Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the September 8th, 2026 meeting of the North Hampton Township Planning Commission. Let us stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence for the men and women of armed forces and first responders. Thank you. tonight's meeting has three agenda items the first is consideration of a preliminary final plan of subdivision land development at the hand subdivision s l d twenty six dash five on east holland road the second item is a consideration of a preliminary final plan of subdivision land development for tapeworm SDL 26-3, Tapeworm Road. And the third one is a zoning ordinance amendment concerning data centers. First thing I want to cover, though, is have the committee members review the April meeting minutes, and are there any questions or comments on them? If not, is there a motion to accept as presented?

I'll make a motion.

Second. I'll second it. All for? Aye. Aye. Passed. Okay, the first item is the hand subdivision. Do we have anybody here representing the hand? If you could run us through what you're going to do.

Sure, do we have exhibits up here or should I pull up my hard copies? All right. And tell us your names, please. My name is Adam Prince. I'm with Firavanti Engineers.

Joe Gannon, representing Paine Corporation.

So this project is located at the intersection of East Holland Road and Old Jordan Road. We're proposing to subdivide the existing parcel into two 36,600 square feet lots. And new single family dwellings will be constructed on each lot. The existing dwelling that is there now will be demolished. This project has already received the proper zoning relief for the minimum lot areas, which are required to be 40,000. We're just shy of that. Access to lot one will be on the left side there to Old Jordan Road, and access to lot two will be on East Holland Road. Both homes will be served by public water and public sewer and other normal residential utilities. From a planning standpoint, this is a minor two-lot subdivision. We're not proposing any new streets, common driveways, commercial uses, or other major public infrastructure. One thing I did want to mention is the stormwater management pits. Right now they are designed as above-ground rain gardens. It is the township engineer brought to our attention that for a two to five lot subdivision, we're required to either have a communal BMP for everybody or underground individuals. So for part of the resubmission process, we're going to redesign the stormwater basins to be underground in relatively the same spot, just rather than above ground treatment, we're going to have below ground treatment. There are a number of technical plan comments on the Township Engineers letter regarding notes, utility information, landscaping. We're not looking to debate any of those. Those are all will comply. We're mainly here this evening to discuss the eight waivers that are associated with this project. And I'll let the commission decide if you want me to go through those one by one. I know you should have our latest waiver letter. I'm more than happy to go through them one at a time.

Yeah, why don't we go ahead and hear the explanation for the waivers. Sure. We won't go through all the other technical comments, but at least go through those as they are currently stated. Sure.

All right, so like I said, there are eight waivers for your consideration this evening. The number one from subdivisions chapter 22-304 for a combined preliminary and final review. Because it's a small two lot subdivision, having two submissions would just duplicate a lot of efforts. I think it's just gonna be easier to just do a combination submission. So that's a pretty easy one. Number two from chapter 22-4034A in regards to the stormwater easements. We're proposing a blanket stormwater easement on each lot rather than the required 20 foot around the perimeter. The blanket easement provides easier access, broader across the whole lot for inspection purposes, maintenance, repairs, anything that the township would need access-wise. So blanket stormwater easements are something that we always just propose and just makes it a lot cleaner. Waiver number three from section 22, 403.12 C2 in regards to the recreational land. The ordinance would otherwise require a small amount of land be dedicated for recreational purposes. For a two lot subdivision creating a very small isolated recreational area, it does not provide much practical benefit. And instead we're proposing to pay the fee in lieu for that recreation fee. Number four is for the curbing along East Holland Road. We're requesting a waiver from constructing full reveal curb along East Holland Road as there are no existing curbs in that area. The road currently functions with an open roadside drainage ditch that slopes down towards the lot. Installing an isolated curb along the property frontage would not connect to any other curb systems and could potentially interfere with the existing drainage patterns on that road. Number five, same area as it comes to East Holland Road widening. Related to the curb waiver, we're requesting a waiver from widening East Holland Road by about six feet. This would create an isolated widened section of roadway at our property frontage. We feel that, especially since it's a two lot subdivision with only one new access to East Holland Road, we feel that the existing roadway configuration is more than appropriate. Number six, for sidewalk along East Holland Road, we're requesting a waiver from the construction of the sidewalk. There is no continuous sidewalk path. I mean, if we put sidewalk on the frontage, there would be no way for it to continue down East Holland Road. So we are requesting a waiver from the sidewalk and are willing to pay the appropriate fee in lieu. Number seven, with the concrete driveway aprons, the ordinance requires concrete driveway aprons where driveways cross sidewalks, but because we're requesting a waiver from the sidewalk and the curb, the concrete aprons kind of piggyback on that. There's no need for a concrete apron if you're not transitioning over sidewalk. And finally, number eight is the lighting plan. We're requesting a waiver from providing a formal engineered lighting plan. The simple two-lot single-family homes don't have any parking lots or private streets, shared access, common areas. Any lighting at these locations would be typical residential building lighting or driveway lighting that would be located and directed to avoid any unnecessary glares to the adjacent property owners or to the road. And outside of those eight waivers, everything else on the engineer letter is we'll comply. And we're just looking to get a recommendation to the board for preliminary file approval.

