Great Valley Town Board
By Jim Gill (09/26/2008)

New Zoning Laws Approved

On Monday September 8, 2008 the Great Valley Town Board held its regular monthly public meeting. The meeting was well attended by the public, but was not close to the size of the crowd that packed the meeting hall in the Board’s regular meeting on August 11 (estimated at more than 50 persons).

The most important issue on the agenda was the scheduled vote on the proposed new zoning laws. During the August 11 meeting, a number of misconceptions about the proposed zoning laws were eliminated through the discussions with Supervisor Dan Brown, Town Attorney Ron Plotz and Town Engineer Mark Alianello indicated that a number of legitimate concerns raised by residents during the August 11 meeting were addressed in the new revised draft of the zoning law, as well as many of the concerns raised by an informal committee of Great Valley residents organized at the August 11 meeting who met with the Zoning Committee on August 26.

Some residents at the September 8 meeting requested additional changes, which Town Engineer Alianello stated he believed would substantially weaken the proposed zoning laws. A resident asked Town Attorney Plotz whether it was legal for Town Board members who were also members of the Zoning Committee to vote on the new zoning laws. Mr. Plotz stated that various case law and other precedents did indeed allow such Town Board members to vote on the zoning laws. After discussing and considering all of the public comments, Town Attorney Ploetz suggested that the Board vote on whether or not to accept the zoning law recommendation from the Zoning Committee.

After formally accepting the recommendation of the Zoning Committee, Supervisor Brown asked that the Town Board formally vote either for or against the new zoning law as written. The final vote was 4-1 in favor of passing the new zoning law, with council member Lori Finch representing the sole vote against the law.