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Planning commission reviews wide-ranging SALDO and zoning amendments including conservation subdivision and solar rules
Summary
The Planning Commission reviewed proposed SALDO and zoning amendments that would add conservation subdivision standards (including 50% open-space targets in some options), reduce residential street widths, allow apartments above commercial nodes, and set rules for principal solar energy facilities; members raised questions about soils, emergency access and routine waiver practices.
The Penn Forest Township Planning Commission reviewed a draft package of Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (SALDO) and zoning amendments at its Jan. 7, 2025 meeting, with staff outlining changes to open-space requirements, street dimensions, parking and new standards for large solar installations.
Nancy Sarcinello, listed as a guest and presenter, described replacing the existing open-space preservation approach with a conservation subdivision design and a park-and-recreation land or fee-in-lieu option that in some provisions requires 50% preserved open space. She also summarized a four-step design process for subdivisions and said sketch plans are optional but that submitted sketch plans should include topographic maps and aerial photos. "The bad soils would be in the green area. The houses would be on the land where the soil is good," Sarcinello said in response to a commissioner question.
Commissioners pressed staff on several details. Commissioner Chris Rau expressed concern that proposed narrower street lanes—reducing lanes to 10-foot widths and pavement from 32 feet to 28 feet—could impede emergency and delivery vehicles; Sarcinello replied that the draft places poorer soils in greenway areas and that she would "double check the meaning of the verbiage" about how soils are treated. Chairman William Miller asked whether a 200-yard threshold was considered rural; Sarcinello said that areas outside the quarter-mile were not allowed certain uses under the draft.
The draft also proposes zoning changes to allow apartments on the second or third floor above commercial uses in C1 and C2 districts near major intersections to form mixed-use nodes, and it introduces a Principal Solar Energy Facility (PSEF) conditional-use framework with a five-acre minimum, up to 60% lot coverage, panel height limits, native grass seeding, fencing, and decommissioning and site-restoration requirements. Rock Stahovic, township engineer and representative of the BIA, suggested removing three waivers (trees, title opinion, and scale) from the ordinance language because they are "always granted." Sarcinello said she would take the suggested amendments back to the Board of Supervisors for further review.
Next steps: staff will clarify soil/greenway language, confirm any minimum thresholds or acreage references, and return amended language to the supervisors for ordinance drafting and further review. The commission did not adopt the ordinance at the meeting; the draft was discussed and additional clarifications were requested.
