remember I did ask the question, was there a vote taken? Asked if there was a vote taken for using truck fund money to make loan payments. You answered no, that there was no vote. So who authorized the Pendell Fire Company to use truck fund money to make loan payments?

We do not tell them what to do.

You do. They were in contact. They were in communication with you. So somebody from here, from Middletown Township, had it tell them that it was okay to use truck fund money to make loans. loan to make loan payments. And it's not in the contract. The contract states that the money can only be used to purchase apparatus or refurbish apparatus. And if it needs to be used for anything else, there needs to be a vote. There needs to be an agreement made. Was there a vote?

Mr. Cahill, we're going to look into this and we'll get back to you.

You've said that before. Are you serious this time?

I think we're always serious.

I think the one that needs to look into this is Chief Borterell. I think that would probably be the right person to look into this because I asked if there was a misappropriation of funds and I got accused of pretty much telling a tall tale. But I know, I'm pretty sure that I've been right according to the answers from Mr. Schramm. I've been right all along.

I ask you to please share your information with us and we'll get back to you.

You mind if I share it with the Chief?

You can share it with the Middletown Township Manager.

All right, thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comments?

On a happy note, my name is Kathy Horwath. I am president of Langhorne Borough Council, but I do have a house in Middletown Township that all my grandchildren live in and live next door to, so I'm definitely invested in what's going on in Middletown Township and have been. I've been elected 43 years, and for many, many years, Middletown, Langhorne, all of the municipalities, we've worked really closely together Somehow, and I haven't been president for a long time, just now, and way back, somehow we got apart. And I want to invite you all to be back together with us. We have so many events, as you know. We're doing our 150th this year. Lots and lots of events going on. I know you've already been attending some of them. There'll be more through the whole year. Everybody, we consider Langhorne all Langhorne. not just Langhorne Borough. So you're welcome to everything we have. All you have to do is go online to Langhorne 150, and you will see lists and lists of events. In a related matter, though, I came before this group way back in 2014, and totally we were in approval of the plan for RC3. It wasn't RC3 then, but US1. We liked the plan. We were really happy. Somewhere along the line, it changed, as you know. and you can blame me for bringing it back up to the public when we found out that it had been changed way back in 2020 and langhorne borough was not involved in any decisions we want the safety improvements we made that very clear we want them done as soon as possible we do have a lot of recommendations though and we have made those clear to all of you What I want to let you know is because recently publications have said that PennDOT again is just going to meet with you and Langhorne Manor and that's fine over the service roads. Several years ago though when we did meet, our council did authorize at the time because PennDOT said they want something in return if they would take responsibility for the service roads. They wanted to give back of other roads. They're not going to do it for free. And we made a decision in Langhorne Borough that there are streets that we are willing to go in. If it ends up that you negotiate anything in any way, you can come back to us. I will go to my council and ask them to reaffirm our offer that we made several years ago to PennDOT. So whenever you're having discussions, we're there and we want to work with you. Thank you.

Thank you. We haven't heard from them. I know that... it was shared that they were going to have some sort of information in May. We have not heard anything yet. Thank you. Any other public comments?

Yeah, I'm Paul Schneider. I'm the owner of 10 Black Eyed Susan, right over here. I live in Langhorne Borough. I'm a Langhorne Borough Councilman, but I'm here as a taxpayer, property owner in Middletown, and member of No Cloverleaf Coalition. I wanna thank Chair Hanna, Vice Chair Layton, and Secretary Gallardo for attending our information session in April. We were particularly grateful to hear Ms. Hannah say, I don't want the access roads to go away. I want one to stay safe. I don't want traffic in the middle of neighborhoods, and I don't want children being in unsafe positions. So I'm coming here tonight hoping that those words can be converted into more action. We just saw the power of local support in Philadelphia. where a state legislator and a local council person lobbied hard, and that's the Philadelphia Inquirer, that's not me, to get PennDOT to change a plan that was going to bulldoze youth sports fields. So contrary to what we've been told by our state representative and our state senator, the fact is that local leaders and our state legislators can have an impact on PennDOT's plans. There was something, PennDOT was supposed to have met with you folks on Monday, last Monday, did that happen? And you don't, I mean, I don't know if you're allowed to answer me, but.

