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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-03-15 Commissioner Minutes WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2023 The Franklin County Commissioners met Wednesday, March 15, 2023, with the following members present: David S. Keller (in person), John T. Flannery and Robert G. Ziobrowski (both attending virtually). Chairman Keller presided and after calling the meeting to order, a Moment of Silence, and the Pledge of Allegiance, proceeded with the business of the day. The meeting was live streamed. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved to adopt the agenda. There was no public comment. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved all bills presented and ordered paid. The minutes of the March 8, 2023 meeting were reviewed. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the minutes. The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. Chairman Keller asked Carrie Gray, County Administrator, for a brief explanation of item #2, contract for Appellate contract approached staff about creating this contracted position when he realized he was having trouble finding someone with this specialty which is representing prosecution during the appeals stage. We worked with Human Resources to freeze the position on the roster in order to enter into this contract to work with Attorney Shields to provide Appellate Prosecutor services. He will primarily be reporting to Harrisburg but at the direction of the District Attorney. The items will be decided upon in the afternoon session. The Board recessed and will reconvene at 2:00 p.m. for final approval of the items that were reviewed. The Board reconvened at 2:00 p.m. There was no public comment. The Board reviewed Aging Office matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute the agreement letter between the County of Franklin and Howard Barnhart, organizer of Guilford Station Gospel Bluegrass Band, for the band to provide music at the annual Volunteer Banquet on April 21, 2023 at a cost of $400.00. The Board reviewed District Attorney matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved the Legal Service Agreement between the County of Franklin and Brandon Shields, Esq. to provide appellate prosecutor services for the term of March 13, 2023 through March 12, 2026. The Board reviewed Fiscal matters. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved for the Chairman of the Board to execute the contract between the County of Franklin and Shippensburg University to provide an instructor to teach advanced Microsoft Office Excel version 365 to Fiscal employees at a cost up to $3,780.00 for two courses, with two sessions each, from March 24, 2023 through May 26, 2023. Fiscal recently upgraded to the 365 version of Microsoft Office and it is imperative that they remain power users and learn the key features and new formulas to stay efficient. Continued on page 2 In accordance with PA Act notifications, Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc. notified the County of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Chapter 105 Water Obstructions and Encroachment General Permit application being applied by Chambersburg Borough for the Chambersburg Rail Trail project located in the Borough of Chambersburg. In accordance with PA Act notifications, J.D. Wagoner Excavating notified the County of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Air Quality Program permit being applied for rock crusher and conveyor existing sources on property located in Guilford Township. Allen White, American Red Cross Disaster Program Manager, and Marsha Smith, a Volunteer for American Red Cross, were present to provide an update on the activities of the Red Cross. Mr. White explained that he oversees disaster services for Franklin County. He introduced Ms. Smith. Ms. Smith said she is a resident in the Borough of Chambersburg and a volunteer for the Red Cross since March of the year the pandemic began. She is retired but ever been in her life. Her previous career was in emergency preparedness/disaster recovery for Land O Lakes and Medtronic companies. She has a lot of experience when it comes to recovering from a crisis. She is pleased to be a part of this wonderful organization and to serve the community. Mr. White provided a brief update and described what has taken place here in Franklin County as per the attached document titled timeframe from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023. He stated that this program has saved over 1,500 lives as of last week. The chapter that the Franklin County office is a part of just recorded a verified life saved out of Harrisburg. This is a big thing. An individual escaped a fire because of an alarm the Red Cross had installed. He continued that March is Red Cross month and lives are being saved, they have milestones, initiatives, and blood drives so they like to celebrate these accomplishments in the month of March. Ms. Smith said looking ahead and where their priorities are with the blood drives and blood donors, they are focusing on the sickle cell initiative, which is a common genetic blood disorder. There are 100,000 people that could have this disorder which are mostly African descent citizens. The Red Cross is partnering with the black community now through December of 2027 to try to get an increase in blood donors to the American Red Cross. She continued that one in three is a match with people that have sickle cell disease, so they are focusing on this initiative going forward. In addition, they are proactively working on other programs that are mentioned on the attached document. She said it is rewarding to go into a home and help people. work for a wonderful organization. She wanted to thank