Board OKs waivers for business
Engineer says code requirements can’t be met on property
A new set of waivers is in the works for a planned industrial use on Detwiler Road.
Towamencin’s supervisors voted unanimously in late June on the latest requests from Emerald Equipment Systems to reconfigure their property and allow a sublease use inside.
“The board of supervisors granted a waiver of a formal land development process in December 2018 to Emerald Equipment Systems, prior to the company moving into an existing building on Detwiler Road in the limited industrial zoning district,” said board Chairman Chuck Wilson.
“The company proposed to add additional paving and gravel surfaces to reconfigure and increase
the parking and loading areas, and to lease out a portion of the existing building to a tenant,” he said.
After that first round of approvals in late 2018, Emerald came back to the board in June 2019 with a request for a conditional use approval that would reduce their required amounts of parking on the site.
“These approvals and waivers were granted with conditions, including the requirement to obtain a grading permit and to meet other requirements of the township’s ordinances,” Wilson said.
During the board’s June 24 meeting, Wilson and township engineer Tom Zarko outlined the next step: that certain features identified by the applicant now need their own waivers from Towamencin’s stormwater management ordinance.
“The stormwater management improvements that were proposed in conjunction with this project involved enlarging the existing detention basin, and installing a supplemental rain garden,” Zarko said.
Due to the conditions of the site, Zarko told the board, three design criteria contained within township codes cannot be met: one requiring at least six inches between the top of the water structure and the 100year water surface zone; another that berms be at least ten feet wide; and a third to provide at least a foot of area within the emergency spillway, according to the engineer.
“Considering the fact that this is a relatively small basin, and the required stormwater management rate control is in compliance with the township’s ordinance requirements, I would have no objection to these waivers,” he said.
During the previous hearings, officials from Emerald said they plan to keep the current building size the same, partition off part, and use about 19,000 square feet for a steel fabrication company that would take three or four deliveries to the site per day, and have about ten employees.
“Considering the fact that this is a relatively small basin … I would have no objection to these waivers.” — Township engineer Tom Zarko
Emerald had said they need about two dozen employees for their uses in the building, while current codes would require a total of 74 parking spaces around the building; the board granted that reduction last summer.
No in-person presentation was made or further discussion was held during the board’s June 24 meeting, which was closed to the public and streamed online. The supervisors voted unanimously to direct staff to prepare a resolution for a subsequent meeting granting those waivers.
Towamencin’s board next meets at 7:30 p.m. on July 8 online; for more information visit www.Towamencin.org.