I was not able to join the meeting, but I do believe our interim township manager was able to. The video call, was that the one?

I did attend a video call related to RC3, yes.

Okay, yeah, I think the residents of Parkland in particular and surrounding communities would like to understand what took place at that meeting and what the future of the service roads are going to be or might be since PennDOT brought up that they could be retained. The fact remains, this project, as planned, achieves safety on Main Line Route 1 at the expense of dangerous traffic conditions in the surrounding communities. I request that this board make it clear to PennDOT that this project, as planned, and anything that compromises the safety of the neighborhoods that these people live in, is absolutely unacceptable. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comments?

My name is Sue Dunkley.

I will make this short. I am totally for what Paul just said. I live on Jeffrey Lane. If anybody has ever heard of Jeffrey Lane or seen the posts on Facebook that showed the pictures of what Jeffrey Lane is like when there's two parties in the same day. You cannot get down the street, let alone all the traffic being diverted up our street, which is extremely narrow. Jan Head. measurements of it. You would not want to live on Jeffrey Lane if this comes through. Our housing prices are going to be lowered to nothing. It's awful what's happening. And look it up on the RC3, the Cloverleaf posts on Facebook. Jeffrey Lane, I know there's a lot of other places that are Affected by this but our seems to be the worst when we tell people when we come to these meetings That we live on Jeffrey Lane they go. Oh That's exactly what they say to us They know how bad it is going to be there and and that's awful if you guys could drive it you would see I Will end that and put come on a note a higher note that I don't know if anybody knows, Neshaminy High School varsity baseball team beat Pennsbury today and is going to the finals in Penn State. Sorry, had to say that.

Hello, my name is Janice Whiteman. I am a resident of also Jeffrey Lane. We're very concerned about this RC3 project because it is going to impact probably Jeffrey Lane more than anybody else. I think part of Jeffrey Lane feels is that we're not part of the borough. We're not part of Langhorne, Manor. We are Middletown Township. We feel that we're not being represented or not knowing what's going on. If you did have a meeting on Monday, are there plans for you to have a meeting with the people that live in those areas to let us know what's going on so we know what to do as far as our grassroots and things like that? But as Mrs. Dunkley just said and Paul said, Jeffrey Lane is, you're moving traffic from one part of Route 1 and you're going to put it on our street. There is a bus stop at the top of our street. There's kids playing in our street. If there is any kind of a situation, we used to have block parties. We're talking about doing it again. If you do this, we're never going to be able to shut that street down because it's going to be the only way you're going to be able to get into parking. So I really think you need to consider taking over the access service roads and keeping us safe in our areas. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other public comments on non-agenda items? Thank you. Sorry. At this time, I like to present the consent agenda items. Consideration of authorizing payment of June 8th, 2026 bills listed in the amount of $1,904,194.46. B, the consideration of approving the May 11th, 2026 minutes of the public meeting. of the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors. C, consideration of approving a memorandum of understanding regarding the Neshaminy Watershed Collaborative. D, consideration of change order number four for the Langhorne Gables Drainage Improvement Phase two in the amount of negative $110.20. E, consideration of payment certificate number four for the Langhorne Gables drainage improvement phase two in the amount of $316,303.40 for work completed. Consideration of Maple Ave and North Flowers Mill Road improvements progress pavement number one in the amount of $103,556.70. And final payment two, retainage in the amount of $11,506.30, totaling $115,063. Item G, consideration of resolution number 26-19R, 164 South Walnut Terrace Sewing Planning Module. H, consideration of approving change order number one to David Thomas Trailways contract for transportation services associated with the 2026 Summer Recreation Program, reducing the amount from $37,076 to $36,742. I, consideration of authorizing execution of retirement agreement and general release of Ed DeFrank. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda items as noted on the agenda?

So moved. Second.

All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Five in favor of aye, motion carries. Consideration, agenda item number seven, consideration of approving George School Campus Master Plan. Jim Ennis will present this item after his presentation. If there's no motion for approval, we can move to that. Thank you.

