Planning panel recommends denial of personal care home plan, refers case to supervisors

The Middle Smithfield Planning Commission voted to recommend denial and forward a long-pending personal care home plan to the Board of Supervisors, citing repeated applicant nonresponse and outstanding engineering review items.

At the meeting, staff reported that the applicant had declined to attend commission meetings and had not provided requested updates on necessary improvements, including sewage-capacity work required to convert a three-bedroom to a larger licensed facility. Staff said the application file contains an engineer review letter listing outstanding items. "They don't have the money," a member said during discussion, noting multiple prior extensions since the case began in 2023.

Commission members discussed procedural options and were advised that, if the commission wished to remove the item from its agenda, it should refer the plan to the supervisors with a recommendation to deny for the specific deficiencies noted in the engineer's last review. The commission moved to recommend denial and to transmit the record to the Board of Supervisors. The voice vote recorded one objection.

The action is procedural: the commission's vote is a recommendation, not a final permit decision. According to staff, the Board of Supervisors must act by statutory deadlines tied to the applicant’s timeframes; the commission noted August as an administrative deadline for referral. Attorney Armstrong confirmed the township sent written acknowledgment of the applicant's May 30 correspondence about withdrawal and outstanding fees.

Next steps: the commission will transmit its recommendation and supporting engineer review letter to the Board of Supervisors for final action.