Submitted by Adrian Garcia
Kost Road Trailer Storage
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Proposed location highlighted in orange, Leibys Mobile Home Park visibile to the north.
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A representative of Brinkash Associates brought forward a plan to construct a trailer storage lot and repair facility on a 43 acre plot of land between Kost Road and Appalachian Drive (Parcel 38-08-0571-032). This vacant land is currently being farmed, and is on the boarder between Silver Spring Township and Monroe Township. To the north is Leibys Mobile Home Park, where at least 15 trailers will boarder the proposed facility. The facility will store up to 385 trailers and also contain an office/repair shop. The applicant was seeking four waivers:
- SLDO 603.10: Marking parking spaces and interior drives
- SLDO 603.16: Interior landscaping
- SLDO 603.22: Parking space size for large vehicles
- SLDO 604.02: Curbing
All waivers seemed reasonable to staff and the Planning Commission as the ordinances in question are aimed at more traditional commercial developments.
Commission member Randy Duncan asked the representative if residents in the adjacent trailer court were informed of these plans. The representative indicated that they have not been in contact with any adjacent lots, as this is not required by the ordinance for this type of development.
When asked if this business would have 24/7 traffic, the representative indicated that they did not know. When asked if this business would be illuminated 24/7, the representative indicated that they did not know. When asked if the trailers would be empty, or if the contents would be valuable, the representative indicated that they did not know.
Given the uncertainties, multiple members of Planning Commission, the representative from Cumberland County, and the Township Engineer, Aaron Moyer, voiced their concerns about screening between this proposed facility and the trailer court to the north of the property. While the plan did indicate the code-required visual screening (one row of low shrubs, one row of evergreen trees) along the periphery, the developer was asked to work with Township Staff to provide additional screening on the northern side of the property. Commission member Doug McDonald noted he lived near a freight terminal and the experience was incredibly noisy, and while this isn’t a terminal, the uncertainty about operating hours concerns him.
The lime-green boarder around the facility is a mix of 6 foot tall Arborvitae and Red Maple
Also of concern to members of the Commission was the lack of a security fence on the plans, especially with the property being against a residential area where children live. After much pressure from multiple members of the Planning Commission, someone (I believe to be the applicant’s lawyer) took the microphone and said that they would be adding a perimeter fence to the plans.
During public comment, resident Clarence Bouchat took the stand to point out that the timing of this plans filing was impeccable. If filed just a day later, it would have been under a new set of ordinances requiring that this type of development be placed 500 feet away from residential lots. Had this been filed under the new ordinance, this property would be entirely unsuitable for this project. He also indicated that his Woodlands Buffer proposal, which the Board of Supervisors recently decided not to codify, would be a perfect tool to rectify this conflict between residential and commercial/industrial.
Despite the concern about fencing and additional plantings, no conditions were added to the plans. The planning commission recommended approval on all wavers, and unanimously voted to send the plan to Board of Supervisors on a Ron Secary/Doug McDonald motion.
Ordinance 2025-3 Revising Warehouse Use
This ordinance, seemingly a direct response to the SIlver Springs Trade Center debacle, aims to return warehousing back to a conditional use as it was before 2020. It was indicated by Scott Maldonado, Lead Land Development Specialist in the Community Development department, that this ordinance was written by the Board of Supervisors and Solicitor Sholtz.
Interpretation
There was quite a lot of cross talk and back and forth between the Planning Commission, Scott Maldonado, and Supervisor Laura Brown during her comments, and I was unable to fully understand the history. It is clear that there is quite a lot of backstory that I am not privy to, so I will try my best to interpret and apologize if this misrepresents the facts.
The reason for the initial change boiled down to the fact that many warehouses constructed in the 80s and 90s simply ignored the ordinances, and were therefore non-conforming structures. This meant that if a warehouse expanded or performed significant exterior renovations, they were required to go through Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, causing a lot of administrative overhead. In order to correct this and make these buisnesses conforming, the ordinances were amended in 2020 to make warehouses by-right. Supervisor Brown stated that she was unaware that these changes were being made when the 2020 refresh of ordinances was done, while Maldonado stated that this change was presented to the Board of Supervisors.
This change precipitated the Silver Spring Trade Center.
The Planning Commission opted not to comment on this ordinance, as it had only just been issued to them in the days leading up to the meeting. Comment will instead be provided at the April meeting.