Yeah, I'll keep it brief. There are representatives from George School here that will get more into the details of the actual master plan, the whole reason why they're pursuing a master plan, and just its overall purposes for their benefit. As far as this process and while we're here, this did get a recommendation of approval from the Townships Planning Commission last week during their meeting. It was a unanimous recommendation of approval. You have within the recommendation stated in my policy briefing summary, that's part of your packets. One of the things that does need to get zeroed in on is that the master plan agreement that's tied to the master plan was fully reviewed and coordinated and also any suggested changes were to the satisfaction of the township solicitor's office. And also something else to note is that each individual project that is detailed on the master plan will still have to seek approval from the township and demonstrate compliance with requirements found in the township's code of ordinances, especially for engineering, stormwater management, zoning, and design. So with that, as far as impacts, you know, The impacts are, everything's interior to the campus. Also, it will still have to go through some kind of approval process each individual project phase. So we'll ensure that the impacts onto the community will not be any kind of negative or detrimental types of impacts. And yeah, for my recommendation, I do recommend approval is granted to the master plan. With that, I will turn to the representatives from the George School just to kind of do any detailed oriented kind of questions and answers.

Thank you, Mr. Ennis.

Good evening. Thanks, Jim. Joe Blackburn from Whistler-Pearlstein here on behalf of the George School. A little bit of a unique application or consideration before the Board this evening, a master plan. I can say honestly I don't do a tremendous amount of them, certainly more zoning hearings, land developments, what have you. So what is a master plan? Its simplest form, it is a mechanism provided for by the MPC that permits the orderly development of a property, typically a large property such as the nearly 200 acre George School, Over a period of time that far exceeds that which a typical land development would last. In this case, we're looking at about a 15 to 20 year horizon. You will recall probably that at your, excuse me, December meeting, the board saw fit to grant preliminary final land development for the Walton Performing Arts Center for the George School, which was at that time PREVIEWED BY MY PARTNER MR. MURPHY AS BEING IN FACT PHASE ONE OF THE MASTER PLAN. WHAT YOU HAVE BEFORE YOU TONIGHT IS AN AGREEMENT AND A CONCEPT PLAN THAT OUTLINES THOSE OTHER SIX PHASES, WHICH I'M HAPPY TO GET INTO AS MUCH DETAIL AS YOU'D LIKE. The agreement before you, which we're seeking to authorize the execution of, as Mr. Ennis said, really just provides for the implementation of those other six phases over the course of a 15 or 20 year period. Again, just to reiterate, every single phase will go through preliminary final land development. We are not seeking, nor does the agreement grant any saldo waivers, any zoning relief whatsoever. Every single phase will be a self-contained, discrete subdivision land development application that'll be back here before you. So that begs the question, why even bother doing this? And the answer to that simply is that it is for planning purposes. It is integral for what I'll call a legacy property such as this to be able to have a plan that spans more than 18 months to 24 months. Fundraising is obviously a big purpose or a big part of that. The tacit acknowledgement of acceptability of these phases provides George School the opportunity to accomplish all those things. So I am joined by the project engineer, Kevin Selger. I can make myself or Mr. Selger available for any questions that the board or professionals may have.

Does the board have any questions?

I know we're kind of beating a dead horse on this but just to sort of make it clear again everything that's contemplated as part of the master plan is internal to the George school campus number one and then secondarily and I know you've represented this as of Mr. Ennis anything each one of these phases has to come back before the board for preliminary and final land development approval so we're not approving any land development tonight we're just approving the master plan which is the long-term comprehensive vision for the campus yeah exactly absolutely

No questions or comments? Okay. Thank you very much. Mr. Ennis, do you have anything else to add? Are you fine? Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. So with that, is there a motion for approval?

I'll make a motion to grant approval to the George School Conceptual Master Plan and Campus Master Plan Report with the condition that every project phase will demonstrate compliance with Middletown Township's Code of Ordinances and receive approval by the Township Board of Supervisors when pursued.

I second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot, public comment. Thank you, Michael. Any other public comments?

