So here's what happened ...

 An update on the airport project. Brace yourself, it's a biggie. If you want to skip the tales of carnage from the meeting, you can skip to the action items at the end.

Tuesday, February 22, there was a meeting of the planning commission at the Skippack Township building on Heckler Road. This meeting was very heavily attended ... as in, standing room only. The following people were in attendance:

• Chris Heleniak, Township Manager
• Tim Woodrow, Township Engineer
• Joe Zadlo, Township Planner
• Luke Dielsi, Planning Commission member
• Harry Greco, Planning Commission member
• Tim Landemesser, Planning Commission member
• Brad DeForest, Planning Commission member
• Gerald Rader, Planning Commission member
• Eric Fry, Attorney for the developer
• Traffic engineer contracted by the developer (Sandy someone, I don't remember her last name)
• Site engineer from Bursich Associates (I didn't catch his name)
• Two reps from Del Grippo Homes (I assume del Grippo Senior and del Grippo Junior)

The purpose of the meeting, ostensibly, was to evaluate the developer's request for a conditional use permit.

The meeting started, after some administrative stuff was taken care of, with the engineer from Bursich Associates giving a presentation. Several times he mentioned the meeting of February 1 hosted by the developer, saying that residents' concerns were being taken into account; however, if so this was not reflected on the site plan.

To be fair, it is supposedly a preliminary site plan, indicating that changes may yet be made. However, it looked pretty slick and finalized to my eye.

Then the public comment period started. Chris Heleniak insisted that people line up along the side of the room and step forward to use a microphone they had set up for the purpose. Several people spoke, some quite passionately, and all in opposition. Several times folks mentioned that the attorney, during the February 1st meeting, had said "This isn't a popularity contest. This is going to happen," statements he initially denied making until it was pointed out that there was a video record of him saying those exact words. At this point he tried to walk it back by saying "What I MEANT was ..." and proceeded to waffle and prevaricate.

It was clear very early on that the entire thing was a performative sham. Harry Greco was often laughing when someone tried to make a point, rolling his eyes, leaning back in his chair, doing everything he could to indicate that he wasn't taking any of this seriously. Other members of the commission were seen looking at their phones, shuffling papers ... several times people who were speaking (including yours truly) were cut off because they went past the three minutes that Chris Heleniak had allotted for each speaker (understandable when there were about 50 people in the room, all of whom wanted to speak on the topic). However, at 9 PM he simply announced that the meeting was over and anyone else who wanted to comment could do so at the next meeting.

Of course, by then it will probably be too late, or it won't be on the agenda, or some other chicanery to get around actually representing the people of Skippack instead of a developer from Audubon and a builder from Norristown.

After the meeting I tried to ask the traffic engineer about the methodology of the traffic study by asking on what days of the week was it conducted. She said "Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday" over her shoulder as she hurried out the door, making it very clear that she wasn't at all interested in hearing from anyone who wasn't her client. I tried to point out that traffic was heavier during the weekends and perhaps a Saturday study would be appropriate, to which she responded "I don't care. PennDOT makes the rules" and then scooted out the door before anyone could say anything else.

The thing is, the Board of Supervisors tied their own hands on this years ago when they snuck a cluster development option into the township ordinances under the radar. Under the new ordinance, and under county and state law, if a developer's plans meet the conditions set forth in the ordinances they are bound by law to approve it ... regardless of how people in the township feel about it, regardless of how many oppose it, regardless of the impacts to the community. They will try to cover their asses by saying that "a property owner has the right to do what they want with their land" and, sadly -- given the way the law is currently written -- they are correct.

So here's how we can fight this thing.

1. Demand studies. For everything. Wildlife studies. Traffic studies performed during the weekends. Soil studies. Water studies. School impact studies. Tax impact studies. Infrastructure (sewer, water, electric, etc.) studies. Air quality studies. All of these things must be performed at the developer's expense, and all of these are within the rights of residents in the affected area to request. The idea is to make it too expensive for the builder and developer to make this a profitable enterprise.
2. File Right To Know requests for everything pertaining to the airport, especially the site plan and any waivers the developer is requesting (there are currently two). Any time they are filing a waiver, what they are saying is "we would like your permission to break the law" ... and THAT the Board of Supervisors can deny quite easily.
3. Contact the members of the Board of Supervisors -- repeatedly -- and make it absolutely, 100 percent, crystal clear that this will be remembered in the next election (don't worry, I'll remind you!). Point out that they are YOUR representatives, not the representatives foo Audubon Land Development Corp and Del Grippo Homes. There are three seats on the Board up for grabs next year, and if this thing goes through these people need to be fired.
4. While you're at it, contact Del Grippo and Audubon and complain to them. Make their lives miserable. If they try to intimidate you, point out that you are merely exercising your rights as a property owner to voice your opposition to something that will in all likelihood negatively impact your property values.
5. Above all, remain resolute. Part of what they are counting on is that we will eventually get tired and go away, allowing them to further decrease the quality of life in Skippack that has already taken a pretty serious hit over the past couple of years due to rampant overdevelopment in Lower Providence and Limerick.

And that is the key point of this whole thing. As one gentleman said at the meeting on Tuesday, we are not against development. We are against OVER development, and against ignoring the will of the constituents.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

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#StopMillRun