LEHIGH TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION. Minutes of November 13, 2017

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1 LEHIGH TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Minutes of Present: Absent: Cynthia Miller, Vice Chairman Michael Cawthray, Secretary Jack Wall Max Lampenfeld Phil Malitsch, Township Engineer Michael Corriere, Solicitor Jake Schray, Township Zoning Officer Elizabeth Gehman, Township Zoning Officer Lori Lambert, Planning & Zoning Secretary David Shulman, Chairman CALL TO ORDER Cindy Miller introduced the new Township Zoning Officer, Elizabeth Gehman, to the Board, the Engineer and Solicitor. READING OF THE MINUTES Mike Cawthray made a motion to approve the minutes and waive the reading of the minutes from the October 9, 2017, Planning Commission meeting. Max Lampenfeld seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. ADVISORY REPORT TO ZONING HEARING BOARD BKGR, LLC (Sonal realty LLC Friendly Foodmart Atul Patel), 4619 Mountain View Drive special exception, variance request to change use/add use of restaurant/fast food with a license to sell beer and wine, parking & loading requirements Attorney Daniel Baurkot represents BKGR, LLC, and was present to represent this discussion. Daniel Baurkot stated that the present use is a gas station/convenience store. The applicant would like to purchase a liquor license to sell beer and wine at the store. An application has been filed with the PA Liquor Control Board which is pending. Reconfiguration of the premises is required: there currently are 20 parking spaces, it needs to be determined if this is sufficient for the intended use. Jake Schray stated that he determined that this would be a change or added use to the property; the 30 seat restaurant and 400 square feet. He determined it to be a fast food restaurant with disposable utensils, which is a special exception and requires a recommendation from the PC to the ZHB. There

2 Page 2 is a request for a reduction in the number of parking spaces required that is a special exception. The fast food restaurant requires 1 parking spot for each 2 seats of capacity, with a minimum of 25 spots, plus 1 for each employee. The automobile/gas service repair station requires 5 spots per bay (repair facility), plus 1 per employee and 1 space for each 2 gas pumps. The convenience store parking is a minimum of 8 spaces, 1 per each 150 square feet (the areas accessible to patrons). Daniel Baurkot believes the total square footage is 3,212, but does not know total allocated to patrons. Approximately ½ of the space, 1,500-1,700 would be used to calculate the parking. The total parking required would be 39 spaces. Jake Schray read through the parking requirement reduction section. Jake Schray stated that this plan is set to go before the ZHB in December. Cindy Miller stated that the BOS is supposed to discuss the liquor license transfer tomorrow night, how is the Board supposed to make a decision when we don t even know if the facility can handle the additional requirements. Daniel Baurkot stated that they need the resolution in order to move forward with the Liquor Control Board, hopefully get the approval from the LCB and then can start going forward with the transfer of the liquor license and start the Township process. Cindy Miller stated that this whole process is backwards, the hearing shouldn t happen prior to knowing if the facility meets zoning requirements. Why would we approve the transfer of the license if the facility does not meet the requirements? Phil Malitsch stated that it is at the applicant s risk. Cindy Miller stated that the Township still has to pay for the review, the Township Solicitor and the Township Engineer. Phil Malitsch stated that an old site plan was provided by the Township Manager as part of the liquor license transfer review. The existing septic system is a question/concern. A restaurant would require a larger septic system than what a gas station would require. Cindy Miller stated that in the existing gas station, the restrooms are not open to the public. Daniel Baurkot stated that there is one inside and one outside. Phil Malitsch stated that Penn DOT just did a lot of work at the intersection; did Penn DOT assign permit numbers to the driveways? Daniel Baurkot did not think so. Phil Malitsch stated that if a restaurant is being added to the gas station, the ADT will go up. The Township will need to know what permits they have for the driveways and if the extra traffic from the restaurant would be included in those permits. What will be the hours of the restaurant? The Applicant stated that the hours will be 9 am to 9 pm every day; and the food will be grab and go. Cindy Miller questioned what happens with the HOP with Penn DOT? Phil Malitsch stated that each driveway should have an HOP associated with it, for a certain amount of cars. However, with a restaurant they may still fall into whatever category Penn DOT assigned the driveways. Jack Wall questioned if they consider themselves a restaurant now? The Applicant stated that they serve sandwiches now, but they are not considered a restaurant. To meet the PLCB requirements, you need to have the 30 seats and