I was hoping to get away with not talking tonight. Joseph Fitch, 346 Wyoming Avenue. My biggest concern is you're building uphill of all the poor folks down the bottom of the hill that are going to catch their rainwater. So can they please, can you guys please make them do something to catch the rainwater? whether they reclaim it, use it to water their grass or fill their swimming pool, make it drinking water, hold their water until after the storm is completely gone and the rain waters are down and then release it into the streams. We just can't take any more water downstream of them in our neighborhoods. you know, you're talking about Oakleyhurst, you're talking about Highland Park, you got Snowball Gate, you got, what was the other one, Juniper, no, Forsythia Gate, and so forth on down the line. So if you guys can please take that into consideration, and same thing with, you know, the company that's drawing these plans up, trying to push this through, or whatever the case may be, think about the other neighbors and people in the community.

Mr. Ennis or Mr. Kiesler, could you talk about stormwater management when we're looking at plans and how we're supposed to come back to the board every time there's a different phase?

Yeah, absolutely. And it's a good question. For these master plans, the applicant mentioned they don't really get presented too often. As they mentioned as well, the projects that will come through over time each have to still come through and meet all the requirements, including stormwater requirements. The Performing Arts Center that was referred to as their first phase did just that. They had to meet all the stormwater management requirements. And one of the things that is a benefit of a master plan as well is that it has a look of more of the campus as a whole, so it intertwines the different projects that they may have, which stormwater-wise, having more of kind of a global look at the campus is actually beneficial. So that will be continued as they move forward over the next year. 20 years or so but each one would have to individually also meet the township requirements for for stormwater and improving the current conditions into modern standards for managing the stormwater thank you any other questions or comments from the public

Okay, thank you. Now, I'll go back. So we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries 5-0. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay.

Next agenda item, consideration of amended final land development approval for Neshaminy Springs Development 1700 Woodburn Road. Mr. Ennis, you are up again.

Yeah, I'll keep this one brief too. You may recall some of you were on the board in August of 2024 when this land development did receive preliminary and final approval. At the time, the developer was Westrom. At some point last year, Pulte Homes took over the land development. It's even currently under construction right now. When it did receive preliminary and final approval in 2024, there was no streetlights proposed for the development. When Pulte took it over, they felt that, you know, I can agree that streetlights would probably be very beneficial to the development. And that's really all you're seeing here right now is that's the amendment. It did receive a recommendation of approval from the Planning Commission just last week during their June 3rd meeting. It has been fully reviewed by all the applicable township staff and consultants, found no issues with that. And yeah, as far as its impacts, through the review process it was demonstrated that there was not gonna be any kind of glare issues or any kind of nuisances to any adjacent properties. And so I think there won't be any negative impacts, it will actually be a positive impact. Now you have streetlights at this development. So I do have here as I recommend an amended final land of approval is granted to this application. Just one other thing I want to point out is that a representative from Pulte Homes is here for any kind of technical questions and other details that I might have missed. And no waivers were affected. Any waivers that were granted before in the past stay the same and no new waivers are proposed.

Thank you, Mr. Ennis. I actually had two questions. In reviewing our EAC's review letter, there were two that I actually agreed with and I was wondering if the developer could talk through. The one was the dark sky lighting. Apparently it is better for migrating birds over top. And changing out the tree from exotic to native.

Yeah, we don't have any problems with changing out the tree. That's fine. As far as the dark skies, my understanding is the light fixtures that we're proposing meet that requirement.

Thank you.

Okay and with that I make a motion to grant amended final land development plan approval for the proposed street lighting to 66 townhouse unit Neshaminy Springs development at 1700 Woodburn Road SLD number 24-3 with the following conditions. One, applicant shall comply in full with all requirements of the Middletown Township subdivision and land development ordinance and the Middletown Township zoning ordinance unless relief was granted by the body having jurisdiction Any remaining review comments shall be addressed in full.

I second.

Any questions or comments from the public?

I have a quick clarification for Mr. Anas. So just so that I'm clear on this, this was the construction of this community was approved by our previous board back in 2024, is that correct? That's correct. Okay, and we're just voting on allowing them to amend it to add streetlights. That is all that we're doing.

That's it, yeah. Nothing else is changing as far as design or anything else that was conditioned upon our approval from 2024. Gotcha, thank you.

