Board approves partial sidewalk waiver for Ellis Crossing, sets fee-in-lieu at $72 per foot

The West Ocean Township Board of Supervisors voted to approve a partial waiver allowing the Ellis Crossing developer to omit a short stretch of sidewalk on the north side of the project entrance where PennDOT identified technical constraints.

The waiver covers the sidewalk from the development entrance toward the Strasburg/Stroudsburg Road intersection. The board’s motion also fixed the fee-in-lieu for the footage not installed at $72 per linear foot, the construction-cost figure shown on the project’s approved escrow. The developer said it would pay the difference between that calculation and the previously assessed fee if the board decided to use the lower per-foot rate.

Why it mattered: township staff and the developer said PennDOT raised engineering and site constraints — steep grades, existing utility poles that would need relocation, and the difficulty of building an ADA-compliant ramp adjacent to the traffic-signal hardware — that make a compliant sidewalk infeasible at that corner. The issue required balancing sidewalk connectivity goals and the township’s past practice of collecting fee-in-lieu contributions to pay for sidewalks elsewhere.

Developer and engineer explanation: “The main issues are the amount of grading required … getting the sidewalk close enough to the traffic signal … would require significant grading around the backside of the existing mast arm,” project engineer Scott Zwizanski said, describing the technical challenges and saying, in effect, that an ADA-compliant ramp there would require waivers.

Township reaction and conditions: board members pressed the applicant on precedent and earlier fee calculations; the developer noted a prior fee-in-lieu had been calculated at $114 per linear foot while the approved construction-escrow number on the plan is $72 per linear foot. The applicant proposed applying the lower $72/foot rate to the full linear footage and paying the difference between that and the prior contribution. The board approved the waiver and the $72/foot fee-in-lieu and directed staff to send amended plans to the Chester County Planning Commission for the required statutory review.

Next steps: the board’s decision authorizes the developer to proceed with interior site work and apply for building permits while the amended plan goes to the county for review; the county planning commission review and any subsequent amended-plan approval will be scheduled at a future meeting.

What the record shows: the board made the motion, it was seconded, and the motion passed. The transcript records the board’s deliberations and the developer’s technical descriptions of the site constraints. The transcript did not include a roll-call tally by name for that motion.