Have You Ever Been Off-Roading in a Buick Regal?

[amykhar]

I have

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Amity planners inspect proposed town house site
Two township supervisors join a caravan to see how a developer's plans for 200 houses would fit on the 100-acre plot off Amity Park Road. By Amy Anuszewski
Reading Eagle correspondent

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When it comes to larger developments, the Amity Township Planning Commission doesn't like to recommend approval of a site, sight unseen.The planners called a special meeting for Thursday night to tour a site for a proposed 200-house development off Amity Park Road.

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After calling the meeting to order outside the township municipal building at about 6 p.m., the five planners and two township supervisors drove to the area to see for themselves how the plans would fit the land.

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About two miles and five minutes later, the caravan arrived at the 100-acre site.

“Now where's the driveway going to be?” Joseph Hayi, planners chairman, asked.
Bryan D. Boyer, project manager with Bursich Associates Inc., Pottstown, pointed to the precise spot on Amity Park Road where he intends to build an entrance.
The planners stood at that spot, looked down the road in both directions, and decided that there is enough visibility to make an entrance possible.

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Then, members of the group climbed into their pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles and drove to another section of the site.

This portion is intended for about 100 town houses on four cul-de-sacs, Kathie Benson, secretary to the planning board, said while pointing to the sketch plan.

Afterward they suggested a looped road might be better for the area.

Last year the developer proposed about 270 age-restricted town houses for the same site.
But those plans fell short of the planners' recommendation.
“If we had agreed to age-restricted housing last year, would we be going through this now?” Supervisor Richard L. Gokey said Thursday night.
“This is going to mean 400 more kids in the schools,” he complained.

After checking the part the developer intended to leave as open space, the group drove about a half-mile deeper into the site, traveling over waist-high grass and brush.
Again, the group compared the site to the engineering plans, noting various landmarks and features.

Lightning flashed in the distance and the sky darkened.
Hayik hastily adjourned the meeting, and the caravan cautiously followed their tire tracks back through the brambles toward the main road.

Planner Paul Weller said afterward that the planners always go out individually and inspect proposed development sites, but the members, as a group, like to go together to review larger, or more controversial plans.
“You make better decisions that way,” he said.
The next step for the developer is to submit preliminary plans for the project.

[lynnzop[$]]

Then, members of the group climbed into their pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles

and Buick Regals.

Nice article!

[amykhar]

We're not supposed to put ourselves in the story. Otherwise...

[lynnzop[$]]

I've been off-roading in a ZX2. Not an especially brilliant idea. Kind of bottoms out.

I remember when we were in college someone got a Pinto stuck on an island between two lanes of a main road. We needed to get across and the island was in the way.