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Planning Commission forwards HJ Towing expansion and waivers to supervisors
Summary
The Planning Commission recommended that the Board of Supervisors approve a 17,800 sq. ft. expansion for HJ Towing & Recovery and forwarded waivers for interior landscaping, curbing and sidewalk requirements with conditions; vote tallies were not specified.
The Silver Spring Township Planning Commission on May 1 reviewed a final land‑development plan from HJ Towing & Recovery proposing a 17,800 sq. ft. facility with associated access, parking and required stormwater improvements. Tyler Piotrowski of Geotech Engineering and property owner Jake Richcreek presented the plan and the applicant's request for development waivers.
Piotrowski told the commission that because of the large trucks serving the business "they are asking for waivers to the interior landscaping and curbing, because they would always be getting hit and damaged." Engineers and staff said the waiver requests make engineering sense but that policy decisions rest with the Board of Supervisors; Township Engineer Maitlin Greiner recommended that if interior landscaping is waived the applicant relocate those plantings elsewhere on the parcel.
Commissioners discussed whether sidewalk requirements should be waived or deferred across the entire parcel given plans to widen Ridge Hill Road. Commissioner Randy Duncan favored a deferral for the full frontage along Carlisle Pike; Doug McDonald and others agreed that a parcel‑wide deferral was preferable to a partial installation. Commissioners Ron Secary and Kelly Palmer said interior landscaping and curbing waivers were related and supported conditional approval with added landscaping elsewhere on the lot.
On separate motions the commission forwarded the following to the Board of Supervisors: a waiver of the interior landscaping requirement [SLDO 603.16] conditioned on relocating required plantings elsewhere on the parcel; a waiver of curbing [SLDO 604.02]; and a recommendation for a deferral option for sidewalks across the entire parcel [SLDO 604.1]. The commission also forwarded the final plan to the Board subject to staff and engineering comments. The minutes record that the motions "carried"; specific vote tallies were not provided in the transcript.
What happens next: The Board of Supervisors will consider the plan and the recommended waivers; the Planning Commission emphasized the landscaping‑relocation condition if the interior landscaping waiver is approved.