3 Page 3 have to reconfigure the facility. The seating needs to be separated from the rest of the convenience store. Jake Schray stated that a recommendation letter will be required from the Township Sewage Enforcement Officer. The Applicant has left a message for Janice Buskirk, however she has not called them back as of yet. Cindy Miller stated that they currently have 20 parking spaces, 39 are required and an area for snow removal would be required. Phil Malitsch stated that 39 spaces are not possible for the site. Jack Wall questioned if they are proposing drive thru. Daniel Baurkot stated that the site is not set up for drive thru. Phil Malitsch questioned if they will be able to sell liquor and will patrons be able to drink beer and wine on site? Daniel Baurkot stated that it will be only beer and wine. A patron cannot drink more than an 8 oz can on site. Phil Malitsch questioned if the site will work for what is being proposed? Cindy Miller feels that once it is ski season and you get the people going to Blue Mountain, the site will be even busier than what it currently is. The site is not conducive for what is being proposed. Mike Cawthray stated that this is a busy intersection and it will get even busier. There are some existing convenience stores similar to what is being proposed; one Friendly Food Mart is on Pennbrook Road in Bethlehem and there is a Cubby s in Forks Township. Daniel Baurkot questioned if we demonstrate that we can meet all of the other requirements, would the Board consider the reduction in the parking requirements? Cindy Miller is not in favor of reducing the parking. Michael Corriere stated that the PC would make a recommendation to the ZHB; however the PC could say for instance 30 parking spaces instead of 39 parking spaces. Phil Malitsch stated that shared parking could be considered because there are several uses on the same site which share the parking. The Applicant would have to demonstrate to the ZHB why this would be appropriate. Cindy Miller questioned how loading and unloading will be handled? Phil Malitsch stated that there is a loading dock to the rear of the building. There currently are 20 spaces (17 shown on the site drawing), which meet the current requirements (current use requirement=14). There are 3 spaces paved over the replacement drain field area on site. There is 1 current ADA space. Jake Schray stated that they ve paved over the replacement drain field area with 3 parking spaces so they don t have a viable replacement area for a septic system or area for expansion. Phil Malitsch questioned the size of the parking spaces? The standard Township width for spaces is 9 ; the parking could be restriped to gain additional space. Phil Malitsch questioned if the PC can hold off on making a decision to send to the ZHB and give the Applicant some time to get some answers to the PC s questions? Cindy Miller stated that the BOS has to act on the liquor license transfer tomorrow night. We have no idea where the septic issues stand. Jake Schray stated that the PC has 28 days to provide a recommendation to the

4 Page 4 ZHB, so that would push them back to the January 2018 ZHB meeting. Daniel Baurkot would like the opportunity to sit down with his client to see if this is feasible and be able to present something that is more informative and hopefully gives the PC additional information to base their decision upon, even if they have to get pushed back. Cindy Miller stated that they need to find out the information on the HOP and get in contact with the Sewage Enforcement Officer. Daniel Baurkot will contact David Backenstoe and Alice Rehrig to have this item removed from the BOS agenda for tomorrow night. This discussion was tabled. GENERAL DISCUSSION PSATS Act 42 of 2017, authorizes the placement of ten Category 4 casinos within the Commonwealth. PC to provide comment to the BOS Cindy Miller stated that the BOS has until December 31, 2017, to submit a resolution to the State as to whether or not we will allow the placement of ten Category 4 casinos within the Township. Cindy Miller stated that she is trying to figure out what the ramifications are to the community. Mike Cawthray questioned if it is a financial benefit? Cindy Miller questioned if it truly is a financial benefit if we still have to maintain our roads and everything else, do we want casinos in the Township? Where in the Township would we allow them or where would they end up? Jack Wall stated that if you want the flexibility, then you should prohibit them. If someone comes in in the future, then look at approving the resolution. Mike Cawthray questioned where they fit in our zoning classifications? Cindy Miller questioned if we would want mini-casinos in our residential zoning districts, such as the Woodstone property, the property along Route 145 where Wal-Mart was proposed or along Route 946. Frank Vitovitch stated that traffic as we know it would be a nightmare in Lehigh Township, why are we even entertaining this. Cindy Miller stated that we have to by State Law. Frank Vitovitch questioned what happened to rural Lehigh Township. Jake Schray stated that if the Township says no and the surrounding areas say yes and they come into Blue Mountain or where ever, the Township could still be impacted and there would be no benefit to the Township. Cindy Miller stated that she was trying to figure out the money, what will the municipality really receive? Michael Corriere stated that it would be 2% of their assessment. Cindy Miller stated that all we are doing is making an advisory report to the BOS. Jack Wall made a motion to send a letter to the BOS recommending that they prohibit Category 4 mini casinos from coming into Lehigh Township. Mike Cawthray seconded the motion. Max Lampenfeld stated that as much as we don t like these sin taxes or sin income, it s never worked in the past. He doesn t know that we can prohibit something that people are going to do, regardless of what our

