Politics & Government

Miller's Ale House All Set to Begin Construction

The full board of commissioners approved the land development application of the restaurant during the Sept. 12 regular meeting. Also, a commissioner addresses power outages and a resident reports a sewer issue.

At the Sept. 12 full board regular meeting, the commissioners gave unanimous approval on a resolution that will allow the construction of a Miller’s Ale House restaurant.

Representatives of the restaurant were present at the meeting, helping to answer any final questions the board had for the project. As with last month’s Community Development Committee meeting, the board reviewed each of the several waiver requests by Miller’s Ale House.

As reported in , the waivers concerned relatively minor details in the overall construction plans, such as shrubbery placement and the use of rain gardens.

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However, the majority of the waivers did adhere to the township’s newly amended ordinance on zoning and land development (No. 1602).

This ordinance, whose approval preceded the vote on Miller’s Ale House land development resolution that night, mandates new construction to follow specific storm-water management.

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Among other amendments pertaining to the ordinance, new construction would have to limit having 100-percent impervious surfaces, such as concrete and asphalt, in order to stem water runoff.

The Miller’s Ale House construction answers this with its stated inclusion of several rain gardens and landscaped islands. The islands will have their own shade tree.

The ordinance also states that property owners are responsible for storm water management maintenance.

Charles Gallub, a developer for Develcom, reassured the commissioners that such green technology for storm water management is durable during drought or flooding.

Although Miller’s Ale House will use the already existing Home Depot storm-management system for flooding issues, the restaurant property will also use retention basins and an HDPE (high density plastic) storm sewer pipe, in lieu of concrete.  

Gallub said that construction is expected to start in less than two weeks. According to the previous Patch report, construction may last up to 140 days. And its total costs are expected to be $938,212.

Ward 7 commissioner James McKenna also brought up the fact that Miller’s Ale House will presumably sell alcohol at the restaurant, and questioned whether or not construction should begin, despite the fact that the restaurant does not yet have it’s state liquor license.

“We are confident we will receive a license,” Gallub responded.

 

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More from the reporter’s notebook:

 

Power outages due to storms

In related news to storm water management, Ward 2 commissioner Kevin Spearing addressed damages incurred throughout the township because of recent heavy rains brought on by a hurricane and tropical storm.

Speaking during commissioners comments, Spearing said widespread power outages occurred, reporting that the storms’ heavy winds downed many tree branches and underlying power lines. He said that the issue of tactical pruning was addressed in Ward 1, prior to the recent storms, but he was not satisfied with cable maintenance throughout the rest of the township.

He suggested that residents make phone calls to their phone and power companies, as well as their ward commissioner, and notify them of any potential dangers to power lines.

 

Overflowing sewers

A resident voiced a complaint to the township, asking for help in dealing with a constantly flooded sewer. The resident, who said she lives at the bottom of a hill along Cowbell Road, described how the sewer adjacent to her property constantly overflows during heavy rains, often flooding her basement. She said that she had difficulty in understanding whether or not it is a township issue.

The resident spoke during public comments of the public hearing portion for ordinance 1602, which addresses amendments to the zoning and land development code.

Township solicitor Kate Harper explained that the amendments voted on that night won’t address existing storm water management issues on properties, as they concern new construction.

Ward 5 commissioner Kip McFatridge suggested that she contact her ward commissioner with issues specific to her property, and invited her back to the Sept. 19 Community Development Committee meeting, where her specific issue concerning flooding, and other similar issues of residents, can be heard by the committee.


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