Mack's Newtown Voice

Lisa Wolff Reviews 2020 Census Data on Jointure Housing

At the 18 Sept 2023, #NewtownPA BOS meeting, Supervisor John Mack secured his right to hear and judge the evidence provided by KRE Upper Macungie Associates, LLC (“Applicant”) in its challenge to Newtown's zoning. During the hearing, Mr. Mack asked the applicant's expert witness - Town Planner Thomas J. Comitta - to clarify remarks he made in his testimony. Recall that KRE is seeking to build a mu...

This is an edited recording of the discussion I had with residents who attended the 11 September 2023 Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting. Among the topics discussed were; (1) Lower Dolington Road Trail problems identified by residents and by the township engineering firm, and (2) The proposed plan to amend the zoning to allow the development of a 120-unit "Garage Core" apartment complex off of South Sy...

At the September 6, 2023, Newtown Borough Council Meeting, Mr. Warren Gormley - executive director of the Newtown, Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority - informed Council members that the Authority is investigating the possibility of acquiring land and building its own sewage treatment plant in Newtown Township. The Authority is looking into the feasibility of acquiring a 17.5-acre tract on Lowe...

Attorney Joel Winston, Cohen Law Group (CLG), answers questions about the draft Wireless Communications ordinance [https://bit.ly/v1_DraftWirelessJMZOordinance] his firm developed for #NewtownPA Area Joint Zoning Council (JZC). The Q&A session was held on July 6, 2023, meeting of the JZC. At CLG, Mr. Winston defends local governments from cable and wireless disputes in state and federal courts. He...

At the June 14, 2023, #Newtown PA Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting, resident Tom Crawford, Esq. chastised the Board for refusing to disclose the terms of the “secret” settlement deal with WAWA before voting. "I just think that that is grossly unfair and entirely contradictory to your obligations." He asked the BOS to defer the vote until the public had a chance to see the details of the settleme...

At the 22 May 2023 Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting, residents discussed the pros and cons of reducing speed limits to improve pedestrian safety. The discussion focused on Newtown-Yardley Rd between Lower Dolington Rd (LDR) and Washington Ave in the Borough and LDR along the soon-(hopefully)-to-be-completed multi-use trail. Should pedestrians just jump in front of cars at crosswalks and expect them t...

At the 22 May 2023 Meet Mack Zoom meeting [https://www.johnmacknewtown.info/22may23mmm.html#grille], participants had a lively discussion of the impact that a proposed Capital Grille would have on parking in the Newtown Village (aka Brixmor) shopping center. Should the Newtown Board of Supervisors (BOS) oppose this plan? Before that decision is made, however, the BOS will decide if will approve th...

Participants at the 22 May 2023 Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting discussed Deluca Construction's plan is to build two single-family homes on 3.08 acres whereas Newtown's Conservation Management (CM) District permits only one house on 3 acres. The developer must seek zoning variances from the Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB), but the company's solicitor will appear before the Newtown Board of Supervisors (B...

Participants in the 22 May 2023 Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting talked trash. It began with a seemingly simple question: "Should Newtown Township contract with one trash company for savings, efficiency, less noise and pollution?" It quickly moved on to how some homeowners associations have taken matters into their own hands to reduce costs and reduce noise and other pollution by hiring a single sour...

This proposed amendment addresses all types of signage including billboards, both on and off-premises. On May 2, 2023, the Newtown Township Planning Commission tabled discussion to review some research done by previous Planning Commissions.

At the April 27, 2023, Bucks County Tax Collection Committee meeting, the discussion focused on the Sterling Act and passing a resolution to formally request the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Senators and Representatives of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania to amend the Sterling Act and require that an amount of up to one (1%) percent of the non-resident Philadelphia Wage...

At the April 24, 2023, Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting, Cindy Neutson expressed concern about speeding and pedestrian safety on Lower Dolington Road (LDR), especially along Roberts Ridge Park. Frank McCarron suggested that the speed limit be reduced to 25 MPH as it was on Newtown-Yardley Rd and Sycamore St. I am not against this idea but I suggested that the best time to bring up this issue with the...