5 Page 5 thoughts are personally. Mike Cawthray stated that we are not prohibiting it, we are just saying don t do it here. Jack Wall stated he approaches it more from a legalist standpoint than a moral standpoint. Jack Wall, Mike Cawthray and Cindy Miller voted aye. Max Lampenfeld abstained from the vote. Motion carried. Warehousing Michael Corriere stated that the traffic study criteria have been added to Section and the snow area has been added to Section The following information has been changed per last meeting conversation: The 75 max coverage, 100 buffer yard allowed along the property facing the road, the buffer berm of 14 feet, the maximum building height of 44, idling would have to comply with Act 124, time 7:00 am to 9:00 pm for drones but not after sunset and the traffic study information has been added. Phil Malitsch stated that in reviewing other Township ordinances, they put it on the applicants to provide enough loading docks on the buildings for the proposed operation. Upper Macungie Township requires 1 space for every 1.2 employees on site at peak times and for every overlapping shift a larger number of parking is required. 2 staging spaces are required for every loading dock. The staging spaces are important, a sticking point with the LVPC is that facilities are not providing enough staging spaces and truck drivers do not have anywhere to park and wait on site. The 2 staging spaces for every loading dock is a good ratio. Employee parking is 1 space for every employee. Upper Macungie addresses the overlapping shifts which are always a concern; it also addresses peak period times. 1 visitor space for every 10 managers on site, 1 space per employee or 1,000 square feet of gross floor area whichever is more. The number of loading spaces is different than the number of loading docks. 1 standard loading space per 10,000 square feet unless your analysis of your delivery times and unloading times requires you to have more. There is a formula that can be utilized to calculate the number of loading docks required. The formula can be combined with the staging requirements so that you are covered. Phil Malitsch and Michael Corriere can come up with a specific formula to make sure it is adequate. A factor of safety should also be added in. Phil Malitsch stated that there are a lot of standards as far as how to lay out the docks, spacing between the docks, the length of the aprons, etc. The applicant will have to provide turning templates to the Township Engineer for review to make sure that the trucks have the proper turning area. The employee parking spaces (City Scranton & Upper Macungie) 1 for every 1.2 employees on site at peak period times including overlapping shifts plus 1 for each visitor*, the staging spaces (Upper Macungie) the number of loading spaces: 1 should be provided for every truck dock, loading docks: the applicant

6 Page 6 shall demonstrate what the required number of loading docks shall be. The following formula shall be used to calculate and the Board should determine if a factor of safety should be added. *a visitor definition would need to be determined. Michael Corriere will make the above changes and provide the revisions back to the Board for next month s meeting. Comprehensive Plan This item was not discussed. Oil & Gas Facilities Potential Ordinance Amendment This item was not discussed. PUBLIC COMMENT Frank Vitovitch, Locust Drive, stated that the parking spaces at the mini market should not be narrowed down or reduced. Cindy Miller stated that it is a small site. Jake Schray stated that there is a concern with the reserved septic area being compromised. Frank Vitovitch questioned if this is going to be an eatery and beer and wine stop? Cindy Miller stated that the wall straight ahead when you walk in will be turned into coolers and then they are going to install a long bar with stools with seating for 30 people. Max Lampenfeld questioned where the Cherryville Turkey Hill stands with their liquor license? Cindy Miller stated that Cherryville Development Partners came before the BOS for an extension of time, they were granted 6 months. A new land development would need to be submitted to the Township if they want to proceed with the liquor license because there are issues with the parking and septic. ADJOURN Mike Cawthray made a motion to adjourn. Jack Wall seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.