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Resident urges clearer public tracking of conditional-use filings and extensions
Summary
Resident Clarance Bouchat told the Zoning Hearing Board that incomplete land-development applications and inconsistent tracking of conditional-use hearings and extensions hinder public review; he recommended policy changes and clarified that the Zoning Hearing Board does not itself decide conditional-use matters.
During the public-comment period, resident Clarance Bouchat of 15 Warwick Circle asked the board to improve transparency around conditional-use and land-development filings.
Bouchat said the Township has accepted incomplete land-development applications, which he argued hinders how the Planning Commission, Board of Supervisors, and the public review plans. He urged policy revisions that would prevent deficient submissions from being accepted and reduce denials attributable to incomplete filings.
He also asked the Township to restore public archiving of conditional-use extension votes and better track conditional-use hearings and extensions, saying historical minutes show the Board of Supervisors once recorded such extensions but that the practice has lapsed. Lastly, Bouchat noted a change in tracking nomenclature — the addition of the designation “PCU” alongside “CU” — and recommended clarifying whether the “P” denotes a substantive planning distinction or is simply a software code.
Bouchat acknowledged that the Zoning Hearing Board does not directly adjudicate conditional-use matters but said the topics intersect with zoning and recommended committees address the transparency issues. The minutes do not record a formal response or follow-up action from the board at that meeting.
