Present:  Laurence Harvilchuck, Jen Gregory, Tom Swan, Peg Miller, Jerry Derham, Brian Gardner, Sandy Payne, Francis Fruehan, Anthony Trecoske, Kate Bouman, Jonny Norton.

The Silver Lake Township Planning Commission and Ad Hoc Committee met for a work session on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at the Silver Lake Township Building.  Laurence Harvilchuck called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm. 

Since the attendance at the November 19 meeting was low Mr. Harvilchuck reviewed the discussion that there need to be eight members to have a quorum. 

The square footage of various size warehouses was discussed.  Mr. Fruehan handed out a sheet that listed various warehouses, their use and the square footage for each.  This was to give everyone an idea what size are structures for various uses.  The 25,000 square footage for the cutoff for our area may be a little large.  Any building that is over the square footage cutoff for our area would have to meet certain conditions, i.e. lighting, setbacks, parking.  A SALDO would have to have a site development plan for commercial properties.  The question was that if there was a commercial property and the use changed can a SALDO handle that?  It is already developed as commercial and is still commercial – just a different type of business property.  SALDO is for the initial development but can it be applied once the development is done?  Perhaps it could be set up in the beginning in case there are any changes down the road.  Can you make a property owner come back if the use for the property changes?  Can different uses require different standards with a SALDO?    It was asked where we are on the master agenda that was created.  We are just about at the end of the problem identification phase.  Degree of flexibility is important to development.  It was recommended that two lists be created – what SALDO can do and what Zoning can do—for comparison use.  Enforcement is a big factor for setback requirements.  When someone applies for a UCC permit through COG the setbacks are reflected on the map; however, COG does not check the setbacks in the field.  There may be a way to work with COG to check the setbacks.  It was asked if the current SALDO would be updated or if a whole new ordinance be adopted?  It might be easier to update the current ordinance.  If you have an updated SALDO and adopt zoning they can sometimes contradict each other.  It was recommended that we try to get a book entitled, “Pennsylvania Zoning Law and Practice”.  This is a book that has everything regarding zoning and would answer a lot of questions. 

For the next meeting, look over Section XI in the Proposed Zoning Ordinance.  Keeping in mind the enforcement end of it for not only zoning but for SALDO as well.