Union Township Planning Commission continues to edit proposed ordinances

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The Union Township Planning Commission continued to edit proposed new and updated ordinances at the April 1 meeting to account for resident questions and concerns.

They are in the process of workshopping ordinances pertaining to short-term rentals; non-commercial keeping of livestock and domestic fowl; fences, walls, and hedges; parking and storage of unlicensed vehicles; and the sale of home goods and homemade products. The commission gave guidance for further edits and did not vote on its final recommendation.

The board of supervisors has previously discussed the ordinances, offering opinions and receiving updates on the planning commission’s progress. The short-term rental ordinance would be new for the books, and the others would be adjustments to existing ordinances.

Township manager Brent McFeaters said the noncommercial keeping of livestock and domestic fowl ordinance updates were some of the more contentious discussions at the previous planning commission meeting. He said there was a misunderstanding that the ordinance would not allow residents to have chickens, when in fact, it would only be limited in high-density residential zones.

He said it’s meant to curtail residents from owning livestock as pets, which could also wander onto neighboring properties.

“There’s claims out there in other municipalities, in other townships, that this chicken happens to be my pet in high-density,” McFeaters said. “Pretty soon, you have another one, you have another one, and pretty soon you have six of them running around.”

If this ordinance is approved, residents would still be allowed to have chickens in low-density residential, open space conservation, and agricultural areas.

The chief resident concern regarding the fencing ordinance was for agricultural uses, McFeaters said. Planning commission members David Yavoich and Nathaniel Lum both said they’d be in favor of exemptions for farmers so they don’t have to receive permitting, especially when they sometimes have to move fencing for their livestock.

Residents attending the meeting said if they’re creating exemptions for farmers, then there should be exemptions for any agricultural usage. Lum said he would be in favor of that.

Township engineer Stephen Sherk recommended they clarify the related definitions so there’s no disagreement over an agriculture-related usage.

For the other ordinance that elicited public comment — the sale of home goods and homemade products — McFeaters said the changes are being proposed to correct inconsistencies. In open space zoning, people are able to bring outside products to sell in their stands, but this was left out in the ag district.

The commission ultimately decided to include a definition for agriculturally oriented commercial establishments in the ordinance for further review at the next meeting.

“They’ll give that to us before the next meeting, and then each of us individually will just go over it, make some notes for ourselves, bring all our notes together at the next meeting, discuss our notes, and hopefully we can send something to the supervisors,” Yavoich said.

The Union Township Board of Supervisors will meet at 3111 PA-72 on April 8 at 6:30 p.m. The next planning commission meeting will be on May 6 at 7 p.m.