Okay. Any comments from the members?

For lot one, is it lot one that's on Old Jordan? Yeah. So lot two, the entrance is directly across the street from the entrance of Hillcrest, correct? If I'm reading that correctly?

Yeah, that's the school.

So my concern is there's a crosswalk at the firehouse, which would be just out of view of the drawing. It's a formal crosswalk. There's a crossing guard there every morning. If the lot two has children there, what would be the safest way for them to get to school on that crosswalk? If there's no sidewalks, they would have to be walking either on the properties or on the side of the road. Is there any thought about improving the safety of that intersection? for the school kids. That's a very busy time when school lets out. But when it starts and when it ends, I mean, the traffic goes up and down East Holland. My fear is that there's a child living there, they're gonna be darting across the street to get to school in that driveway, into the Hillcrest driveway, which is just filled with traffic.

That's a very valid concern. As far as the sidewalk, we haven't really considered a crossing there, but we're more than happy to, if the township feels like there needs to be some sort of safety enhancement for any future property owners there, we'd be more than happy to accommodate.

Would the sidewalk be the answer there? I mean, would that, I don't know.

no no yeah i'm not sure if the sidewalk is the answer or if it's just rethinking where the where the painted crosswalk is where the crossing guard is stationed um i don't know but i'm just calling that out because having the driveway facing the entrance and exit of hillcrest with potentially a school child living there coming and going from school, we all know kids are going to dart across that. If I'm a 10-year-old, I'm just darting across. I'm not going across. I just think it presents potentially a safety issue if it's not addressed. I don't know if a sidewalk is the solution or not, though.

OK. one issue that I want to bring up was just that you Understand that you will comply with any of the fee in lieu of requirements as determined by the supervisors during their review of the The plans in the subdivision yeah outside of those the eight waivers a couple of the fee and lose were mentioned there and Everything else in the engineers letters will comply Any other board member comments

Well, on our motion on this, should we add looking at the entrance to the school situation? Yeah, I think we should just add it as a note and as the supervisors address it if they feel that the crosswalk should be addressed into the school facility.

before we get to any mention of it are there any folks here public here that today they want to comment on the subdivision no okay if that's the case any other comments at this point no you want to go ahead okay yeah I'm just adding that

so my move we recommend to the board of supervisors preliminary final approval of the hand subdivision sld 26-5 subject to compliance with the township engineers review letter dated july 29th 2026 it is also recommended that the requested waivers be granted And in addition, the crosswalk to the school for children in these homes will be addressed.

I think we're ready to vote. Do we have everybody seen? Recommend approval of the plan? If so, say aye. Aye. Any nays? No nays. Good. It passes. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. On to number two. Second subdivision, that's the tapeworm road subdivision.

