Office park zoning, winter cleanup discussed at township Board of Commissioners meeting.

At this month’s stated meeting on Tuesday, February 8, the Upper Dublin Board of Commissioners met to discuss all township matters, and spent the bulk of their time on a proposed gas station in the Fort Washington Office Park.

The proposed Wawa station, which includes 6 gas islands and a 40-foot sign to attract business from the turnpike, currently is not allowed by the zoning regulation for the office park.  The sentiment from the commissioners during the conversation was that they would like to see the station built as part of a general plan to revitalize the park, but wanted to avoid setting precedents that would make it difficult to control the development of future properties.

The two initial options presented were to craft a “use variance,” to make an exception for the property, or to change the zoning code for the park, which would open up the land for those kinds of uses.

“The property is zoned the same way as all the other properties around it are zoned,” said Gilbert High, township solicitor. “And the task of winning a case to get a variance [would be] an uphill road to climb.”

Officials also noted that opening up the office park to retail properties such as a gas station is in line with the township’s comprehensive plan.

“The comprehensive plan proposes the office park be used as mix use with commercial, residential and retail,” said Richard Barton, Code Enforcement Director. “The best approach would be to rezone the entire district to open it up to these uses, rather than provide a variance.”

“I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” said commissioner Chet Derr, who was in favor of easing restrictions in the park. “I’m tired of developers being gouged, and made to jump through hoops.”

A third approach, proposed by attorney Michael Yanoff, who spoke at the meeting on behalf of the property, was to permit the building as a “conditioned use” as opposed to a “conditional use,” which he said would allow the board to control the intricacies of the exception without creating precedents and undergoing an evidentiary hearing.

The board agreed to support the approval of the property in this manner, and asked Barton to draft a comprehensive schedule and letter to be sent to the Zoning Hearing Board, the developers, and Planning Commission, to move forward with the approval quickly.

The board also heard from Township Manager Paul Leonard, who reported on how the township has been handling the winter weather and clean up and applauded the Public Works Department.

“It’s tough to assess the condition of other neighborhoods and compare other communities [to Upper Dublin],” said Leonard. “Nothing against their work, but we’re better than almost anyone we saw.”

Leonard expressed concern and reported a high number of accidents during last week’s ice storm, but said that the township responded to community complaints and that the overall safety of the community was maintained.

Leonard also reported that the township has used $193,000 of its budgeted $250,000 for snow removal in the calendar year.

“That’s a calendar year budget, that does require us to take care of November and December next year,” said Leonard. “It’s been expensive, [however] as with all communities, it is something that we have to pay the workers.”

Commissioner Rebecca Gushue reported the disbursements for the township, which totaled $2,501,347. $1,596,051 went to general expenditures, $760,000 to payroll, $138,988 to mini check run expenses, and $6,307 for earned income tax refunds and payments to other tax districts.

The township also approved the hiring of two police officers to the Upper Dublin Police Department, and will now officially recognize Arbor Day on April 29.