Cornwall Knoll plan seeks time extension, planning commission talks stormwater

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The Cornwall Borough Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously agreed to recommend council accept a time extension for the 46-lot Knoll plan at its Sept. 8 meeting, with John Karinch abstained.

The commission also discussed stormwater runoff in recent storms and agreed to discuss possible changes to the borough’s ordinances at future meetings.

The plan was set to expire this month, but with a resubmission Aug. 26, borough alternate engineer Josh Weaber is still working through the details. If a time extension was not offered, council would have been expected to make a decision on the plan this month. However, if accepted, the time extension allows the borough until its Oct. 12 meeting to make a decision on the plan.

Though a previously submitted version of the plan included 53 lots, the newest version only contains 46 and no longer requires the vacation of part of the Boyd Street right-of-way by the borough.

Developer Cornwall Properties previously said that if this vacation was not granted, homes along this part of the road would need to be set back. Last month, council tabled action on the matter while they looked into why the right-of-way was pushed back.

Resident group Citizens United 4 Responsible Development founder Jeremy Zimmerman questioned clear-cutting in the portion of the site planned for homes. Cornwall’s code of ordinance (14-2225) only allows 30% of a woodland to be cleared for development, and though this is satisfied by the plan with vegetation left as is to the south of this area, Zimmerman noted that Cornwall Properties plans to later subdivide this area off into the warehouse lot.

Weaber said he would consider this while reviewing the plan. Zimmerman asked the commission if they felt Cornwall Properties should be allowed to count a portion of land planned for subdivision toward forestation requirements for the Knoll plan.

P&Z chairman Ray Fratini said he feels “we clear cut way too much” but that the role of the P&Z is to check plans against current ordinances. He told Zimmerman not to view him as his enemy.

Councilman and P&Z member Bruce Conrad said he felt the tracts should be considered separately according to the ordinance. Though Fratini indicated that other board members should provide an opinion, solicitor Josele Cleary said that personal opinions are not relevant to decisions of the board.

“It is what the ordinance says, the borough council enacted an ordinance and borough council must follow the ordinance, not personal preference, so asking what someone’s personal preference is is contrary to the Municipalities Planning Code,” said Cleary.

A representative of Cornwall Properties said the plan follows borough ordinances, both regarding forestation and other resident concerns like soil quality and stormwater management.

The commission also discussed stormwater runoff at the 131-home Cliffs development, which has drawn complaints from neighbors since large portions of the site were clear-cut last year while developers began site-work for phase one of the plan.

A major storm Aug. 27 caused renewed flooding, both around this development and throughout Cornwall. Both Weaber’s office and the Lebanon County Conservation District investigated flooding at the Cliffs afterwards and, Weaber said, came to similar conclusions, finding that the storm could be classified as between a 250- and 1,000-year storm and the developer generally could not be expected to plan for such events, though they provided a list of minor changes that should be made to the site’s stormwater management (enforcement overseen by the conservation district).

Rexmont Road resident Patrick Leibich said Tuesday that the Cliffs development includes a retention pond directly up the hill behind his and his wife’s home, and said stormwater streams down his property “every minor rainstorm we get.” He said he sent Cornwall Properties representative Mike Swank a list of damages from the Aug. 27 storm, which Swank has not yet responded to.

“This did happen before, this happened in May of 2025 and July of 2025, I have video documentation,” said Leibich. “So this 250-year retention pond happened twice in the last year, that’s probably three times.”

Weaber said the developer is responsible for ensuring stormwater runs off the same way it did prior to development, and said he will look into the matter further.

Though reforestation is required when developers clear-cut, replacement trees are planted at a height of around six inches and take years to develop the root systems of their predecessors. Commission member Joe Lescisko asked Cornwall Properties about plans for reforestation at the Cliffs and was told the 90 tree-per-acre requirement will be met after new trees are planted this fall.

Also Tuesday, residents continued to voice concerns about soil quality, with one resident alleging that runoff from the Cliffs development contained harmful chemicals that led to the death of their koi fish. Cornwall Borough Council recently began looking for a geotechnical engineer to look into resident Jane Clark’s concerns about soil quality and stormwater management.

During a public comment period at the start of the meeting, resident Jo Roussey urged the commission to consider updating its ordinances as major storms increase in frequency. She said that, with the Freeman Estate now known not to be a closed trust (i.e. it could be sold to a developer), the borough should revisit its ordinances to look at acreage and stormwater requirements.

“In 2020, the National Atmospheric and Science Center sent out a notice to let everyone know that we will begin to experience greater storms, higher winds than we’ve ever had before, and I think we all realize in the past few weeks how that has happened,” said Roussey. “If there’s any way we can look at reviewing, refreshing, bringing things up to date, not for a 100-year storm, but for the storms that we can expect; we know tornadoes, we’ve had how-many tornado warnings, you never had that here before but it’s coming. The tornado alley is moving up this way.”

Later, the board informally agreed to discuss this matter, as well as the possibility of incorporating soil-testing requirements in the borough code of ordinances, at a second monthly meeting Sept. 14 at 10 a.m. These morning meetings, which were paused over the summer, are intended to discuss policy matters whereas the commission’s regular meetings discuss already-submitted plans.

In other news, the board:

• Heard that the borough is reviewing an engineer proposal for design of an alternate road planned for land now under negotiation for sale from the Elizabethtown Area Water Authority.
• Heard that the Freeman Estate trust is open to a meeting with the borough on potential sale of part of the property.
• Unanimously approved the minutes of its Aug. 3 meeting.

Cornwall P&Z meets the first Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. It also holds a special meeting the second Monday of each month at 10 a.m. to discuss draft ordinances and legislation. Meetings are open to the public and do not require prior registration, and are livestreamed on the borough’s Facebook page.