OK, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those who oppose, say nay. Motion carries 5-0. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next agenda item, we have, oh, that one's off. Let me move over to this one. Consideration of authorizing execution of contract with, oh, that one's off too, I'm sorry. Consideration of approving an agreement with Exemplify for the development. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Nine and ten are tabled. Thanks. Next agenda item, consideration of approving an agreement with Exemplify for the development and implementation of a new township website in the amount of $70,000, along with an annual maintenance and support agreement of $15,600. Public Information Officer Liz Martin will present this item after her presentation. We'll review the motion, thanks.

Good evening, Board of Supervisors, Liz Martin, Public Information Officer. As many of you know, the township's current website platform is approaching its end of life support. December of 2025, we were notified that our current Kentigo system will no longer be supported after December 31st, 2026. Throughout this year, we've experienced increasing reliability issues, including intermittent outages, broken links, which could impact residents' access to important township information. In addition to reliability concerns, the township must also prepare for upcoming ADA digital accessibility requirements to ensure that our website accessibility is accessible to all residents. To guide this process, a cross-departmental website design team was created to evaluate township needs. I want to thank our team members from IT, police, human resources, building and zoning, parks and rec, and administration for their collaboration throughout this project. The Township released a request for proposal in May of 2026. We received nine submissions. After a comprehensive review process, the team identified three finalists. Finalists were evaluated based on functionality, municipal experience, pricing, implementation timeline, and overall fit with the township needs. Following the interviews and evaluation, the staff is recommending Exemplify for website development. Exemplify demonstrated the strongest understanding of municipal government communications and provided the most comprehensive presentation. They have extensive public sector experience, a local office in King of Prussia, and the organizational capacity to support the township long term. They also demonstrated the ability to meet our timeline of launching a new website by the end of the year, while also supporting ADA accessibility requirements. Most importantly, this redesign will significantly improve the resident experience. Residents can create a more reliable website platform with an improved uptime and fewer service interruptions, ensuring access to important township information when they need it the most. The new website will also provide easier navigation, a more user-friendly experience, making it simpler for residents to find agendas, permits, forms, meeting information, and emergency updates. The township will have the ability to expand online services by allowing residents to submit forms directly through the website, creating a more convenient and efficient experience. This project is creating a modern, accessible, and resident-focused website that better serves our community now and in the future. Exemplify was a lowest-priced vendor among the three finalists interviewed, while also providing the strongest overall alignment with the township's goals and technical requirements. The proposed cost for implementation is $70,000 with an annual maintenance support fee of $15,600, which includes hosting, technical support, software updates, security, and ongoing maintenance. At this time, the staff respectfully recommends approval of an agreement with Exemplify for website development. Thank you.

And any questions? Thank you, Ms. Martin. Do you have like a timeline for the implementation of the project?

Yeah, so once approved, we'll begin seeing what's important to go over to the new website, and full launch will be December of this year.

And if we don't get a new website, what happens?

Our website just shuts down completely, and all of the information and everything we have on there is gone.

Okay, thank you. All right. We have the same thing going on with a lot of the school districts. We have to update our websites for the ADA compliance. It's pretty important. Okay, thank you. With that, I make a motion, or can I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve an agreement with Exemplify for the development and implementation of a new township website in the amount of $70,000, along with an annual maintenance and support agreement of $15,600, subject to final contract review by the township solicitor and township administration.

I second.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any questions or comments from the board?

How different is this pricing going to be versus what we paid today?

So, Chad, do you know what we paid today?

Can you please elaborate a little bit? Like RCMA.

Do you know what that is, really?

RCMA.

I know Assistant.

We're talking about from what we did about maybe five years ago, roughly, about maybe $30,000 more in doing that.

Overall. OK.

So I think one of the things that happens when you have to update a website for ADA compliance, like you would have to go in, we would have to have our staff go in and take every document and update it to ADA compliance, which is very time consuming and arduous. And sometimes we don't do it correctly because it has to be able to be read by readers so that if they cannot read or have visual, it will read the text as it's supposed to be read. So it's a very arduous task. So there's a reason why there's a cost to it.

If I could just add also, municipalities across the country are dealing with this and having to spend the money to update for the ADA compliance. We just happen to have sort of a double whammy of needing to update our website while at the same time addressing this. So there is a little economy of scale of doing it at the same time.

