Citizens bring land use concerns to township
By PAT FRIDGEN Echo Pilot

Sometimes handling issues presented by visitors during the public comment segment of the meeting takes as much time as agenda items. The Antrim Township Board of Supervisors heard from three parties on three different topics Sept. 11.

Jim Reed and Ronald Henry, residents of Melrose Meadows, wanted the pedestrian easement running between their homes abandoned. They said there was no need for it since Antrim was putting a shared-use pathway along Shank's Church Road. In addition, they wagered 95 percent of the property owners did not even know the easement existed.

Acting Chair James Byers said he had no problem with the request because of the pending pathway.

Township solicitor John Lisko said, "The only true guarantee it will be removed is if all the people in the subdivision sign an agreement."

He added that abandonment would create a subdivision change so it would have to be recorded at the courthouse, which could cost up to $300 in recording fees.

Supervisor Scott Diffenderfer commented softly, "Why is it so hard to do simple things in this business?"

A Curtis Myers/Sam Miller motion passed, authorizing the township to start the paperwork, with Myers offering to fund $200 of the expense. At the tail end of the meeting, a citizen questioned Myers' vested interest in the project, since he lives in Melrose Meadows.

On a Miller/Fred Young motion, the board rescinded the motion and voted that the residents of the neighborhood handle the matter.

Pause in development

Tom Mongold, developer of Antrim Meadows II at the corner of Shank's Church Road and Williamsport Pike, asked the board to allow a one-word change in his submitted plans. He wanted to take out the word final¿ from his preliminary/final submission.

Hs said Lisko had told him to withdraw the plans and resubmit them, but that would mean paying fees all over again. If forced to move forward, Mongold said he would have to get a bond and start building in a down market, rather than lose the money already invested in the project.

Timing was the issue. Lisko said in the preliminary phase there is plenty of time to meet conditions, but with final plans the board has to act within a certain period or it is deemed approved, hence the suggestion to withdraw. A preliminary/final submission is considered final. He said when Mongold submitted the plans he didn't want to wait.

"Now the market has gone south and he wants to change his plans," said Lisko.

He added that he could find no legal way, under the Municipal Planning Code or Antrim's Code, to allow the one-word change. He suggested Mongold talk to an attorney to maybe find a way to do it.

Mongold told the board, "You've told the public for years you don't want growth. This will force it with other developers, too. If you force this to be developed, you're going to have single-wide trailers in there, I guarantee you."

Impervious ground

Surveyor Lee Royer, representing Todd Auto Body, asked permission to pave existing shale in the driveway of the business on Molly Pitcher Highway. He said Dewberry-Goodkind, Inc., the township's engineering firm, had left 33 comments on the plan.

He asked for common sense, stating that the shale was already impervious, as the macadam would be.

Zoning officer Angela Garland said she had not yet read the comments, but the board had passed a resolution Aug. 14 allowing such paving if the initial surface could be proven not to perk. The results of a compaction test would need to conform to Antrim's stormwater management ordinance and show no additional run-off would be generated.

Other business

Diffenderfer reported that he had met with interested parties at Moss Spring Estates to determine tree screening between the villas and Lot 21, the subject of a hearing the prior week. He recommended 11 trees, eight to nine feet tall, planted at particular locations.

Lot 21 owner Dale Angle thought one row wouldn't provide proper screening, though Diffenderfer said in a decade the trees would have filled the space and perhaps be overgrown and a problem.

The board told Angle and his attorney to come up with a satisfactory plan by Sept. 25.

The board approved a request by Garland to have PennDOT conduct a traffic review of Route 16 west. Because the northwest section of the township is growing, the study would indicate the traffic impact of developments, even those without direct access to the road.

Lisko suggested taking no action on an unpaid bill, so as not to set a precedent. An attorney for Todd Auto Body contested a $164 invoice, which was the cost of research done by Martin and Martin Engineers due to his request for public records. The firm had the records, which dated to 1990. The attorney did pay the duplicating fee.

Lisko said the cost in legal fees to pursue the matter would be more than the reimbursement to the township. Garland said filing a case in District Court would cost $152.50.

Oct. 2 was set as a hearing date, 7:30 p.m. for an appeal by Tim Lowans on a ruling by Sewage Enforcement Officer Jonathan Piper, and 8 p.m. for WHGT for a radio tower.