FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) — The Venango County Planning Commission gave their conditional approval to the proposed construction of a new self-storage unit in Cranberry Township at their Tuesday evening meeting.

The plans for a 3,200 square foot storage unit along with the associated entrance drive proposed by Scott Snow on a property located near the corner of U.S. 322 and State Route 257 sparked some discussion due to the design of the proposed stormwater management system, the bioretention area for which would stand on a separate lot, also owned by Snow.

The concern was, as the bioretention area sat on a separate lot, what would happen to the system if the separate lot were to be sold in the future. Due to the existing structures on the two lots, they could not be combined.

The commission voted to recommend an easement between the two lots be added to the Stormwater Easement Agreement condition of the approval.

The conditions of the approval include receipt of a financial security in accordance with the PA Municipalities Planning Code, receipt of six fully executed plan sets free of typographical error, along with the requisite recording fees, receipt of a fully executed Operations and Maintenance Agreement, and receipt of a fully executed Stormwater Easement Agreement.

The commission also approved a request for a waiver of the lighting plan requirement for the same project due to the very limited lighting planned for the project, which all be directed downward and will not spill over onto any of the adjacent properties.

Other Business

The planning commission approved the meeting location for the 2019 board meeting dates.

The board previously discussed the possibility of moving the meetings from the current location, the FICDA Training Room located at 191 Howard Street, back to a formerly used location at the Courthouse Annex building. However, due to the Courthouse Annex location not being available for all of the meeting dates, the board voted to continue holding the meetings at the FICDA Training Room.

Reports

According to Deputy Director Hilary Buchanan, three grant agreements were recently received from PEMA:

• $422,082.00 to fund the installation of generators at the Sandycreek Municipal Building, Sandycreek Firehall, and 150 Prospect Avenue in Franklin, where the new Emergency Operations Center (EOC) will be located. The estimated project duration is two years.
• $485,725.38 to fund the installation of fiber optic lines through Sandycreek Township and the City of Franklin, as well as upgrades to 150 Prospect Avenue to create the new EOC. The estimated project duration is three years.
• $88,594.96 to fund the purchasing of variable messaging signs and barriers. The estimated project duration is one year.