Before
THE TOBYHANNA TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
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In Re: Public Hearing to Consider Petition of Alfred
Natale and David Crumb to rezone part of
Parcel No. 19/15/1/22-27
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Tobyhanna Township Government Center Building
State Avenue
Pocono Pines, Pennsylvania 18350
Tuesday, March 12, 2007 beginning at 6:05 p.m.
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PRESENT: JOHN E. KERRICK, Chairperson
HEIDI A. PICKARD, Vice-Chairperson
HUGH LAMBERTON, Board Member
ANNE SINCAVAGE, Board Member
EMANUEL KAPELSOHN, ESQUIRE, Solicitor
ALSO PRESENT: PHYLLIS HAASE, Zoning Officer
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________________________________________________________
PANKO REPORTING
537 Sarah Street, 2nd Floor
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania 18360
(570) 421-3620
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1 MR. KAPELSOHN: I'm going to call
2 to order at this point the hearing to consider
3 the petition of Alfred Natale and David Crumb to
4 rezone part of Parcel No. 19/15/1/22-27, located
5 on Route 940 between Christ the King Family
6 Center and the First National Bank of Palmerton,
7 from low density residential to commercial.
8 This hearing was advertised in the
9 newspaper and I believe advertised by mailing to
10 everyone within the vicinity of the parcel.
11 First, is there anyone here
12 representing Natale and Crumb, the petitioners?
13 Anyone here representing Natale and Crumb, the
14 petitioners?
15 Hearing was called for 6 p.m. It's
16 now ten minutes after six. Is there anyone else
17 who wishes to speak on this petition for or
18 against it?
19 Yes. Please identify yourself for
20 the record.
21 MS. DIANE LAKE: I'm Diane Lake.
22 I live on Hemlock Road which is just off of Anna
23 Road in the Old Farm Estates.
24 MR. KAPELSOHN: How do you spell
25 your last name?
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1 MS. DIANE LAKE: L-a-k-e.
2 MR. KAPELSOHN: Thank you.
3 MS. DIANE LAKE: I've been here
4 now -- this is the second meeting concerning
5 this. My neighbors, Chris and John Rock, have
6 been coming for two years, although they
7 couldn't come tonight. They're still trying to
8 get some answers to, what is it that they plan
9 for the property.
10 And with some of those facts maybe
11 we then could make some decisions on our side as
12 to whether we should be for or against it. When
13 you have no idea what they're proposing -- we do
14 not definitely want them to bring the commercial
15 into the residential.
16 We moved into the neighborhood
17 knowing that it was a private community, not
18 necessarily gated, but that was all residential
19 and we didn't want any more than what is the
20 encroachment of the commercial on it. So for
21 the noise, the -- anything else that it would
22 bring with it, depending on what they plan to
23 do.
24 (Discussion off the record. )
25 MS. DIANE LAKE: My question is
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1 also, last time we had a meeting you voted not
2 to --
3 MR. KERRICK: That's what I
4 just --
5 MS. DIANE LAKE: -- to move the
6 line, so why are we having another meeting on
7 this?
8 MR. KAPELSOHN: My recollection is
9 it was at a meeting rather than a public hearing
10 on this petition.
11 MS. DIANE LAKE: No. It was at a
12 public hearing. It was just like this. I have
13 my letter from the last time.
14 (Discussion off the record.)
15 MR. KAPELSOHN: Right. Mrs. Lake,
16 would you like to step forth for a minute so I
17 can show you the map they submitted that shows
18 their proposal?
19 MS. DIANE LAKE: I have that. I
20 have the map. I have a copy of the map from the
21 last time.
22 MR. KAPELSOHN: All right. So
23 they propose that instead of the line being
24 here, this being 940 here --
25 MS. DIANE LAKE: Correct.
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1 MR. KAPELSOHN: -- they would have
2 it go diagonally from where the line comes
3 through the property to the east and go
4 diagonally down to this corner.
5 MS. DIANE LAKE: Correct.
6 MR. KAPELSOHN: Then like this and
7 across.
