Amity Township weighs a four-community land-use plan

Amity Township’s supervisors open Wednesday’s meeting with a public hearing on a long-range plan for how the township and three neighbors should grow, then turn to another round of bills for the township’s sewer-plant overhaul.

The Board of Supervisors meets Wednesday, August 19. A public hearing on adopting the joint comprehensive plan is set for 6:30 p.m., with the regular meeting at 7 p.m., according to the agenda. Residents can comment on agenda items at the meeting.

A shared plan for four communities

A comprehensive plan is a long-range guide for how a community wants to handle growth: where housing, business, and open space should go, and how roads, parks, and public services should keep up. Pennsylvania municipalities are expected to keep one, and it sets the direction that later zoning and land-use decisions are supposed to follow. The plan itself does not change any zoning rule.

Amity is updating this plan jointly with Exeter Township, Douglass Township, and St. Lawrence Borough, according to Exeter Township. The county’s on-file joint plan for the area currently covers only Amity, Exeter, and St. Lawrence; the updated version adds Douglass and is known as the SEAD plan, for the four communities’ initials. A joint plan lets neighboring governments line up their goals for land and roads that cross their borders. Wednesday’s hearing is Amity’s chance for residents to speak before the board votes on adopting it.

Our guide to how Berks County government works explains how townships, the county, and the state divide responsibility for land use and other services.

More bills for the sewer plant

Amity is in the middle of a major upgrade and expansion of its wastewater treatment plant, and Wednesday’s meeting carries the next set of payments. The board will consider approving $886,930.35 in disbursements, including $565,304.45 drawn from the township’s sewer capital reserve fund. Four construction contracts on the plant, covering general work, plumbing, heating and cooling, and electrical, each have a payment due, along with a change order for equipment in the plant’s digesters.

The board will also consider hiring its engineer to run a 2026 tapping-fee study. A tapping fee is the one-time charge a property owner pays to connect to the public sewer system; a study can lead the township to change what it charges new connections. A separate engineering order covers design work on the Leaf Creek interceptor, a main sewer line.

Other business

Also on the agenda: a resolution to authorize a state grant application for in-car police cameras; renewal of Service Electric’s cable franchise; a resolution adding four FM Browns properties to an agricultural security area, a state program that helps protect farmland; conditional final plan approval for River Rock Academy; and the sale of a 2013 Ford F-350.

How to weigh in

The public hearing and meeting are open to the public Wednesday, with the hearing at 6:30 p.m. and the regular meeting at 7 p.m. The township office, at 2004 Weavertown Road in Douglassville, can be reached at 610-689-6000. For meeting times across the county, see our guide to finding your township or borough meeting schedule.