Allen today for all of his support and all the great work that the American Red Cross does. Mr. White wanted to highlight the home fire campaign and that they reached a milestone with 2 million plus smoke alarms installed across America. He continued that Pennsylvania over the past couple of years has been one of the states that are highest in fire fatalities but in Franklin County we are fortunate that has not happened here. He wanted to give kudos to the Chambersburg Fire Department which has partnered with them. The Red Cross is partnering with other fire companies around Franklin County to make sure to blanket that initiative throughout. He stated that the Red Cross really needs volunteers. They want to keep the trend of keeping people safe. He wanted to mention the Red Cross. He would like to keep it there or lower it as much as possible. Chairman Keller said he appreciates Allen and Marsha being here today and that Franklin County has had a great partnership with Red Cross over the years and appreciates everything they do in the community both independently and in partnership with other groups, in particular the fire companies. Commissioner Flannery wanted to comment that he apologizes for not being here in person; he had to unfortunately be out of town. He said that Mr. White mentioned that the Red Cross installed two million smoke alarms nationwide. He wanted to ask if there is ever an issue with local code regulations that are allowing homes not required to have smoke alarms. Mr. White responded that they have not run into an issue with code, they always go by the recommendation of the fire department and what the local code enforcement recommends. Continued on page 3 They try to make sure every level in the home has a working smoke alarm. Commissioner Flannery thanked them both and appreciates everything they do. Commissioner Ziobrowski welcomed them and he told Allen before that his first public service was the Coldbrook proud they are here and they are still doing great work. The Board reviewed information regarding American Red Cross Month. On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski, seconded by John T. Flannery; unanimously approved to sign Franklin County Proclamation #2023-02 proclaiming the month of March as American Red Cross Month and that the attached proclamation be made a part of these minutes. The Board held a general discussion on the proposed apartment complex in Greene Township. Chairman Keller mentioned that with all proposed developments of this kind the Township requests review and input from the County. He continued that none of the feedback is binding by any means but nonetheless feedback was provided and we will be hearing about that today and the Board is looking for a recommendation on how to proceed. It would be appropriate for us to provide comments to Greene Township since this is an item of discussion among many of our residents and an issue of common concern. He turned it over to Steve Thomas, Planning Director. Mr. Thomas explained that the Planning Department reviews every land development or subdivision plan that occurs within Franklin County. Oftentimes municipalities will just accept their stamp and signature as deemed approved but occasionally, on specific projects or ones that are more technical or new, they will ask for a further dive into an opinion. One value that Planning provides municipalities is technical assistance or expertise since it has great staff that has a wide range of experience. It gives us an opportunity to look more objectivity and provide some feedback. He will review some of the facts that were presented to them and some of the conditions that they noted prior to discussions and recommendation for the Board of Commissioners moving forward. He explained that his office received a letter from Dan Baughman of Greene Township on January 11, 2023. Mr. Thomas responsibility of the municipalities but in this case Dan sought our input, analysis and our opinion on the matter. It is a conditional use permit application so Greene Township does have zoning. In this particular district it is an R1 which is a low density residential zoning district but within that guidance there are conditional uses that can be further allowed, in some cases horse barns and low intensity commercial uses. In this case it was for garden apartments in this specific area. The request that was received from the township included a transmittal letter from Greene Township, copy of a public notice that they put out for the conditional use permit and a specifically listed was chapter 105 article 7 section B9 which references the garden apartment to the Township. They also received Exhibit A which was an agreement of sale which is typically not a normal document that Planning would review. They also received a conditional use concept plan which was a single drawing to show the relative layout and design of the facility. Mr. Thomas said the property is located on Ragged Edge Road, just north of Route 30, on the west side of Ragged Edge Road. Currently it is zoned as R1 low density residential. If you look at all the surrounding properties they are all consistent with that designation which is typical suburban developments that are a quarter to half or one acre lots, with all single family residences. The property itself is 70 acres in size; he noted that it is not listed on any that or not include that. The current request that Greene Township Supervisors received was for 676 multifamily dwelling units spread across 33 apartment buildings and associated parking lots that are a mixture of one and two bedroom units, it also included a clubhouse, a pool, and other community amenities. Typically when they receive a project of this magnitude they take an extra day or two to