Family requests hearing delay

Neighbors oppose rezone of Walter property

After several weeks of waiting, Hatfield Township officials may wait even longer to talk about the future of a property along Cowpath Road.

A family that lives at an adjacent property has asked the township to consider holding off on any hearings on possibly rezoning the Walter property until early next year.

“We are, together, respectfully requesting that there be no hearing scheduled in this matter until the calendar year 2017. Please,” said attorney Joe Kuhls, on behalf of the Forst family.

At issue is a 41-acre property at 3515 Cowpath Road, which is owned by the Walter family and was the subject of lengthy talks by the board back in 2008-09. At that time, a developer sought to build a retail nursery and garden center there along with 52 single-family homes, and those plans were ultimately voted down after public opposition.

Since August, the family has made a renewed push to change the zoning on the property: of the 41 total acres, 35 are zoned

light industrial and the rest residential, and the family is seeking to zone the entire property residential. A formal application to do so was submitted to the township in March, and over the past two months the family and its attorney have asked Hatfield’s board for a full public hearing.

Kuhls told Hatfield’s board last week that the Walter family, the Forst family who lives next door, and the developer seeking to build roughly 60 homes on the property have all agreed to a series of conditions, including a request that the board wait until next year to proceed.

“We want to make you, and make the general public, aware of the agreements that we’ve arrived at,” Kuhls said.

All of the involved parties have agreed that, at least 30 days before any hearing, the applicant will provide the Forst family with a list of witnesses they intend to present, along with resumes detailing their backgrounds and expertise. The parties also agree that the applicant will provide a copy of all plans and all deed restrictions they plan to discuss, and they will pay for any advertising related to a hearing and for a formal stenographic record of the proceedings.

“We understand that these agreements and conditions are between the parties, and we understand that in a lot of ways they don’t even involve you,” Kuhls said, referring to the board of commissioners.

“But we also understand that if they’re breached, it’s going to get pretty contentious, and that’s going to play out right in front of you,” he said.

The agreement also spells out terms of scheduling and advertising any proposed hearing, and Kuhls said while the specifics would be up to the board and township staff, they hope both will take their request to wait until the new year into consideration.

“We are also respectfully requesting, together, that when a hearing is advertised on this matter, that it be advertised as a ‘hearing to consider,’ and not as a meeting to enact,” Kuhls said.

Doing so would prevent the board from acting on the same night as they hear plans, and the applicant and neighbors have also agreed that the Forst family be given 30 days after the applicant has made their case, to “respond and put on a case of their own,” in Kuhls’ words, opposing the rezone.

Kuhls said he, attorney John Jaros, who represents the Walter family, and attorney Frank Bartle, who represents the developer, have all agreed to those conditions, and Jaros confirmed that to the board.

“We hope that has some type of positive impact on the township, in deciding whether or not to grant the rezoning hearing,” he said.

Commissioners’ President Tom Zipfel said it’s been the board’s practice on other zoning hearings to encourage as much public input as possible, and doing so would include a gap between a public hearing and any formal action.

“We want to avoid the notion that we held a hearing, then made a decision, and people rush in and say ‘Wait a minute, you held a hearing and then you didn’t give us a chance to speak,’” Zipfel said.

“We will definitely allow everyone more than fair notice, and early notice, with regard to specific dates certain,” he said.

Commissioner Larry Hughes said he received a petition signed by roughly 120 residents opposed to the rezoning request, and their main concerns are the added density and traffic that residential development could create.

“If you rezone this, you’re talking 64 houses — that’s about 120 trips at rush hour. It’s going to take a longer time to be able to turn off of Cowpath” onto adjacent roads, he said.

“We’re already backed up from Cowpath to Moyer Road at night when the train goes through, so I don’t see the need for a hearing” on the application, he said.

Zipfel said based on informal conversations among the board, he thought there was a consensus by the board to hold a public hearing, and the scheduling would be based on when the various consultants and attorneys would be available — with that request to wait until next year high in mind.

“If parties come in jointly and request something, that has great weight, and that probably will have value to us,” he said.