Planning commission grants waiver, gives conditional preliminary approval to Redding Parking Authority lot at 905 Green Street

The City of Reading Planning Commission on Aug. 26 granted a waiver to reduce the required 75‑foot clear sight triangle and gave conditional preliminary approval to the Redding Parking Authority’s annexation and land development plan for a parking lot at 905 Green Street.

The preliminary/final application covers seven parcels to be annexed and consolidated into a single 13,585‑square‑foot site that will provide 35 parking spaces owned and operated by the Redding Parking Authority. The planning consultant and Public Works raised technical issues the applicant must resolve before final approval, including sanitary lateral abandonments, an approved PennDOT Highway Occupancy Permit (HOP) for curb work on North Ninth Street, and municipal improvements and stormwater agreements.

Planning consultant Jerome Greencastle summarized the submittal and outstanding requirements and recommended the applicant can address the remaining technical comments. Public Works staff flagged multiple former residential sanitary laterals under the consolidated lots and said those laterals must be investigated and either capped behind the curb or sealed at the main depending on condition. Public Works also noted a new no‑parking zone would be required on Green Street to preserve driveway sight distance and asked the applicant to supply a simplified exhibit the city can use with a council ordinance.

An applicant representative said the Berks County Conservation District letter of adequacy for erosion and sediment control was already issued in May, that they can address the technical comments, that they will remove a southern parking space where full turning movements cannot be achieved, and that they have started the PennDOT HOP process.

After discussion of options — tabling the combined preliminary/final plan, granting conditional approval, or splitting the application into preliminary then final — the commission voted to split the application and approve the submission as a conditional preliminary plan. The motion included a requirement that the applicant resolve the issues listed in Hawk Valley Associates' review letter dated Aug. 22, 2025. Commissioners also authorized the applicant to request a 90‑day time extension for plan review to allow Public Works’ investigation of buried sanitary laterals; commissioners noted the HOP itself may take six to nine months but said the sanitary investigation could be completed in weeks.

The commission earlier granted the waiver from the clear sight triangle requirement after the consultant presented sight‑distance illustrations and Public Works signaled support.

The commission and staff listed next steps: the applicant must provide the conservation‑district adequacy letter (if not already on file), complete the sanitary lateral investigation and note any required capping on the plans, pursue the PennDOT HOP with the city acting as applicant and the project team acting as agent, provide municipal improvements and stormwater maintenance agreements, and submit the simplified no‑parking exhibit for council ordinance if needed. The commission recorded its conditional preliminary approval so the authority may begin bidding work while outstanding items are resolved prior to final plan approval.

The commission’s action was procedural and conditional; the transcript records that approval is subject to resolving the technical comments cited in Hawk Valley Associates’ Aug. 22, 2025 review letter and to obtaining required outside permits and agreements.