Hello, my name is Hannah. I'm an attorney with Fox Rothschild representing Mr. Brian Blair this evening, talking about the proposed subdivision at 1 Tapeworm Road. So this project concerns the property located at tax map parcel 31-010037 in the CR Country Residential Zoning District. This property is approximately 8.8 acres. I have the aerial down here if you can kind of see, but we're working with a big property here currently owned by Mr. Clinton Mack and Emily Jo Tanner. This property is currently improved with a single family home, driveway, and associated improvements as hopefully you can see on my board down. Oh, sure. There you go. My client, Mr. Blair, is the equitable owner of the proposed lot one, which is on this subdivision plan, if you want to switch it out there. So as you can see, oh we actually need the other side there you go thanks vanna okay we have lot one here in lot two um mr blair is the equitable owner of this front lot um on june 1st we submitted a saldo application for this minor subdivision the proposed lot one would be around 140 000 square feet which would be what mr blair and lot two would be around 235,000 square feet, which Clinton Mack would retain under his ownership. So that lot two would keep the existing single family dwelling driveway and associated improvements, and lot one would remain vacant, unused, nothing on it. I think you're good, you can put that down. And most importantly, Mr. Blair is not proposing any improvements, constructions, alterations, any land development on that lot one. Notably, his personal residence is the parcel right across the street. So I think you're very familiar with Mr. Blair, his business in the township and his personal residence. And I know he would attest to the fact that he's not proposing any land development on that site. So again, the only action requested is that simple subdivision. We have received and responded to review letters from Bowman as well as the BCPC. And in fact, this morning or this afternoon, we received an additional letter That's somewhere in my packet, here we go, from Bowman, recommending that you recommend approval as well as the grant of all of our requested waivers. So similar to the applicant prior to me, I'm happy to walk through those couple of waivers. That's kind of what we're going on here.

Okay, yeah, why don't you go ahead for the record.

Sure. So for waiver from Section 22-304, this concerns preliminary subdivision plan submission requirements. Again, it's our opinion these requirements are designed for major subdivisions and land development. We're not proposing any of that here, so find that to be excessive and unnecessary. We're also asking for relief or in the form of a waiver from 22-304-5E3. This is in regards to street names with an adjoining property owner information within 200 feet. Again, because no new streets, curbs, or pavement are being constructed here, we find that requirement to be excessive and unnecessary. same with section 22-304.5 concerning storm drainage, sanitary sewer, and water supply lines within 400 feet. Again, no new development, grading, or utility connections are proposed. This property served by public water and sewer. None of that is being altered or changed in any way. The second to last one is section 22-403-2A2 regarding curb construction along Saxesford Road. There's currently no existing curbing in proximity of the site. And because no new land development is proposed requiring this installation for a simple lot split is unnecessary and excessive. Last but not least, in a similar fashion, waiver from section 22-4032B regarding sidewalk requirements along Saxonsford Road. There's no existing sidewalk in proximity, and the applicant requests that the fee in lieu be deferred until the time of building permits, which I believe the Planning Commission would be in support of.

Okay. Any questions from the board? no okay any public here concerned about anything with this particular request no then I guess we should go ahead and vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye.

I like the motion. Oh, I'm sorry. Let's do the motion first.

I move that we recommend to the Board of Supervisors preliminary final approval of the Blair subdivision SLD 26-3, subject to compliance with the Township Engineers Review Letter dated September 8th, 2026. It is also recommended that the requested waivers be granted.

Now we can proceed with the vote. We should just get a second and then a vote.

Second.

I second.

Thank you. All in order here. Now we can go ahead with the vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any nays? None. Passed.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yep.

Okay. last but not least we have a um zoning ordinance amendment that is in front of us and i think the best person to describe or explain that would be uh mike solomon our director of planning and zoning so mike why don't you just give a brief sure due to the current development of data centers throughout the country it is recommended that our zoning ordinance be updated to reflect this trend

As a result, the proposed draft amendment before you defines data centers and permits the use by conditional use in the I-1 planned industrial office district. In addition, the ordinance establishes dimensional requirements and regulations related to noise, utility consumption, lighting, security, and environmental and community impact. Since this ordinance was authorized by the Board of Supervisors with a public hearing scheduled for October 28th, The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code requires review and recommendation by the Township Planning Commission. In conclusion, this ordinance is a proactive ordinance to ensure that our zoning regulations are on the forefront of addressing this issue. At this point, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have and recommend approval of the draft motion before you.

Mike, there's currently no data centers being proposed or in process right now.

Correct. Any other questions from the board? Okay, do we need a motion on this? Yes. I will go and I move to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve of an amendment to the Northampton Township zoning ordinance for the purpose of adding a definition for the data centers in addition to permitting the subject use in the I-1 planned industrial office district by conditional use as well as establishing criteria related to the subject use.

I'll second it.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? None. It's passed. Okay. I think that is it for tonight. Thank you very much for your time and efforts this month. And we will adjourn the meeting.