Silver Springs Farm expansion approved

LOWER SALFORD >> Silver Springs Farm is adding onto its meat processing plant on Meetinghouse Road.

“We’re looking for basically warehouse freezer space,” Daniel Fillippo, the business’ owner, said during a conditional use hearing May 3 before the Lower Salford Township Board of Supervisors.

The business, which produces sandwich steak, gets in de-boned meat and processes and packs it, he said. No butchering takes place at the site, he said.

The company plans to add 7,700 square feet of refrigerated warehouse space and 640 square feet of office space, he said.

The move will decrease the number of trucks coming to and leaving Silver Springs because shuttles to outside storage facilities will no lon-

ger be needed, Fillippo said.

“We’ll be able to store a lot more product and bring larger shipments in,” he said.

The conditional use application was approved.

In other matters at the May 3 meeting:

• A conditional use application by Angela and Mark Harter was approved, allowing their plans to add an in-ground pool in the backyard of their Hoffman Road home. The conditional use hearing was needed because part of the pool will fall within setback area. The property neighbors Lederach Golf Club but is in an area where it is unlikely golf balls will be hit onto the property, board Chairman Doug Gifford said.

• Final approval was given for the Parkview Commons phase II plans. The plans are for a twostory 12,000-square-foot office building at the corner of Yoder and Clemens roads, Michele Fountain, township engineer, said.

• State Rep. Marcy Toepel, R-147, said state legislators hope to have the budget completed by the June 30 deadline and that it will not include a tax increase.

The House of Representatives has already passed its version of the budget, which the Senate is now reviewing, she said.

“The good news is we’re starting closer this time around, so hopefully we’ll finish it on time,” Toepel said.

Board member Chris Canavan said Toepel has been a supporter of municipalities’ efforts to get relief from some of the requirements to prevent stormwater runoff from carrying contamination into waterways and he asked for additional help.

“It’s gonna become one of the largest unfunded mandates that we’ll have to face and it’s really something that’s sliding under the radar and there are many aspects to it that aren’t even something we can comply with because they haven’t given us enough technical guidance to even show how to comply,” Canavan said.

The municipalities are being told to correct in a few years contamination in waterways that has occurred over hundreds of years, “and that’s just not a plausible thing,” Canavan said.

Although the state is involved in enforcing the requirements, the regulations actually come from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Toepel said.

“We’re hoping that maybe there’s a new attitude at the federal government that maybe some of these regulations will ease up a bit on the state,” Toepel said.

“But I understand the stress it is on local governments,” she said. “I’ll do whatever I can to help.”