Central Bucks outlines additions for Mill Creek, CB South; planning panel recommends small coverage variance

Central Bucks School District representatives presented sketch plans to the Hawaiian Township Planning Commission for two building additions — an eight-classroom, two-story expansion at Mill Creek Elementary and a multi-level rear addition at Central Bucks South High School — and the commission voted to recommend that the district seek a variance for a small increase in impervious coverage.

The district’s director of operations, Kevin Spencer, told the commission the additions are driven by a planned grade‑level realignment that will move to full‑day kindergarten, shift sixth grade to middle schools and move ninth grade to high schools to improve academic alignment and expand capacity in the district’s southern neighborhoods. “We’re moving to a full day kindergarten program,” Spencer said, explaining the district’s demographic study and enrollment projections led to the proposed work.

Tom Hanna, the district’s capital projects manager, said the CB South addition’s third floor is likely to include about six additional classrooms while the Mill Creek project would add eight classrooms. Ron Mokris, an engineer with Gilmore, described the site as three parcels totaling roughly 109 acres, with access through Bellflower Boulevard; the Mill Creek addition is on the westerly parcel and the CB South addition sits to the rear of that high school campus.

Township staff and the commission flagged two technical issues applicants must resolve. First, Mokris said the project would increase impervious coverage by about 0.3 percentage points over the site’s current condition; the campus is an existing nonconformity (older zoning once allowed 50% coverage, while the current ordinance permits 15%), so the district will need a variance from the zoning hearing board. The commission voted to positively recommend the coverage variance so the applicants would not have to return to the planning commission for the zoning‑board trip.

Second, a commissioner with long experience in building codes warned the CB South plan, as drawn in the sketch, would route exit traffic into an enclosed courtyard rather than to an outside public way, which can violate exit‑discharge requirements. “All exits just have to discharge to a public way,” the commissioner said, recounting that if occupants exit into a courtyard that requires reentering the building, the arrangement could create a pileup in an emergency; he advised the district to ensure the architect or a fire‑protection engineer resolves that detail before final land‑development submission.

Commissioners also asked the district to test soils for infiltration and explore practical stormwater measures. The township staff said they would work with the district’s engineer to test areas that may not infiltrate and, if necessary, the applicants will request a variance on the basis that a large portion of the site lacks infiltration capacity.

District staff described an approximate timeline: the Mill Creek work would be bid late this fall with construction through the summer and the addition ready for the 2026 school year; CB South design would be further developed next summer, bid in late summer 2025, and the addition would phase in later (late‑2027/early‑2028) as enrollment growth continues.

The commission’s motion to recommend the coverage variance passed by voice vote. Applicants were asked to consolidate the three parcels as part of the land‑development plan, address the stormwater infiltration testing, and provide the architect’s plan updates to confirm that exit discharges will meet code before final approval.

The commission did not take final land‑development action at the sketch stage; applicants were advised to file the variance application with the zoning hearing board and return with detailed plans for final review.