The Skippack Board of Supervisors meeting took place this evening at 7:30 PM. There were about 20 to 25 residents in attendance. The entire meeting was recorded on YouTube, and can be accessed here.
Dave Naples raised the issue of the airport development project; this generated quite a bit of back-and-forth between the Board and residents. We raised the following issues:
Zoning
The proposed development is zoned RA-Residential/Agricultural with a cluster development option (CDO). One of the requirements for a CDO is that the property being developed share a boundary with a property that is zoned R2-Residential. The developer is relying on about 100 feet of frontage along Mill Road that abuts the Iron Bridge Estates development to meet this requirement.
Our contention is that, since Mill Road is state-owned property and therefore breaks the "shared boundary" requirement, the development is illegal.
The Board did not respond to this directly.
Open Space
47.96% of the proposed development, or about 27 1/3 acres, is designated as open space. This is based on the gross acreage of 56.998 acres explicitly mentioned on the land development application filed with the township, combined with the size estimates of the open space on the site plan. This is less than the 50% required for the CDO. Further, of that open space 9.9 acres, or a little over a third, is located in the proposed detention basins. Finally, based on the details of the application, only 16 1/5 acres, or roughly 29%, of the gross acreage would be open space designated for the township. The rest will be owned and maintained by the HOA.
Our contention is that claiming detention basins as open space is disingenuous at best, since it is not really usable space. We also pointed out that these detention basins are breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
The Board's response was that this is a good deal for the township because it is essentially getting this land for free, and pretty much ignored our concerns.
Stormwater
We raised the issue of increased flooding due to an increase in the amount of impervious ground cover (asphalt, buildings, etc.) and poor drainage design. The current level of impervious ground is, at a rough estimate, about 13% (this figure was obtained by taking measurements in Google Earth).
It is our position that, while the increase is slight (estimated to be around 1 1/2%, leaving 14 1/2% impervious), this increase in combination with the detention basins discharging into the two creeks flowing through the Iron Bridge Estates neighborhood and between Hildebeitel and Collegeville roads raises the very real possibility of more severe flooding events.
The Board said that no water study had been conducted to date. This was confirmed with the Montgomery County Conservation District.
Water Quality
Perkiomen Valley Airport has been in operation since 1939. In that time there have undoubtedly been fuel spills, etc. that leached into the soil.
Given that all of the homes on the southeast side of Hildebeitel Road as well as most of the homes on Collegeville and Mill roads are using well water, we hold that there is a very real possibility of contamination of the water supply to approximately 25 homes.
This was essentially ignored by the Board.
The Board repeatedly stated that a property owner should be able to do as they like with their property as they see fit, without interference. The Board counsel stated that the application was being reviewed, and that if it met all the legal requirements it would likely be approved.
We asked if the wishes of the surrounding residents were taken into account as part of these legal requirements. The Board declined to answer this question.
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