At the April 24, 2023, Meet Mack Zoom meeting, a resident ("John") whose home is located in the Conservation District (CM) off of Twining Bridge Road, opposed the plan by Deluca Construction, which is seeking to subdivide a 3.08 acre parcel at 70 Twining Bridge Rd into two lots for single family homes whereas the CM District permits only one home on 3 acres.

At the April 24, 2023, Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting, Newtown Township resident Frank McCarron criticized the comments made by McCaffrey's VP of Operations at the April 3, 2023, Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) meeting (LINK: https://bit.ly/McCaffrey_v_PlasticsBan). At issue was the proposed single-use plastics ban that the EACH introduced at that meeting. NOTE: Mr. McCarron is the husband of...

At the April 3, 2023, Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) public meeting, McCaffrey's Markets VP of Operations suggested that Newtown Township wait for legislation at the state level before enacting its own version of a single-use plastics ban. She suggested the passage of such legislation might happen by the end of the year. The McCaffrey's representative suggested that by enacting a single-use...

On April 3, 2023, the Newtown Township Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) held a special public meeting to discuss a proposal to ban certain single-use plastics at township retail and restaurant establishments. During the meeting, Faran Savitz, Zero Waste Advocate, Penn Environment, made a presentation that summarized the environmental and health problems posed by non-recyclable plastics and mad...

At the February 20, 2023, Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting, a resident was concerned about pedestrian at the crosswalk located at Lower Dolington Rd and Beasley Dr. She suggested that the speed limit be reduced to 25 MPH to make it safer for pedestrians. This is a 3-minute audio snippet of that discussion.

Do you have a "specific set of skills" that can be called upon to inform Newtown Township Supervisors on various issues such as traffic? That was a concept put forward by Marc Björkman at the February 20, 2023, Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting. This is a 10-minute edited audio snippet of that conversation.

At the February 20, 2023, Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting, a Newtown Twp resident raised the issue of handicap parking on the east side of North Sycamore Street between Newtown Pizza and Penn Community Bank. This is a 2-minute edited audio snippet of that conversation.

At the January 26, 2023, meeting of the Bucks County Tax Collection Committee, Joseph W Lazzaro, Vice President & General Counsel, KEYSTONE collections group, gave an update on Earned Income Tax (EIT) collected in 2022. The bottom line: EIT Collection Up 7.6% in 2022! I learned that supervisors must pay EIT on their $4,132 yearly stipend whether they "earned" it or not!

At a special session of the Newtown Township Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB) on January 30, 2023, Provco/Wawa appealed the ZHB's 2021 denial (see https://sco.lt/6Eh7rM) of all signage and fuel dispenser variances to the JMZO E30 zoning ordinance. Provco is challenging Section 803.E.30.3, Section 1103.CA, and Section 1101.A of the ordinance, as "arbitrary, unreasonable, and not substantially related to...

At a special session of the Newtown Township Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB) on January 30, 2023, Provco/Wawa appealed the ZHB's 2021 denial (see sco.lt/6Eh7rM) of all signage and fuel dispenser variances to the JMZO E30 zoning ordinance. Provco is challenging Section 803.E.30.3, Section 1103.CA, and Section 1101.A of the ordinance, as "arbitrary, unreasonable, and not substantially related to the purp...

Residents of developments along Lower Dolington Road (LDR), including Woods of Saxony and Hill Haven, have complained about tractor trucks parking on LDR near their developments. As one resident said: “I would like to express my concern regarding tractor trailer trucks parking on dolington road. There are at least 2 that park there all the time and it looks terrible. The trucks also block road sig...

This discussion tool place at the October 18, 2022, Newtown Township Planning Commission Meeting. Speaking are Craig Deutsch, Planning Commission and Joint Historic Commission (JHC) member, and Greg Adelman of Toll Brothers. Mr. Deutsch questioned Mr. Adelman about a potentially historic farmhouse on the site proposed to be developed by Toll Bros. An agreement between Toll Bros and the township ca...