And also, can you just confirm that not only did they check all the boxes, but they still were the lowest bid in the RFQ?

so out of the nine they were right in the middle it ranged from 40 000 to 120 000 but of the three we interviewed they were the lowest okay thank you okay we have a motion and a second um all those in favor say aye aye aye those who oppose say nay motion carries 5-0 thank you ms martin Next agenda item, consideration of purchase of two zero-turn mowers from Robert E. Little, Inc. of Hatboro, PA in the amount of $27,131.34. Mr. Gartenmeier?

Good evening, board. What you have in front of you is two pieces of equipment that we put in the budget for this coming year to be replaced. The two we're replacing are about 14 years old. We do cut about 750 acres of grass in the township. So they do get wore out time to time. So that's why we're asking to replace two of them for maintenance purposes.

Okay, thank you. And this was in the budget, correct?

Correct. It's coming out of road machinery fund budget for 2026.

Thank you. Do we have a motion?

Move to authorize the purchase of two Z950MZ track mowers from Robert E. Little Inc. in Hepburn, Pennsylvania in the amount of $27,131.34. I second.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Any comments or questions from the board? Any comments or questions from the public? With none, those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay. Motion carries 5-0.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Gartmire. Next up, we have policy discussions. We have the data center zoning ordinance discussion. Mr. Ennis?

yeah so just to make this clear this is a policy discussion no action is being taken and even more importantly this is still an ever-growing kind of draft this is what you have in your packets is the third draft and are still things that are being considered and worked on not only by me but also the township solicitor's office So nor is this a way of trying to encourage data centers to come to the community, nor is there one even being proposed at this time. But what you're seeing right now is a lot of communities all throughout Pennsylvania, all the townships and boroughs, are putting requirements in place in preparation if there was ever one to be proposed, which we do not have right now. We absolutely, out of necessity, need to put some into place because Even in the M1 zoning district, there are some provisions that would allow for a data center to try to come into this community, especially within that zoning district, and we really don't have any requirements to ensure that there wouldn't be any kind of detrimental effects, whether to the community or especially to the environment. I also want to make it clear that I am not an expert when it comes to data centers and how they function and the purposes of them and everything else. I am slowly but surely getting schooled on all those things, but what you have as far as the draft is a combination of a lot of other ordinances that are already in existence in Pennsylvania that we thought were ideal to put into place for Middletown, as well as some information that has been supplied to us from the Bucks County Planning Commission. Furthermore, there's recently just within the last couple of months a very useful ordinance guide that has been released by the Montgomery County Planning Commission. I'm still going through that and trying to cross-reference it and see how some of those suggestions would be best for the draft that you have in front of you. As you can see when it comes to the draft the draft is right now six pages, so there's a lot in there, and there's a lot to still be considered and So that right now is just again a policy discussion Absolutely curious to hear any thoughts from the board as well as anybody that's in attendance right now and it's also whether people realize this or not, that zoning requires that every use type is allowed in your community somewhere where it is the most reasonable. And so that's what we're trying to figure out here right now. Within this draft, I am right now requiring them as a conditional use. And it would be a conditional use allowed in the M1 light manufacturing zoning district. I'm just gonna get, I'm not gonna get into all the content. Like I said, there's six pages there. By all means, if you looked at it, zero in on any kind of questions of what some of the content is. But as far as the impacts, as I state, putting in requirements and provisions specific to data center uses is a needed measure to best avoid negative impacts to community and environment. And the recommendation I state in my policy briefing summary is that I recommend the Board of Supervisors continue to be made aware of the progress developed in the draft and allow Township staff and consultants to proceed further in the drafting and review process by forwarding the draft to the Bucks County Planning Commission for the review and recommendations and scheduling as an agenda item for the consideration of Township's Planning Commission. right now the goal was to have this in front of the townships Planning Commission in August we'll see where it goes from there there is the potential that it could be again in front of this board in September even potentially for adoption so with that I'm just gonna allow any kind of questions and see if I can best answer them and

