Planning Commission Meeting Tuesday, April 25th at 7:00 pm, Township Building and on Zoom

PlanningCommission

The next Bridgeton Twp. Planning Commission/BTPC meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday, April 25th at 7:00 pm .   Please note the time change.

This BTPC meeting will be live at the Township Building and on Zoom and may be recorded.

To join the Zoom Meeting, click this link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/2265158569?pwd=bmJuY3FOUTRNNkxSa1lFZkt3NWdPUT09

Bridgeton Township Planning Commission Agenda for April 25, 2023

1) Call to order at 7:30 p.m.    This Zoom meeting may be recorded. 

To Join the BTPC Zoom Meeting click on:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/2265158569?pwd=bmJuY3FOUTRNNkxSa1lFZkt3NWdPUT09

Just click and wait till you are seeing the meeting                                                                                                       

2) Requests from the public to be heard:

3) Review and approval of the March 28, 2023 draft minutes.

4) Updating the Bridgeton Twp. Comprehensive Plan Lead/Roger Keller:

Objective for this BTPC meeting: is to complete working toward coming to a consensus on a few last CP update items and moving the CP update forward.

>Discussion of any changes, additions, deletions to the ‘Summary’ and ‘Recommendations’ sections of the draft.

>Requests for any other suggested changes, additions, deletions to the CP

>Land Use – Zoning Districts

>Request for the inclusion of 3 groundwater studies in the CP update that were completed after Bridgton Townships last Comprehensive Plan:

Insert on pg 76, under the heading Water Supply, at the end of paragraph 3.

·         Hydrogeology and Ground-Water Quality Of Northern Bucks County, Pennsylvania – U.S. Geological Survey, Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4109

Within the summary (on pg. 75) of this study area in northern Bucks it was stated that:  “Diabase has no primary porosity, and the depth of fracturing rarely exceeds 100 to 150 feet. Therefore, all ground-water flow is through fractures, and nearly all ground-water storage is in the upper weathered zone. Where the weathered zone is absent, little ground-water storage is available. Many wells drilled into diabase penetrate underlying hydrogeologic units, and these wells may derive some or all of their water from the underlying units.”

·         Hydrogeologic Framework Of The Diabase Aquifer At The Boarhead Farms Superfund Site, Bridgeton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania – U.S. Geological Survey, Water-Resources Investigations Report 96-4090

“The Hydrogeologic investigation at the Boarhead Farms Superfund Site was done to characterize the framework of the diabase aquifer underlying the site. The primary water-producing fracture system is less than 30 feet below land surface.”… “The diabase aquifer is low yielding with low transmissivities.”

Insert the following study in the Wetlands section, pg 23, at the end of second paragraph:

·         Wetlands Study Results for Tinicum Creek Watershed, Bridgeton, Nockamixon & Tinicum Townships, Bucks County, Pennsylvania – BNT GMC and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; USEPA Grant Number 66-461

This joint effort “performed wetlands inventorying and characterization tasks, and performed recharge potential quantification tasks. Results of the study are deemed appropriate for use as planning tools by the respective townships.”

>Going forward per the Bucks County Planning Commission:

The Bridgeton Planning Commission can begin the adoption period once they are satisfied with the plan. You can announce the start of the review period at a BTPC meeting, and then the Bucks County Planning Commission will work on sending letters out to the surrounding municipalities and school district, notifying these entities of the review period.

The plan just needs to be posted for public viewing. Usually this is on the municipality’s website with a physical copy also made available at the municipal building. There is no legal requirement to advertise in the local news source or on social media, but these extra steps can certainly be taken.

The township just needs to advertise the public meeting as it would any other meeting and put the action item on the agenda. The date does not need to be set when you announce the start of the review period. It would make the most sense to just have the BCPC present the plan at your regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting via Zoom as we have been doing. The public meeting can occur within the 45-day review period. So if you decide to start the review period at your April meeting, we could meet in May to present the plan to the public.

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Thinking about as we update our current 1994 Comp. Plan…

-What are Bridgeton’s challenges since last Twp Comp. Plan of 1994?

-Should the Comp Plan Map/pg. 31 be changed? How/in what way?

-Ref. the CP Map…What are Bridgeton Townships land use goals?

-Ref. the CP Map… What is our vision?  “What do we want to be?”

-Decide what we DON’T want in the plan.

-What maps should be included and available as digital, GIS and paper

>A few census stats from:  The U.S. Census, type “Bridgeton Township, Bucks County, PA” into their search bar. https://data.census.gov/cedsci/          

>The county data portal includes a parcel viewer, pipeline viewer, county documents, historical aerials, ag. and open space properties mapping: https://dataportal-bucksgis.opendata.arcgis.com/#County%20Initiatives

>The parcel viewer has a number of useful overlays, including various imagery, zoning, land use, and natural resources: https://bucksgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=2eda3020dd9847eaa00d1d6c0764a607

>The 2011  County Comprehensive Plan  explores issues on a regional basis.

>With the 2020 census completed, the latest County CP info. updates at:  www.bucks2040.com  and   https://bucks2040-bucksgis.hub.arcgis.com/     

6) Planning Commissioners Comments: 

The next BTPC meeting will be on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. 

7) Public comments

8) Adjournment