Village plans to be kept confidential
Peggie Williams
Dillsburg Banner
Carroll Citizens for Sensible Growth has appealed to the Office of Open Records to obtain stormwater and traffic study information on a new set of plans for the Village at South Mountain submitted to Carroll Township by Dillsburg Ventures, LLC.
“Just because the township and the developer are in confidential negotiations, they can’t keep public records private,” said Deana Weaver.
But because of a confidentiality clause in a settlement agreement over the township’s denial of the plan, the township is doing just that.
The clause that has caused the controversy states “…the reviews or plans exchanged pursuant to this agreement, or any other information related to this agreement and the settlement process shall not be disclosed at a public meeting, to the press, or otherwise disseminated to the public.”
This eliminates all public review or comment on the plan. Supervisors and township staff can say nothing about what is being negotiated on behalf of the residents of the township. They are unable to say how much input they have, who is doing the negotiating, or where in the review process they are.
Township Manager Dianne Price said the township did not ask for or want the confidentiality clause. They had to fight to make public the settlement agreement, which included the new sketch plan.
“We didn’t want this,” said Price. “We wanted things to be out in the open.”
She stressed that this negotiation with the confidentiality agreement is only for the preliminary plan. “The final plan will follow the usual procedure with open review and will have lots of time for public discussion.”
On Sept. 27, just days before the Carroll Township supervisors were to make zoning changes that would take the piece of land across the road from Logan Park from high density apartment/office to low density residential, plans were submitted for that parcel. It included what developers called a Traditionally Designed Neighborhood consisting of 242 medium and high density housing units and a 13 store commercial district.
During the next year and 3 month review process, Dillsburg Ventures made attempts to lower the number of housing units and bring the plan more in line with township requirements under the A/O zoning, but still had 27 comments left unaddressed and four waivers requests denied by supervisors when the plan as a whole was denied in February of 2008.
Several times during the review process for the Village at South Mountain, the attorney for the developer, Charles Spahr, threatened to “let the judge decide” the fate of the plan. Making good on their threats, Dillsburg Ventures appealed the denial to the Court of Common Pleas and won. Judge John Chronister mandated the township to pass the plan and grant all the waivers. Carroll Township appealed that decision and lost.
In February of 2009, Dillsburg Ventures offered the township the opportunity to see a new sketch plan and to let the court mediate a settlement based on that design. According to Price, supervisors liked this new design better than the one they denied and saw a way to save some legal fees by not taking things to the next court level, so they agreed to the settlement.
The agreement stipulates that the plan submitted by Dillsburg Ventures generally meets township ordinances. It provides that the township engineer and staff will have the opportunity to review the plan and make revisions three times then “the township shall sign the plans.” The agreement states that the “court will approve the signed preliminary plans” thus giving the courts the final say as threatened.
Price said the township can pull out of the negotiations at any time and go back to the courts to appeal the original plan one more time.
“But you never know what the courts will decide and the supervisors like several aspects of the new plan better,” she said. That includes the elimination of a road through the residential section from Logan Road to the commercial section on Route 15. It also moved the location of a road intersecting with Harrisburg Pike to a better location.
“It’s a compromise,” said Price.
As to the confidentiality agreement, the Office of Open Records has notified the township of CCSG’s appeal. The township stated a segment of the Sunshine law as their reason for not releasing the requested documents, but OOR said their reason were not sufficient. The township has until Aug. 31 to either satisfy the document request or supply OOR with an acceptable reason for not doing so.
Dillsburg Banner
Carroll Citizens for Sensible Growth has appealed to the Office of Open Records to obtain stormwater and traffic study information on a new set of plans for the Village at South Mountain submitted to Carroll Township by Dillsburg Ventures, LLC.
“Just because the township and the developer are in confidential negotiations, they can’t keep public records private,” said Deana Weaver.
But because of a confidentiality clause in a settlement agreement over the township’s denial of the plan, the township is doing just that.
The clause that has caused the controversy states “…the reviews or plans exchanged pursuant to this agreement, or any other information related to this agreement and the settlement process shall not be disclosed at a public meeting, to the press, or otherwise disseminated to the public.”
This eliminates all public review or comment on the plan. Supervisors and township staff can say nothing about what is being negotiated on behalf of the residents of the township. They are unable to say how much input they have, who is doing the negotiating, or where in the review process they are.
Township Manager Dianne Price said the township did not ask for or want the confidentiality clause. They had to fight to make public the settlement agreement, which included the new sketch plan.
“We didn’t want this,” said Price. “We wanted things to be out in the open.”
She stressed that this negotiation with the confidentiality agreement is only for the preliminary plan. “The final plan will follow the usual procedure with open review and will have lots of time for public discussion.”
On Sept. 27, just days before the Carroll Township supervisors were to make zoning changes that would take the piece of land across the road from Logan Park from high density apartment/office to low density residential, plans were submitted for that parcel. It included what developers called a Traditionally Designed Neighborhood consisting of 242 medium and high density housing units and a 13 store commercial district.
During the next year and 3 month review process, Dillsburg Ventures made attempts to lower the number of housing units and bring the plan more in line with township requirements under the A/O zoning, but still had 27 comments left unaddressed and four waivers requests denied by supervisors when the plan as a whole was denied in February of 2008.
Several times during the review process for the Village at South Mountain, the attorney for the developer, Charles Spahr, threatened to “let the judge decide” the fate of the plan. Making good on their threats, Dillsburg Ventures appealed the denial to the Court of Common Pleas and won. Judge John Chronister mandated the township to pass the plan and grant all the waivers. Carroll Township appealed that decision and lost.
In February of 2009, Dillsburg Ventures offered the township the opportunity to see a new sketch plan and to let the court mediate a settlement based on that design. According to Price, supervisors liked this new design better than the one they denied and saw a way to save some legal fees by not taking things to the next court level, so they agreed to the settlement.
The agreement stipulates that the plan submitted by Dillsburg Ventures generally meets township ordinances. It provides that the township engineer and staff will have the opportunity to review the plan and make revisions three times then “the township shall sign the plans.” The agreement states that the “court will approve the signed preliminary plans” thus giving the courts the final say as threatened.
Price said the township can pull out of the negotiations at any time and go back to the courts to appeal the original plan one more time.
“But you never know what the courts will decide and the supervisors like several aspects of the new plan better,” she said. That includes the elimination of a road through the residential section from Logan Road to the commercial section on Route 15. It also moved the location of a road intersecting with Harrisburg Pike to a better location.
“It’s a compromise,” said Price.
As to the confidentiality agreement, the Office of Open Records has notified the township of CCSG’s appeal. The township stated a segment of the Sunshine law as their reason for not releasing the requested documents, but OOR said their reason were not sufficient. The township has until Aug. 31 to either satisfy the document request or supply OOR with an acceptable reason for not doing so.