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Board approves land development for 413 Durham Road with conditions, fees and waivers
Summary
The Newtown Board of Supervisors granted preliminary and final approval to Dorm Investment LP for a 10,000 sq ft child-care building and a 6,600 sq ft office/medical building at 413 Durham Road, subject to conditions including PennDOT requirements, will-serve letters, a traffic-impact fee and other fees; the vote was 4–1.
The Newtown Board of Supervisors voted 4–1 on April 9 to grant preliminary and final land-development approval to Dorm Investment LP for a project at 413 Durham Road that will include a 10,000-square-foot child-care facility and a 6,600-square-foot office/medical building.
Ed Murphy, the applicant’s attorney, told the board the application had planning-commission support and that the applicant had obtained a PennDOT highway-occupancy permit for the proposed Dorm Road access. "We have now . . . received from PennDOT a PennDOT permit for the proposed access ingress and egress on Dorm Road," Murphy said, describing the permit as a key step that addresses highway access concerns.
The board approved the site plan with specific conditions the applicant agreed to: revision of plans to address comments in the engineering review letters (Remington Vernick Engineers and CKS Engineers), compliance with the board’s conditional-use decision, and adherence to PennDOT permit number 06120959. Before any building permit is issued, the applicant must pay a traffic-impact fee of $219,891.60, an open-space fee of $33,485.35, post financial security, enter into development and stormwater agreements, and provide will-serve letters from the Newtown-Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority and Newtown Artesian Water Company for sewer and water service.
Murphy and staff also discussed sewer capacity and EDUs (equivalent dwelling units). The applicant said the Bucksy Water and Sewer Authority has not allocated new EDUs and that the project must be placed on a connection-management plan queue; the applicant estimated the required EDUs "could be as few as one. It could be as many as 12 or 13," depending on flow-data calculations to be submitted to the authority.
Public commenters raised traffic and pedestrian-safety concerns tied to the project. Resident Steven Keley urged the board to press PennDOT to evaluate signal timing during peak hours so drivers exiting the new site could find gaps for left turns. "Please take that into account and try to get an answer from PENNDOT," Keley said, urging targeted timing or metering during morning and evening peaks.
Board members reviewed four requested waivers tied to local ordinance standards: deceleration-lane length (PennDOT standard was accepted), a fire-lane striping requirement (the fire marshal approved an alternative turning plan), a reduced separation between parking and building walls (minimum 10 feet proposed), and the use of native plant species not listed on the township’s plant list (staff and environmental advisers supported the requested species). Staff said native-species guidance would follow township and DCNR/EAC recommendations.
The approval is conditioned on the items listed above being satisfied before final-plan signing and on the applicant obtaining the necessary sewer will-serve letters; the applicant’s plan approval places the project in the queue for EDUs. The board called the question and approved the plan 4–1.
Next steps: the applicant must revise the plans per the review letters, secure required agreements and financial security, pay the stipulated fees, and obtain will-serve letters before a building permit may be issued. If sewer capacity becomes available, the approved plan will position the project to compete for allocation under the connection-management process.