8 So you are aware of that?
9 MS. DIANE LAKE: Yes, I have that
10 copy. I have that copy. Thank you.
11 MR. KAPELSOHN: And in terms of
12 what they intend to do with the property, I
13 can't speak for them and I don't know what their
14 intention is, and I think what we all have to
15 assume is that they could make any commercial
16 use of the property that's permitted in a
17 commercial zone; so we have to make that
18 assumption.
19 MS. DIANE LAKE: It's a
20 frustrating thing for my neighbors, the Rocks,
21 wondering after two years why it's still going
22 on and after two years why something hasn't been
23 said as to what's going to be there. But we
24 definitely in the neighborhood, as far as
25 talking with other neighbors too, are not happy
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1 with that.
2 MR. KAPELSOHN: Okay. So you
3 oppose it?
4 MS. DIANE LAKE: Yes, I do.
5 MR. KAPELSOHN: All right. And
6 who else would like to speak, please?
7 MS. ROSE LICASTRI: My name is
8 Rose Licastri, and I own the property. I just
9 bought it this past July, behind King the
10 Church, so I would be the direct neighbor of
11 this property. So I'm very concerned because I
12 bought it being very private and now I don't
13 know what's going to happen.
14 MR. KAPELSOHN: Is your house
15 actually on Anna Road?
16 MS. ROSE LICASTRI: I just have
17 the land.
18 MR. KAPELSOHN: Is your property
19 on Anna Road?
20 MS. ROSE LICASTRI: Yes, 1 Anna
21 Road. So I'm against it too because I don't
22 know what he's planning to do right next to my
23 property line.
24 MR. KAPELSOHN: Are you directly
25 behind Christ the Church?
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1 MS. ROSE LICASTRI: Yes.
2 MR. KAPELSOHN: Excuse me?
3 MR. CHRIS POTTER: Her property
4 would be --
5 MS. ROSE LICASTRI: Directly
6 behind --
7 MR. CHRIS POTTER: -- connected to
8 the neighbor --
9 MR. KERRICK: Is that a map?
10 MS. ROSE LICASTRI: The one that
11 they sent here.
12 MR. KERRICK: Could I see it,
13 please?
14 MR. KAPELSOHN: Could we get the
15 spelling of your last name, please?
16 MS. ROSE LICASTRI: Yes.
17 Licastri, L-i-c-a-s-t-r-i. Carmela Rose.
18 MR. KAPELSOHN: Is this your
19 property right here?
20 MS. ROSE LICASTRI: Yes. So
21 depending on how it comes in, I'm right here.
22 MR. KAPELSOHN: So you're opposed
23 to it?
24 MS. ROSE LICASTRI: Yes, I'm a
25 opposed.
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1 MR. KAPELSOHN: All right.
2 May I ask who else would like to
3 speak, please?
4 MR. CHRIS POTTER: My name is
5 Chris Potter. I live past Maple Hill Road on
6 Anna Road and I have a three-year-old daughter.
7 Again, the question becomes, depending on what
8 they put in, you know, it's a very safe
9 neighborhood for children right now, there's not
10 much traffic.
11 They just put in speed bumps. You
12 know, the prospect of putting another commercial
13 property, even though it might not be, you know,
14 coming into Anna Road, it still might bring more
15 traffic through the development.
16 And, you know, one of the reasons
17 I think a lot of people bought the properties in
18 there is because of the private, you know,
19 sector and it's really safe. You know, we don't
20 want added lights, we don't want added traffic,
21 we're very happy with the way it is; so I'm
22 opposed as well.
23 MR. KAPELSOHN: All right. Who
24 else would like to speak?
25 Would you?
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1 MS. DINA TROMELLO: My name is
2 Dina Tromello, T-r-o-m-e-l-l-o. I share the
3 residence with my mother, Diane Lake. Same
4 thing, we are definitely opposed. This is -- we
5 moved to that neighborhood for a reason, out of
6 the city area. Granted there's commercial, you
7 know, in the area, but at the same time right
8 there, where there's no leaves on the trees in
9 the winter, you can see what's going on there.