review the plans against the 2012 County Comprehensive Plan. The property is located on what they have designated on a future land use map as suburban residential. Mr. Thomas provided more information. The analysis they did back in the 2010-11 Comprehensive Plan identified these areas as amenable to lower intensity development due to Continued on page 4 the nature of the road network, the current road facilities and water and sewer availability. and the availability of water and sewer connections. He stated that this area specifically was designated as suburban residential. They also encouraged all municipalities through the Comprehensive Plan to have their own provisions for suburban residential development in this case Greene Township had adopted a zoning ordinance and they determined that to be R1 which is their lowest density residential development. They also reviewed from a transportation enough to understand that a serious influx of 676 units onto a road such as Ragged Edge Road with given right away width surface conditions would be problematic. Mr. Thomas stated that there is no immediate or long term funding identified for improvements along Ragged Edge Road and this does not even take into consideration potential impacts on the signal at Route 30. If you look at the region a lot of the traffic volume would turn south to Route 30 before dispersing from there. The County does not run water and sewer however they think about this in context of the projects. So one element they take into consideration is not only how many taps does the current development need but how many does that leave for future development. water and sewer facilities. For this many units you will not have wells or online septic, it all has to be provided by the local municipal authority. A lot of these comments were summarized into a letter issued by Quentin Clapper in his office dated January 20, 2023 addressed to Mr. opinion has lied. They acknowledge fully that final authority rests with the municipality but they had concerns they wanted to express since they were invited to do so at the time. John Thierwechter, Assistant County Administrator, mentioned that the Department of Emergency Services was also asked about this proposed development and have noted that it is substantially within the inundation zone of the Long Pine Dam which is an A1 high hazard dam. Five of the buildings are located completely within the inundation and one is partway in the Edge Road have to comply with all the PennDOT Highway occupancy and traffic impact study requirements. Commissioner Ziobrowski said with egress and ingress from Ragged Edge Road is there anything on the plans to indicate how that would be done. Steve responded that the initial concept plan only showed one point of egress and ingress. He would have to reference their subdivision land development ordinance but he believes that Mr. Baughman referenced that anything over 100 units has to have two points of ingress and egress and this plan only has one point. That would be another Planning comment that they have to provide at least two points of ingress and egress. If you have an accide entire community. Chairman Keller said that in the letter that was submitted to the township there were several key points that when you look at what was proposed there are several concerns that were raised and those are justification for weighing in and endorsing the letter that Planning sent to the Township and voicing our opposition to the project. A lot of folks in the community are against it. He's not saying that popular opinion should sway their position on things. In this case, in light of the concerns the community is raising and the concerns of the Planning Office that has very clearly been spelled out, the development does not have those characteristics of smart harmonious growth management which is the type of developments we want to encourage. Commissioner Ziobrowski said they have to understand that any position we take is not necessarily against multi-family housing. He continued that when they build 40 million square feet of warehouse space you have to have a place for these folks to live. Any opposition they have individually or as a commissioner is not necessarily against multi-family engineer since they already have problems with accidents of cars coming out of North Guilford Hills. He used to live out there and traveled that road hundreds of times and it doe plans for a quality development, would look to another place in Franklin County to locate a good quality multi-family development. Mr. Thomas said at the last Council of Governance meeting Continued on page 5 that was held a few weeks ago he offered to lead up a task force to look at workforce and affordable housing options in Franklin County so that is clearly something they are looking to endorse. With the site that is presented there are a lot of conditional issues with this many units that could be problematic to the health and safety of the current residents and to the residents that would occupy these units as well. Chairman Keller said there is a need for affordable housing and housing at all levels as Mike Rose pointed out at his breakfast last week. The and this does not appear to be an appropriate answer to the question. Chairman Keller asks staff to develop a letter to transmit to Greene Township Supervisors summarizing the discussion The meeting was adjourned at 2:42 p.m. with a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by John T. Flannery. Carrie E. Gray County Administrator/Chief Clerk FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ____________________________________ David S. Keller, Chairman ____________________________________ John T. Flannery ___________________________________ Robert G. Ziobrowski