Well, thank you, Mr. Ennis, for putting this together. I know this is a really hot topic right now. My day job, because many people don't know this is our part-time gigs, but I work for a state legislator, and I get calls every single day. I've had people on the phones crying to me for over 45 minutes about data centers because they are very scared about them, and I think in many ways rightfully so. We've seen the impact they can have on drinking water or groundwater or just destroying the beautiful nature we have here in Bucks County and Middletown Township. But when it comes to our ordinance, because we were talking earlier that, I believe it was the New York State Legislature, they had a moratorium for data center development across the whole state to allow municipalities there to get up to speed so they know what they're dealing with. That's not something that's in our power, as far as I know, is to ban, like you said, data centers, which I'm sure no one up here would be exactly opposed to, but it's not within our power. That would require the state legislature to do something on that. I know you're not going to read all six pages, and I would not want to make you do that either tonight, but what can we do for our residents so that they know that we are not just going to allow data center development to come in and harm our town in any way, so they know that we have their back, we hear them, but also staying within the confines of legally what we can do as a municipality.

Right, so as you're kind of touching on, we cannot restrict them from the community. It's not allowed. It's exclusionary zoning. So again, we have to figure out the best place to put them. Right now, the best place to put them is the M1 Light Manufacturing Zoning District. We're still working on dimensional requirements to ensure that within that M1 zone it's at the best place in the M1 zone that's also not going to detrimentally affect anybody else as best as possible. Trying to put those guardrails in for lack of a better description. There's also some things that touch on, again, still a work in progress, but there's this thing called sensitive receptors. And I'm just gonna kind of read that off. A sensitive receptor is defined as a residential use in schools, preschools, daycare centers, in-home daycare centers, long-term daycare centers, retirement and nursing homes. And there might even be some more that will get added to that long list. But we're actually putting, and this is something that's found in almost all the other codes as well, setback standards that if you're an X amount of feet from one of those sensitive receptor areas, you cannot have a data center in that setback area. And then again, we have a lot of environmental types of provisions here to ensure that the environment's not negatively impacted. We also have a lot of energy uses types of requirements in here now, as well as just a great deal of stuff when it comes to noise and vibration. and even emergency management again it's conditional use right so it will definitely go in front of this board as a hearing process where not only the requirements however they are ultimately worded and adopted the code will have to be in full compliance but also you can even put in additional kind of conditions and requirements through that conditional use process

Jim, I had a specific question on the decibel level. Why choose 75? Because my research there shows that that's pretty loud.

Well, okay, good to know. And I'll look further into that. Right now, that is consistent with our noise ordinance and our code. So the exact decibel levels are pretty much where our noise ordinance is right now. But I can absolutely look further into it to see if that can be tweaked to ensure that there maybe is a more restrictive type of noise level that would be less nuisance and detrimental to the community.

Yeah, and I know energy has been a lot of conversation. Is there a way to require a certain percentage that has to come from onsite, so they have to use solar, or they have to use geothermal, or something along those lines?

Yeah, so that's an excellent point, and to a certain extent, yes, right now, as in the current draft, but I'm looking into even having further requirements. In fact, as I comb through this, a very useful document from the Montgomery County Planning Commission, they do touch on that. So I think I'm actually going to probably take some of that stuff from that model and even further, for lack of a better description, beef up the draft that we have now for those sorts of things.

Yeah, and I think the biggest thing too is I'm guessing the impervious, the 60% is just from our M1 today.

That is consistent with the M1 zoning district now.

Yeah, knowing how large these are, we may want to think through maybe reducing that. Right, yeah. You know, given the size of these lots, that's a really sizable 60%. It is, yeah, yeah. Thinking through that.

Sure.

I do have another question for you, Mr. Ernst. I know you were talking about there's different sensitive receptor areas where they need to be, if a data center were to be constructed, it has to be away from certain things like daycares and stuff like that. Is there a way that we could add certain bodies of water into ours? Because I think about like Neshaminy Creek or God forbid, Lake Luxembourg and Court Creek Park, and just how data centers impact bodies of water. We spend a lot of tax money keeping those areas clean and beautiful and preserving the natural beauty here in Middletown. Could we add that into our hypothetical ordinance to keep them away from those bodies of water?

I'm going to say for now, probably. Yeah, I will look into that. And like I said, I always have to really kind of make sure that it passes the test with the township solicitor's office because we also have to make sure that we're not running into any kind of exclusionary zoning.

Yeah.

Yeah, and I wanted to thank you for including, I know a lot of the upper township has wells, so making sure that we continue to be able to have water in our wells up there is key.

