Planning commission recommends land‑development approval for BAPS expansion with conditions

An applicant representative for BAPS described a multiyear review process for a proposed expansion at 998 Eastern Road, including a previous unsuccessful zoning hearing and a land‑use appeal. The representative said the most recent revisions address most technical comments and that only a few waivers remain under discussion.

Commissioners reviewed waiver requests and engineer comments and discussed landscaping documentation. One waiver would substitute approval by a registered civil engineer for review by a Commonwealth landscape representative for this smaller project; staff and the commission expressed no objection assuming a registered Pennsylvania civil engineer stamps the plan. The chair proposed a condition adding a notation on the plan and in the building/fire documents that the maximum occupant load is 175 to align the submitted parking calculations with the building’s posted occupancy.

A motion to recommend preliminary and final land‑development approval for the BAPS expansion, conditioned on compliance with the engineer’s letter and the occupancy notation, was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote. The commission also recommended granting the waivers applied for. The vote was a voice aye from those present; exact tallies were not recorded in the transcript.