Begin the meeting by standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Okay.

The first item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes for the February 2nd 2026 meeting.

These minutes were distributed to the commissioners in advance of today's meeting.

Do any of the commissioners have any changes to the minutes?

Okay.

Seeing no changes, I move to approve the minutes of the February 2nd, 2026 meeting.

Do I have a second?

Yes.

Second by Commissioner Gollis.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Unanimous 60.

Motion passes.

Next item on the agenda is the consideration of zoning hearing board application appealed 3254 concerning 378-380-384 West Lancaster Avenue.

Here the applicant is the owner of three properties and proposes to consolidate the three parcels into a single lot and expand the existing motor vehicle repair shop use, among other things, the applicant proposes to demolish the existing building on 380 West Lancaster and renovate the existing building on 384 West Lancaster to expand the vehicle repair shop use on the 378 West Lancaster property.

Many of the existing use area off-street parking off street loading and access and highway frontage nonconformities will either be eliminated or reduced with the proposed lot consolidation and development as stated in the materials.

The proposed development requires relief from the zoning hearing board.

Is there a representative for the applicant?

Good evening, Jamie Jen here on behalf of the applicant.

As you have just stated, uh the applicant owns the three contiguous properties on Lancaster Avenue.

On 378, there is an existing motor vehicle repair shop.

That is a non-conforming use that has been there for uh a long time, and they had received a special exception at some point to expand the existing building.

Um 380 West Lancaster Avenue currently, or the last use was a retail service shop, 384 West Lancaster Avenue is a restaurant use.

So we are again proposing to consolidate the lots, demolish the existing building in the middle, and then um expand the motor vehicle repair shop.

We are scheduled to go before the zoning hearing board later this month.

We have had a uh sketch plan submission to the township as well and received preliminary feedback from the township engineer and the child ship traffic consultant.

And uh those comments that we received resulted in the most recent plan that will be going before the zoning hearing board.

Uh we are here before you tonight because we will need subdivision and land development approval, um, assuming we get the zoning approvals that are required.

So we are here to answer any of your questions tonight.

Um, but we will be returning once we file a formal subdivision and land development application.

Uh again, assuming we get all of the necessary zoning approvals.

Okay.

And with regard to the zoning approval, can you explain uh what it is that you're seeking?

Yes.

So we are seeking a variance from Code Section 280-51, um, the C2 use regulations to consolidate 378 with 380 and 384, and to use the consolidated law for motor vehicle repair shop and/or in the alternative special exception under Code Section 280-101-A1 to change a non-conforming use and to another to another nonconforming use, which is the motor vehicle repair shop.

Um 380 West Lancaster Avenue, which has the retail service shop.

It does have a residential unit on the top floor, and so that use is nonconforming because this is a commercial district.

Uh the restaurant obviously is a conforming use.

So again, what we're proposing is to eliminate the nonconforming retail and the residential portion and uh expand the motor vehicle repair shop.

We are also seeking a variance from Code Section 280-101A2 to extend and enlarge the non-conforming motor vehicle repair shop use and building to more than 50% of the area devoted to the nonconforming use and for the extension of the building to maintain the existing area and set back regulations and to permit more than one extension to a nonconforming building.

See under the code uh you are permitted to have a limited expansion of a nonconforming use, but again, that opportunity was used up a number of years ago when we filed that earlier special exception.

So we are seeking a variance to further expand that existing nonconforming motor vehicle repair shop.

If and to the extent necessary, we're also seeking a variance from code section 280-103B20 to provide less parking spaces than required for the proposed development.

All three of the lots currently are non-conforming to the parking requirements of the code.

Um with this consolidation, we will be greatly lessening the nonconformities that exist.

A total of 36 spaces are required.

We are proposing a total a total of 32.

Currently, when you look at the three uses across the site, I believe the total park parking required is over 100 parking spaces, and there's only um let me see.

There's 46.

So 111 parking spaces total will be required for all three of those existing uses.

There are existing 46.

So as you can see, the parking nonconformity will be greatly reduced with the lot consolidation and the use that is being proposed.

Also, if if and to the extent necessary, we're seeking a variance from Code Section 280-112D to permit parking within areas of steep slopes due to existing grading.

There is some limited areas of slope, I think particularly to the rear that we may need to disturb.

Um I don't believe the township engineer had any concerns.

They may be man-made slopes back there, um, but we are seeking that relief to the extent that we need to have that.

Also, if and to the extent necessary, we're seeking a special exception to have parking within the required front yard setback and/or in the alternative areas from Code Section 280-105F to have off-street parking areas less than 20 feet from the street right-of-way.

The existing conditions are already that we're less than 20 feet from the street right-of-way, and we also have sparking currently within the front yard.