Mack's Newtown Voice

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...

On December 20, 2022, the KRE Group presented to the Newtown Planning Commission a plan for development of 17.87 acre parcel in the OR, Office Research, Zoning District to construct a luxury rental apartment building with 225 units, 244 surface parking spaces and 232 garage parking spaces. Synopsis by PC Chair Peggy Driscoll: The Jointure does not permit such a residential use in any of our zoning...

On December 20, 2022, the Newtown Planning Commission reviewed a sketch plan submitted by Kushner Real Estate (KRE) Group to construct a multi-story residential apartment building/complex containing 225 luxury apartments on a 17.87-acre parcel. Access to the site is proposed via two, two-way driveways along the Bypass and Silver Lake Road. At the outset of the meeting Edward F. Murphy, Esq (Wisler...

In May 2022, the Township Engineer informed the Board of Supervisors that the LDRT project encountered some “unexpected utility conflicts” during construction, which impact the underground infiltration trenches designed as part of this project. This is predominately in the area between Stanford Place and Everett Drive. Lumens was scheduled to relocate their conduit last year, which became January,...

Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority (BCWSA) recently announced that it is considering an offer from Aqua to purchase its sewer (but not water) assets for $1.1 billion dollars (read “Bucks County Moves Ahead on $1.1 Billion Offer to Sell Sewer System to Aqua Pa.”; https://sco.lt/63oDya). BCWSA and Aqua are now hosting a series of private and public meetings to answer questions from municipalitie...

At the May 25, 2022, Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting, there was a lively debate regarding whether or not to send the 5G wireless JMZO amendment back to the Joint Zoning Council (JZC) with the changes, corrections, additions suggested by the CKS, the Township Planner. There was a disagreement as to whether and WHEN other changes such as those suggested by Mr. Andrew Campanelli, ESQ. should be pa...

At the May 25, 2022, Newtown Board of Supervisors (BOS)Meeting, Newtown Engineers Leanna Colubriale requested that the BOS approve a change order delay of 60 days for the completion of the Lower Dolingtown Road Mult-use Trail. The change order was required because of “unforeseen utility conflicts.” Ms. Colubriale answered questions from supervisors regarding specifics and the relocation of fencing...

On May 23, 2022, representatives of Pennsylvanians for Safe Technology hosted a Zoom meeting with Andrew Campanelli, Esq., who is a national expert in telecommunications law. Mr. Campanelli reviewed the current version of the JMZO Wireless/5G Antenna Ordinance and summarized several problems including a “fatal gap” that renders the entirety of the ordinance moot! Mr. Campanelli also discussed othe...

On May 19, 2022, Jeremy Stoff, Planner at Bucks County Planning Commission (BCPC), met Newtown Economic Development Committee (EDC) members via Zoom to present an outline of BCPC's plan for a LI/OLI Overlay District. The goal of the plan is to revitalize the Newtown Commons by allowing for certain currently not permitted uses that would help keep businesses in Newtown and provide more local servic...

On May 3, 2022, Bucks County Planning Commission (BCPC) representatives gave the Newtown Planning Commission an overview of the concept of an overlay district for the Business Commons, explaining that within an overlay some loosened requirements or additional uses could be added to the existing zoning. LINK to presentation: https://bit.ly/BCPC_OverlayPreso

Ted Dorand, PECO External Affairs Manager for Bucks County, was a Special Guest speaker at the April 19, 2022, meeting of the Newtown Economic Development Committee (EDC). In this audio clip, Mr. Dorand speaks about solar power in response to a question from Matt Peters, the Chair of the EDC, about installing solar panels in parking lots and/or other open spaces. Mr. Dorand also explains how PECO...

On April 19, 2022, representatives of Volta Charging, LLC, came before the Newtown Township Planning Commission (NTPC) to discuss a plan to install two Electrical Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations in landscape islands located in the parking lot of ACME in the Newtown Shopping Center. Testifying for Volta were Michael J. Megnniss of Begley, Carlin & Mandio, LLP, and John Stuckey, VP East Charging Solu...