1514 Robinson Ave

Building in a floodplain  : For every builder and developer who makes himself a "sweet little bundle" squeaking past the intent of our laws, the cost to the Township and some individiual residents is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Residents want their laws and codes upheld.
 Building in a floodplain has both costs and consequences for all of us.

  1514 Robinson Ave

The new house proposed at 1514 Robinson Ave will be fully within a floodplain, in an area where residents, and most especially, his next door neighbors  already  have water problems.

It's easy to see why : the floodplain in that area is huge, and once was even larger. And more and more of the floodplain land is that was shunned because of the problems that would be created years ago, is now being bought up and built on, because so few plots are still available. 

This creates a unique problem that requires all future development in the floodplain to be taken into account.



Probably some of our own homes should not even have been built because of the floodplain. Clearly our problems will all increase as the impervious area increases,  and the greenspace decreases . That will be costly  ( and thereby damaging)  to many of us and costly to the Township in the end, too because the Township has the responsibility of making the roads safe.   The water has already impacted  us, to the extent that the Township has had to do major drainage work at great cost to bring some relief to the area. Despite that, we still suffer frequently from wet and unusable ground.  This new home will surely exacerbate that situation.

All the Documents and the pictures of what he intends are here :
Documents start at page 114 here & go to page 163 (end ) https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/abingtonpa/91bfd979-a01f-11ee-a93d-0050569183fa-ca2b9c28-b9cf-4f17-b573-dd2752d4679e-1725981817.pdf

And here is our zoning ordinance https://www.abingtonpa.gov/home/showdocument?id=6053 where you will find the things below

Variances are not supposed to be given  if they will negatively impact or harm others.  Section 1410.6 D1d  says the variance may not  impair the appropriate use or development of adjacent property  or be detrimental to the public  welfare.

  And section 1410.6 D 3a warns that a project may not create additional threats to the public safety  or extraordinary public expense. But our ground is already wet and our streets already flooding from what they have already approved.

          

And the Township has already had to install a special drain just for these properties which already  is not proving to be sufficient to handle the water, so more will be needed ---at great expense to the Township  and to its residents, themselves, individually.

1410.6 D 3 b says  “nor create nuisances, cause fraud on, or victimize the public….”  There are few things that are more of a nuisance than having your yard be constantly wet  and  mushy and unuseable -- and the public is affected when roads are flooded. Such conditions lead to increased accidents.  And the storm drains that take the water to our creeks, or streams, find them already wet and unable to take more water. A watersoaked yard, as these floodplain properties have, simply cannot accept more water. And the catchment system that he is building will be luckly if it can handle the water from his roof and driveway.

1410.6. Variance Conditions. A. If granted, a variance shall involve only the least modification necessary to provide relief.  Because the house can be smaller, and need not be 30 ft wide, it is clearly not the minimum relief that could be granted. So the size of the house, decided solely by the applicant, is causing some of the problem as well.  

In 1410.6 B  It states that the measures have as their goal the protecting of the public health, safety and welfare. Welfare includes the value of their houses ;  when streets are flooding and lawns are soggy, home values decline.

               

Again, these sections are all found  in our Zoning code on page 85 https://www.abingtonpa.gov/home/showdocument?id=6053

Again, Mr Sebright’s  application is on page 118 of this link:
https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/abingtonpa/91bfd979-a01f-11ee-a93d-0050569183fa-ca2b9c28-b9cf-4f17-b573-dd2752d4679e-1725981817.pdf

In addition, Mr Sebright is required to complete all parts of the application. If it is not complete , it will not be placed on any Planning Commission agenda and  will be returned to the applicant. The hardships have not been properly clarified - #8 on page 117 requires the grounds in fact and in law for all the variances requested - and the hardships for those. And there is no allowance for a hardship of his own making. Hardships are supposed to be writting in the application from the time of submission. You can't re-write the application to submit a different one to the Planning Commission.
REQUIRED MATERIAL FOR ALL SUBDIVISION/LAND DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS: 1. This form MUST be completed and submitted. 2. A Subdivision/ Land Development Application MUST include all of the items listed in the application checklist in Section V to be considered complete. 3. Incomplete application will NOT be placed on the Planning Commission agenda. Incomplete applications will be returned to the applicant.....

We don’t  believe he has asked for  relief from section 1900, which states the intent of the entire zoning ordinance to be that  “nonconformities can be gradually eliminated”.   Instead this would create more  non-conformities, putting his driveway right up next to that of his neighbor on the other side and having  not just a non conforming lot - but a lot and side yards - beyond what a minimum relief would provide.  It was mentioned at the meeting that the neighbor whose driveway would be touching  might even have trouble  getting her car in her driveway. So she would be impacted even more.   

Section 1410.6 D1c tells us exceptions and variances are not supposed to be granted if the applicant has caused the need for it himself.   As we mentioned, the size of the house does not represent the minimal relief. Creating a smaller house with a 20 foot wide instead of 30 foot wide living room would not just create less pervious surace, but also could give him the width he needs for a driveway. So these non-conformities are created by the applicant, himself.

Section 1902  says   “Nonconforming impervious coverage levels may not be increased”. Allowing him more than the very minimum footprint would violate the intent of that section.

