Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Comprehensive Plan Imagine Berks topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cumru planners recap Imagine Berks outreach, review planning-submission steps ahead of potential data center
Summary
The commission reviewed regional Imagine Berks comprehensive-plan outreach, urged members to sign up for Berks County training, and walked through sketch, preliminary and final plan processes and the township's land-development waiver and zoning hearing procedures in preparation for possible high-profile projects.
Commissioners reviewed recent Imagine Berks County outreach and used the session to walk through the township’s planning-submission procedures, describing sketch plans, preliminary and final plan reviews, land-development waivers and the role of the Zoning Hearing Board and Board of Commissioners for conditional uses.
The commission said Berks County held regional workshops in several municipalities including Brecknock, Shillington, Mohnton, Spring Township, West Reading, Wyomissing and Cumru. Commissioners recommended colleagues sign up for Berks County Planning Commission emails and training schedules to track updates to the county comprehensive plan.
Commission staff gave a plain-language overview of the township review process: sketch plans offer informal feedback; a preliminary plan is the first formal submission that will receive a written engineering review; and a final plan is approved and recorded once all conditions are met. Staff also described a new waiver-of-land-development procedure instituted last year that allows applicants to argue a project does not require full land-development review; staff said that waiver may not apply if a project’s scope — for example, added impervious surface or stormwater facilities — expands.
The commission also noted that certain uses, including a potential data center, are reviewed as conditional uses by the Board of Commissioners with a formal hearing record rather than by the Zoning Hearing Board; the developer may submit land-development plans concurrently but zoning approval is typically required first.
Next steps: commissioners encouraged members to review the outreach slides and training materials and to monitor pending state legislation mentioned by a member that could change municipal planning code requirements.
