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Springettsbury weighs loosened rules for temporary events, food trucks, storage pods and truck/RV parking
Summary
Staff recommended more flexible temporary‑event rules (allowing outside vendors if sponsored by the host), longer permitted durations for storage pods, and conditional standards for truck parking; supervisors sought guardrails on parking, traffic and enforcement.
Supervisors reviewed a suite of commercial and temporary‑use changes that aim to balance business flexibility with neighborhood impacts: updated temporary‑event rules, clarified community‑event language, longer allowable times for moving/storage pods, and proposals for truck and RV parking standards.
For commercial temporary events, staff recommended permitting outside vendors when they are brought in by a sponsoring business, reducing the total annual event day cap (example draft reduced 45 days to around 30) while allowing more frequent, smaller events (proposed every other month), and strengthening enforcement with per‑day fines and the possibility of revoking certificates of occupancy for repeat violators. Marian said permits must demonstrate adequate parking and traffic flow to be approved.
On portable storage pods, staff proposed raising residential allowances from 3 days to 15 days and nonresidential from 30 to 60 days; supervisors asked for exceptions tied to disaster recovery and building permits for contractor staging. "Three days is not enough," one supervisor said, and staff signaled readiness to adjust numbers to reflect real‑world moving and repair timelines.
Food trucks and outdoor vendors drew support for more permissive rules when property owners sponsor the vendor; supervisors raised concerns about unfair competition with brick‑and‑mortar tenants and ensuring mercantile tax collection. Staff also floated allowing food trucks by special exception in industrial areas to serve onsite workers.
For truck parking as a primary use, staff proposed conditional‑use allowances limited to industrial districts within 3,000 feet of US‑30 or I‑83 access points, with screening and driver facilities required. Supervisors were cautious about creating zoning to chase a business and emphasized preventing ad‑hoc parking in mall lots.
No formal code changes were adopted; staff will redraft permit thresholds, enforcement language and exceptions for storage pods and return with more specific metrics and permit language.