Section 1406.2 B4   In AE Area/District without floodway, no new development shall be permitted unless it can be demonstrated that the cumulative effect of all past and projected development will not increase the BFE by more than one foot.    If this is in the AE District ( which part I’m not sure of ) it sensibly asks for calculations including past and projected development. This should not be dismissed in a variance or special exception as they are asking to have done. This is vitally important and is exactly what we are saying..... the more that  development in the Floodplain is allowed, the more we are impacted (negatively - ie: harmed) by unreasonable measures that both we and the Township have to take. 

Section 1406.2 B5 prevents a permit from being issued  in such an area.  They want a variance or special exception for this but 1410.2C doesn’t allow that .

Section 1410.2C No variance or special exception shall be granted for any construction, development, use, or activity within any AE Area/District without floodway that would, together with all other existing and anticipated development, increase the BFE more than one foot at any point. (again maybe this isn’t in the AE Area/District, but whatever district it IS in, shouldn’t all other existing development be considered ? There are many lots in the area that were long ago skipped because of the floodplain but on which they now appear to be preparing for construction. )

Section 1407.2. Use Permitted by Special Exception. Driveways serving single family detached dwelling units…..  are permitted to cross the floodplain, provided disturbance to any existing woodlands and degradation of water quality are minimized to the greatest extent practicable. (again – minimized.  ie smaller house – no need for driveway to extend all the way to the neighbor’s)

Section 1407.2.  No driveways shall be permitted as a special exception if viable alternative alignments are feasible. ( You mean, like a smaller house ? That would allow a viable alternative alignment.)

Section 1407.2. In any case, pervious rather than impervious materials shall be utilized in the construction of any road or driveway situated within a floodplain. Is his driveway impervious?

Section 1410.2  I  Any structures permitted by special exception or variance shall be constructed and placed on the lot so as to offer the minimum obstruction to the flow of water …. (Does the “block foundation” they are using meet this requirement ? It doesn’t seem to…)

1410.2  K  Affirmative decisions shall only be issued upon determination that it is the minimum necessary, considering the flood hazard, to afford relief.  Which is reiterated as noted above in Section 1410.6. A. If granted, a variance shall involve only the least modification necessary to provide relief

Section 1410.6 C1. The granting of the variance may result in increased premium rates for flood insurance . This warns us that the more we build in a flood zone, the more everyone may be harmed as they have to pay higher rates and also may get lower sale prices if their rates go up . Variances can’t be granted if they cause harm to others. Can the “deciders” promise that the insurance rates of others won’t go up?

There are likely many more pertinent parts to our zoning ordinance that apply.

We would offer that the size of this house is far from the minimum that could be granted, if floodplain development where there is already distress from over-building should be considered at all.  It should be recognized that  there is a need to consider whether to put a moratorium on building  in the floodplain - this floodplain especially-  to avoid outrageously costly flood remediation measures that are needed throughout the Township.   Once you have seen the cumulative effect of past approvals, it should affect your actions going forward.  The best way to get out of a hole you have dug is to  stop digging .

As we noted, the Township, at great expense, tried to construct a drain to alleviate the flooding right at this location.  It improved things just a little but  is not at all sufficient. Adding more construction  will make things even worse.   Once we see how foolish building in a floodplain is, why do we continue to allow it?

The applicant will not be living in the property. He has bought it to sell. He will  profit from the problem he creates, and leave others to deal with the fall-out

The applicant  said he provided his phone to be sure the residents felt heard and cared for. I think at the September Zoning Hearing Board Meeting  it was clear the residents had not been heard, or cared for, at all.

In addition, the applicant admits that he submitted a proposal with a dry well seepage bed that would ultimately fail. That gives us little faith that his new submission is any more sound. What if the rain provides more than one inch - which these days is expected? This clearly is an accident waiting to happen. We don’t actually believe that there is a 1% chance  of flooding per year. Global warming weather changes have changed those kinds of  guidelines or calculations  pretty significantly in recent years. No one seems to really have been able to properly update them

We also would like to point out our disappointment on one more front.  Our ordinance has this requirement :

SECTION 1801. STAFF ADMINISTRATION:
A. The provisions of this Ordinance shall be administered and enforced by the designated Planning and Zoning Official…... It shall be the duty of the local Planning and Zoning Official and he/she shall have the power to:
8. ……present facts and information to assist the Zoning Hearing Board in reaching a decision; resist and oppose any deviations from the standard provisions of this Ordinance.

As you can see in this summary, there were definitely “deviations” from the standard provisions of the Zoning Ordinance, which sections have been quoted here for you to appreciate,  We would definitely have liked the Planning or Zoning Official to have opposed or resisted some of the parts of the filings in order to know that everyone is operating in concert with the law.  

  RESOURCES
Abinton Zoning Ordinance https://www.abington.org/home/showdocument?id=6053
Flood Maps https://dced.pa.gov/local-government/pennsylvania-flood-maps/
PEMA Floodplain Manager ra-emfloodplainmgtin@pa.gov

FEMA FLOOD MAPS

https://pafloodrisk.psu.edu/?address=2241%20Old%20Welsh%20Rd%20Willow%20Grove%20PA

 

 

    Please feel free to send your  information to us and please be sure to tell us about any information you believe to be incorrect - write to lel@abingtoncitizens.com