10 And even if there is leaves on the trees, you
11 can hear what's going on, that close. No, we
12 don't want it that close.
13 Even if the line is just small for
14 the owner, there was a grace period of
15 additional feet they were going to get besides
16 moving that line; which when they were talking
17 about the last meeting, that would have maybe
18 moved it even a smidgen more, which would have
19 then still brought it even closer to Anna.
20 So if it's going to be something
21 like a food restaurant, a drive-thru, something
22 that's 24 hours, we're not -- we're definitely
23 not interested in anything like that being that
24 close to a residential area that's mostly wooded
25 with large pieces of property.
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1 MR. KAPELSOHN: Thank you.
2 Would anyone else like to speak?
3 Going once, going twice.
4 Does the board have any questions
5 of anyone who has spoken?
6 MR. LAMBERTON: When you purchased
7 those lots, you were aware that there was
8 commercial property on 940? You must have been
9 aware of that.
10 MS. DINA TROMELLO: That there was
11 some commercial out here? Yes. Sure,
12 definitely. But whether or not that the
13 commercial property creeped that far back into
14 our development? I don't think -- it's wooded
15 right now, so there's nothing there. So unless
16 somebody specifically said hey, just so you know
17 that over there is commercial, there's nothing
18 there right now.
19 MS. DIANE LAKE: But it was our
20 assumption that the properties that were on
21 Anna, all of the other lots were going to be of
22 the same depth because all the other lots seemed
23 to be pretty much the same depth from Anna
24 towards 940. Why wouldn't that lot also be?
25 MS. ROSE LICASTRI: Right.
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1 MS. DIANE LAKE: Why would we then
2 assume that the commercial end of it was going
3 to be longer than all of the other lots?
4 MR. KAPELSOHN: That's a good
5 point.
6 MS. SINCAVAGE: My comment would
7 be, the Palmerton Bank being another adjacent
8 property owner, if we give Natale-Crumb any
9 relief, who's to say that Palmerton Bank would
10 not want the same relief?
11 MR. KAPELSOHN: Any other comments
12 or questions from anyone?
13 All right. There being nothing
14 further the hearing is closed.
15 (Discussion off the record.)
16 MR. KAPELSOHN: We need to take
17 about a ten minute recess because the hearing on
18 the sewer tapping fee ordinance was called for
19 6:30, it's not quite 6:30. We want to make
20 sure --
21 MS. DINA TROMELLO: I have a
22 question.
23 MR. KAPELSOHN: Yes.
24 MS. DINA TROMELLO: When you say
25 this matter is closed, is it "closed" closed or
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1 closed so they can bring it up again and we come
2 back?
3 MR. KAPELSOHN: The hearing is
4 closed. The legal status of this is that Natale
5 and Crumb have asked us to certify the record of
6 all of the township's proceedings because they
7 do have a lawsuit pending against the township
8 on this. So something further is going to have
9 to happen, but the public hearing on this matter
10 is closed and over.
11 MS. DIANE LAKE: Is there a date
12 for --
13 MR. KAPELSOHN: Right now I don't
14 think there are any dates set.
15 MS. DIANE LAKE: Oh.
16 MR. KERRICK: We have another
17 agenda as well this evening to vote on a change
18 or a no change, so that will be on the agenda;
19 but then we can't tell what happens after that
20 point.
21 MS. DIANE LAKE: Okay.
22 MR. KAPELSOHN: All right. So
23 we're going to take a recess until 6:30 and then
24 we'll start the next hearing.
25 (Hearing concluded at 6:20 p.m.)
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8 I hereby certify that the
9 proceedings and evidence are contained fully and
10 accurately in the notes taken by me at the
11 hearing in the above matter; and that the
12 foregoing is a true and correct transcript of
13 the same.
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16 ______________________
17 EVILYS E. BRATHWAITE
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