Yes, yes, yeah. Not only for water usage, energy usage, and a lot of other things, noise, as you'll see scattered throughout, there's a lot of requirements for studies and actual true documentation that supports that these things have the energy, have the water.

Aren't gonna create a noise disturbance, you know as well as an even an emergency management plan Mr. Ennis, can you talk a little bit about training the emergency management personnel?

Yeah Good question. I I would Not be the person that really be an expert on that at this particular time But I'm certainly would work with the fire marshal's office and also the police department as well as any EMS squads that are out there to to ensure that we have a really good plan in place

And I think we may want to even include, if possible, having the right apparatus and tools on site to be able to, you know, if we need a certain type of fire truck or a certain type of ladder, that should be incorporated.

and if there's any chance of that being paid for by the potential data center rather than the residents.

I mean, I can't say yes to that, but I imagine there could probably be some negotiations if one was ever proposed. And also, again, not only would it have to go through conditional use, but it would most likely have to go through land development as well.

I just want to thank you for putting this together. Six pages, obviously a lot of work done on your part so far with a lot to go, but I just wanted to be sure to say out loud that do a great job in making it as legally restrictive as possible for the residents.

Yeah, we are, we, as in the township solicitor's office and myself, are trying to make sure that it is put in the exact right place in the township and have those guardrails that guide it to that point, yes.

I just want to say thank you. I know this has been a concern from the board for a while and we've been thinking about it. I appreciate your work on this and the solicitors. When you research other policies and ordinances, who do you go to? What are your resources that you're looking at and using?

so bucks county planning commission has been very useful for for many reasons throughout the year especially for this one that not only did they give me some some of their own information and but they also supplied a lot of already existing codes in bucks county that have some of the stuff in the place um so we you know we've been we used a lot of that also just kind of just did a lot of just googling seeing what's out there seeing what seems to look seems pretty good to actually throw in there that would be ideal for middle town But like I said, there is this model from Montgomery Planning Commission that I'm absolutely going to be incorporating a lot of this stuff in there as well. So this thing could potentially be a lot longer than six pages when it's all said and done.

Whatever it takes, Mr. Ennis.

Right.

Do we know, did you have any conversations with any of our state reps or Fitzpatrick's office about what they're potentially talking about from data center standpoint from a federal state level?

No, that's a great point, though, and I will. Yeah.

And on that note, I did want to add something. When it comes to, like, you know, as we've talked about, and I'm kind of speaking more to the audience here, people watching at home, our municipality legally is not able to ban data center development. As much as I would like that, and that would be a very easy, you know, vote for me to take personally, it really comes down to either, like Supervisor Cain said, Congress, or more likely our state legislature here in Pennsylvania passing something that would either empower us to have more say over data center development in our own towns or having a moratorium from their level. I know right now there are bills in the state house and I believe the state senate that would either have a moratorium on data centers or give municipalities, like I said, more legal authority to regulate them and their development in our municipality. But if that's something any of you are interested in seeing, I highly encourage you to look up who is your state senator, your state representative, call their office, call your congressman and tell them how you feel. I mean, I think many of us up here are already sold on the idea. Legally speaking, we don't really have the tools to deal with it as much as we would like to, but we could get it. We just need approval from Harrisburg. So again, please, you know, continue advocating, you know, for more restrictions on data centers. That's how you feel. It's something that we all have to kind of work together on. But yeah, very happy that we're at least talking about this because I know it falls where there is data center being developed. There's a lot of buyer's remorse right now. And I would really hate for that to happen to us here in Middletown. So I'm glad that we're taking the precautions to try to protect our town from something like this.

Thank you. I think it's an excellent start. I'm glad we're moving in this direction.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, we're going to move on to other business. Mr. Kessler?

Nothing further.

Thank you. Mr. Griffin?

No report this evening, thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Teeley-Coles?

The only thing I would mention for Mr. Griffin is there was an executive session before the meeting for personnel. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Mr. Kizak?

Nothing.

Mr. Layton?

Nothing further.

Ms. Kane? Nothing further. Mr. Gallardo?

Nothing further.

Okay, and with that, I'd like to make a motion for adjournment. Second. Okay, adjourned.