Caernarvon Hears Zoning Map Change, Eyes Police Grant

Caernarvon Township's supervisors meet tonight with a public hearing on a new zoning map, a state grant application for renovating and expanding the police station, a vote to buy a ballfield on Morgantown Road, and a decision to hire an outside lawyer for an investigation. The agenda lists all of it without a single dollar figure.

When and how to attend

The Board of Supervisors meets Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 6:30 p.m. The board holds its regular meeting on the second Wednesday of each month and a workshop on the fourth Wednesday, and its minutes this year place the meetings in the Caernarvon Township Municipal Building, 3307 Main St., Morgantown. Tonight's agenda does not list a location.

Public comment comes early. The agenda's "Comments from the Assembly" slot, right after the call to order, invites residents to speak "on any matter including agenda items." Under the township's order of business rules, speakers sign in, give their name, and keep comments to about three minutes. The zoning-map hearing is a separate chance to speak on that item alone. For other towns' meeting nights, see our township and borough meeting schedule.

A public hearing on the zoning map

The first business item is a public hearing on an ordinance "to Amend Chapter 500, Zoning, to revise the Zoning Map," according to the agenda. A zoning map is the drawing that shows which zoning district, and therefore which rules, apply to every parcel in the township. The hearing is where residents can speak on the map before the board votes on it.

The agenda gives no detail on what the new map changes. The township has posted no draft map or legal notice for the hearing on its website, and its hearing-documents page lists no zoning-map hearing. What is on the record comes from earlier minutes. In January, zoning officer Jeff Kerlin told the board the map "requires several updates due to subdivisions over the years and several roads that are not" on it, and the board approved moving ahead with the map updates at a quoted cost of $748, according to the Jan. 14 minutes. An updated map was shown to the board in March. On May 27 the board voted to send the map ordinance to the township and county planning commissions for their 30-day review, post the map around the township, and "schedule the public hearing to enact the map amendment," per the May 27 workshop minutes.

Those minutes describe a cleanup. One later record hints at a question. On June 16 the solicitor told the township Planning Commission that Berks County had reviewed the amended map and "questioned the zoning assigned to a particular parcel," which would need to be verified "as to whether it was a incorrectly zoned parcel or if the parcel zone was changed," per the Planning Commission minutes. Whether the final map goes beyond a cleanup is the question for tonight. The same zoning-map amendment appeared on the board's amended Sept. 9 agenda, which we read in September and which the township has since taken off its agendas page, and the township has not posted minutes for any meeting after its Aug. 26 workshop, so what happened to it on Sept. 9 is not public. The board is also set to approve the Sept. 9 minutes tonight.

This map change is not the township's data-center ordinance. That is a separate rewrite still in the works; on Aug. 26 the solicitor said it "is moving along" with the planning commission, per the workshop minutes. We covered where Caernarvon's draft stood in July in our six-townships data-center roundup.

A grant to renovate and expand the police station

Two items deal with a grant for what the agenda calls the "PD Reno/Exp Project": Resolution 2026-48, "Designating officials to execute the LSA Grant," and a vote on "signing the Funded Commitment Letter for the LSA Grant." The agenda does not say how much money is involved.

LSA is the state's Local Share Account program. Under the state's gaming law, casino revenue is distributed through the Commonwealth Financing Authority to pay for "projects in the public interest," and municipalities are eligible applicants, according to the Department of Community and Economic Development. The township already receives casino money directly: its treasurer reported a fourth-quarter casino revenue payment of $324,604.05 in March, per the March 11 minutes.

The project has been building since January, when the board discussed renovating the whole township building because the staff is growing, per the Jan. 14 minutes. On Aug. 12 the board hired Entech Engineering for $5,000 to write a standard LSA grant application for "Township Building/Police renovations that are estimated in cost up to $600k," according to the Aug. 12 minutes. Both items match the paperwork the program requires of applicants: the state's program guidelines say applications are received from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 each year, require a resolution designating two officials to execute the documents and identifying the grant amount, and ask applicants for commitment letters covering other funding for the project. So tonight's votes read as steps in filing the application, not an award; the agenda does not say either way, and no award amount appears on the township site. Because the guidelines require the resolution to state the amount, Resolution 2026-48 itself should carry the figure the agenda leaves out.

