Addisville Commons Hearings Progress Slowly

While it is moving along meeting by meeting, the process for the Board of Supervisors to decide whether or not to approve the Addisville Commons development continued slowly last night.

The Board of Supervisors met at at 7 to continue the decision-making process about the Dreher Group's application to put a new development in the old Davis Pontiac site.

The auditorium was half full of local residents who, despite previous meetings' performance, kept relatively quiet throughout the evening.

Attorney John Ryan began with questioning of the sixth applicant, Bridget Scipione. she was accepted as an additional party fighting against the development plan under Ryan, along with Murray Battleman, owner of . 

Ryan questioned her first, then the Dreher Group’s attorney, Marc Kaplan, cross-examined her. One of her main concerns was that the proposed plan includes a road that cuts behind her property, currently a wooded area. She said she felt would bring in more traffic where it doesn't need to be.

"I have a new driver," she said. "I don't think I want her driving around with all this traffic either."

In addition to her personal concerns, she said she didn't see a reason to create more vacant storefronts until the current ones had been filled. 

"Right now I know something needs to go there," Scipione said. "I definitely don't want another supermarket there."

During Kaplan's cross-examination, attorneys from each side objected so many times it caused Board of Supervisors President Geroge Komelasky to call for respect for the "lowly supervisors." He said even though it wasn't a courtroom, the hearings should be run as if it were so that the procedure could move along smoothly.

Kaplan brought his witness, Joe LaCagnina, Giant's director of real estate, up for examination. During that time he asked LaCagnina several questions that allowed him to explain what Giant's hours, truck deliveries, parking lot lighting and community involvement would be like.

"Giant stands by its philosophy of living here and giving here," he said. "We have a strong commitment to giving back to the community in which we operate."

The cross-examination by township attorney Tom Smith took only a few minutes. Kaplan said he had anticipated it running longer and therefore had not prepared any other witnesses, so the meeting ended early.

In addition, Ryan and the Dreher Group's project manager, Gregory Glitzer, discussed specific details about revised plans A-9 and A-10 and whether they met the requirements in the Zoning CodeOrdinance 140-38A, or Conditional Use Procedures. 

The next hearing will be Thursday, Aug. 4, at 7 p.m. in the Administration Building. Hearings will continue each Thursday at 7 p.m. and last until 11 p.m. until the issue is resolved, excluding Aug. 25, Komelasky said. 

The meetings will be moved to township property so they can last longer than 10:30 and be televised in real time. Komelasky said this may persuade some people to watch from the comfort of their homes, too.