Cumru planners recap Imagine Berks outreach, review planning-submission steps ahead of potential data center

Commissioners reviewed recent Imagine Berks County outreach and used the session to walk through the township’s planning-submission procedures, describing sketch plans, preliminary and final plan reviews, land-development waivers and the role of the Zoning Hearing Board and Board of Commissioners for conditional uses.

The commission said Berks County held regional workshops in several municipalities including Brecknock, Shillington, Mohnton, Spring Township, West Reading, Wyomissing and Cumru. Commissioners recommended colleagues sign up for Berks County Planning Commission emails and training schedules to track updates to the county comprehensive plan.

Commission staff gave a plain-language overview of the township review process: sketch plans offer informal feedback; a preliminary plan is the first formal submission that will receive a written engineering review; and a final plan is approved and recorded once all conditions are met. Staff also described a new waiver-of-land-development procedure instituted last year that allows applicants to argue a project does not require full land-development review; staff said that waiver may not apply if a project’s scope — for example, added impervious surface or stormwater facilities — expands.

The commission also noted that certain uses, including a potential data center, are reviewed as conditional uses by the Board of Commissioners with a formal hearing record rather than by the Zoning Hearing Board; the developer may submit land-development plans concurrently but zoning approval is typically required first.

Next steps: commissioners encouraged members to review the outreach slides and training materials and to monitor pending state legislation mentioned by a member that could change municipal planning code requirements.