Lower Allen Web Log

Last night's special meeting of the Board of Commissioners (BOC) concluded with the Board authorizing staff to prepare and transmit the new amendments to chapters 59 and 220 to the county and local planning commissions for review.

To sum it all up in that one sentence, though, doesn't begin to do justice to all the staff work which went into crafting the document. And they're not done yet.

So what's to do, you may ask?

Well...

• Language detailing how LAT deals with sexually oriented businesses (SOBs), specifically in which zones they can be built and isolation distances which dictate the siting, is not complete. After comments from the BOC, staff will update language to open more area in the new C3 zone to SOBs, and will allow certain physical barriers to reduce isolation distances. Based on the initial text, less than one percent of the township would have been available to SOBs, much less than the 7% which was satisfactory in a 1999 court ruling re the Excitement Video store on Hartzdale Drive.
• After extensive conversation on allowing restaurant drive-throughs in the Mixed Used Neighborhood (MUN) district, the BOC directed staff to not include the language. A consensus decision was reached to shift a zoning boundary west by one lot along Gettysburg Road, thereby precluding the need for the language.
• Some work remains to be done regarding self-storage facilities. Current regulations do not allow any facilities higher than 15 feet in a zone where 40-foot buildings are permitted. Also, current zoning mandates a live-in facility manager. Discussion last night leaned towards refining both those rules. Staff will also research storage industry standards to see if the current 500 square foot maximum is too restrictive or too liberal.
• The BOC discussed signage, with an eye to clustering directional signs when they are located off a business' premises. Staff should be working on language for the version to be transmitted to the planning commissions.

In order to give the planning bodies time to review the voluminous text, a public hearing date has not been set. The BOC will do that at a future meeting.