Buying the CCDSA field on Morgantown Road

Resolution 2026-47 is listed as "Acquisition of 6289 Morgantown Road (CCDSA Field)." The agenda does not give a price, a seller, or the terms, but the township's minutes trace a months-long transfer. On Jan. 28 the board approved, 4-1 as the minutes record it with Supervisor Ken Parris abstaining, a settlement agreement with the Conestoga Christian Day School Association "over the MAA Baseball parcel" that reimburses the school $27,003.95 for attorney fees and the cost of improvements, half within 30 days of signing and half within 30 days of a Berks County Orphans' Court order approving transfer of the property to the township, per the Jan. 28 workshop minutes. Parris cited a conflict of interest.

In February the board approved a "Park and Field Use Contract with CCDSA," after striking a line about removing sponsorship signs because it conflicted with "the settlement agreement signed with CCDSA," per the Feb. 25 workshop minutes. In March the treasurer reported paying the first half of the settlement "for the baseball field," $13,501.97, per the March 11 minutes, and on March 25 the board voted 4-1, Parris again abstaining, to approve a petition authorizing the transfer of the "Conestoga Christian Ballfield" to the township, per the March 25 workshop minutes. By April 8 the solicitor reported the required courts had been notified and the township was "waiting on attorney general to proceed," per the April 8 minutes, and the Aug. 12 minutes list a hearing on the transfer of the field scheduled for Aug. 31. Tonight's resolution appears to be the closing step; whether 6289 Morgantown Road is that field rests on the agenda's "CCDSA Field" label.

Conflict counsel for an investigation

Item K asks the board to approve "the Engagement Letter for Conflict Counsel Investigation." That is the whole description. The agenda does not say what is being investigated, who is involved, or what the lawyer will cost. In general, conflict counsel is an outside attorney a township hires for a matter its regular solicitor cannot handle because of a conflict of interest; the agenda does not say whether that is the case here. The township's solicitor is Eric Brown of Siana Law, per the Aug. 26 minutes.

The Turnpike bridges and two bridges closer to home

The agenda lists "Turnpike Bridge Project and Main Street & Valley Rd Signal Plans" as a business item with no further detail. The Pennsylvania Turnpike's plan to replace its bridges in the township has worried the board all year. In February the supervisors learned the Turnpike intends to replace both the South Twin Valley Road bridge and the Main Street bridge at the same time, said they "do not support this plan" because of detour traffic, and authorized their engineer to send PennDOT a letter about the intersection and signal equipment at the Sheetz, per the Feb. 11 minutes.

Separately, the administrator's report includes a "Thousand Oaks Bridge Engineering Report & Invoice." The township hired Witman Engineering in May for bridge engineering estimated at $31,400 and approved a $5,000 Entech proposal to apply for a state Multimodal Transportation Fund grant for the bridge, per the May 13 minutes. In August the bridge engineer reported a higher 100-year flood elevation that will require removing sediment from the stream bed and at least one more permit, and the administrator's report said grant results were expected in November at the earliest, per the Aug. 12 minutes.

Money items with no numbers

• A "2027 Budget Update" is listed under the expense section. The agenda gives no figures. In August the administrator and treasurer were working out what the township could afford to borrow for 2027 road projects, per the Aug. 26 minutes.
• Resolution 2026-49 moves money "from Credit Card account to GF & Accrual accounts." GF means the general fund, the township's main operating account. No amount is listed.
• A 2027-2030 lease for the library building. The Village Library's current lease ends this year, and the board said in August it had no changes to request, per the Aug. 12 minutes.
• A 2027 memorandum of understanding with the Animal Rescue League, and a quote from Glick for public works vehicle maintenance. No terms or amounts appear on the agenda.

Also on the agenda

• Fire police requests for a live burn session on Oct. 24 and the Honey Brook Halloween Parade on Oct. 26.
• Approval of minutes from the Sept. 9 regular meeting, the Sept. 16 roads inspection, and workshops on Sept. 23 and Sept. 29. None of those minutes are posted yet; the newest on the township's minutes page are from Aug. 26.
• Routine monthly reports from the zoning officer, police, fire, EMS, the library, the planning commission, and the engineer and solicitor.

Sources and contact

• Board of Supervisors agenda, Oct. 14, 2026 (PDF)
• Board of Supervisors agendas page
• Board of Supervisors minutes page
• Local Share Account program, Pennsylvania DCED

Caernarvon Township Board of Supervisors: Chair Paul Whiteman Jr., Vice Chair Keith Fritz, and Supervisors Sandra Styer, Ken Parris, and Paul Whiteman Sr., per the township's board page. Township Administrator Heather Brendle. Township office: 3307 Main St., Morgantown, 610-286-1010.

Township supervisors control zoning, township roads, and the township police department. For what each level of government decides, see our guide to how Berks County government works. Caernarvon is one of the municipalities the Twin Valley School District serves; see our preview of the district's $4.2 million ballfield vote.