An outside municipal consultant has found irregularities with Lower Southampton’s building and zoning department operations under its previous director, including “numerous” development projects issued permits without completing the required approval process, according to a copy of a report obtained by this news organization.
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| Lower Southampton Township Building |
“Our fear is while this exercise reviewed a sampling of applications, there were many applications that were not reviewed that will contain similar irregularities,” wrote Keystone Municipal Services President Richard O’Brien in the June 11 report.
Earlier this year, Lower Southampton supervisors authorized Keystone to perform a two-year review of zoning and land development permit applications following the retirement of the department’s long-time director, Carol Drioli. The review was ordered to examine the department’s processes and procedures, verify compliance with state codes and identify any improvements that could be made.
A zoning officer generally serves as gatekeeper for applicants seeking to develop a property. The job duties may include determining if an applicant needs to seek formal subdivision and land development approval, which can be an expensive and lengthy process.
The report’s main recommendation is the township should hire “experienced” support for the current zoning officer to provide detailed reviews of subdivision and land development applications and zoning permits “while understanding and enforcing the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code requirements.”
The report examined seven subdivision and land development applications and files as well as 19 zoning and building permit applications between 2015 and last year. Keystone found multiple examples of poor record-keeping, lack of oversight, missing land development plans, missing signatures and inconsistencies between documents, according to the report.
The consultant also found the township’s in-house building inspector lacked the necessary certifications to perform key elements of inspection and plan reviews the job requires. It also found “numerous” files that indicated the inspector approved portions of construction using photos applicants submitted of the work and without on-site field inspections.
The township is paying an unidentified outside company to do plumbing, mechanical and accessibility plan reviews and inspections, according to the report, which also recommends the township hire an outside company to perform energy reviews and inspections that involve insulation and heating and cooling because the in-house inspector lacks that certification, too, though he had been performing the work.
The report cited the most “egregious” violation of the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code involved two office buildings in the 500 block of Bustleton Avenue. Both projects should have been required to obtain formal land development approvals, but instead were issued permits without them, according to the report.
One of the projects replaced a one-story concrete-block garage with a three-story office building in 2015, according to the report.
“This office cannot imagine that a zoning officer or building inspector with experience working in a community would have issued this approval without the project first obtaining land development approval,” the report said.
The second, two-story office building, which is currently under construction, was only discovered after the consultants visited the property to verify information about the parking area associated with a building permit issued for the three-story office building. The second office building is located in front of the three-story building on the same property.
The report recommended the township engineer discuss the second office project and site conditions to see if public improvements including parking, storm water regulations and site lighting were reviewed and approved. As of Monday, construction at the property was continuing.
The report mentioned that the property owner came into the zoning office with another building application while Keystone was conducting its evaluation. The report did not provide any information about that latest application.
When the owner was asked how the previous application for the three-story office building was approved without going through the land development process, he said he was told as long as the building stayed within the original footprint of the garage, no land development plan was required, the report said.
“This is obviously an incorrect statement,” the report added.
What the report’s findings could potentially mean for property owners of the completed — or underway — projects remain unknown.
Lower Southampton supervisors have not officially discussed or released the report. This news organization filed a right to know request seeking a copy last month and the township requested a 30-day extension, citing the need for legal review; in the meantime, a copy of the report was provided to this news organization by a source.
Township Manager John McMenamin declined to answer questions, as the report is undergoing a legal review, but said it is scheduled to be discussed at the July 11 supervisors meeting.
This news organization was unsuccessful in attempts to reach Drioli for comment as well as supervisors Joe McFadden and Ed Shannon after leaving voice and email messages. Supervisors Keith Wesley and Ray Weldie declined comment.
Supervisor Kim Koutsouradis said the board had not discussed the report as a group, but he read it and found the details troubling.
“I find many issues that are rather disturbing; there were many issues that were under the control of our former zoning officer,” he said. “I also have many questions I’d like answered with it as well.”
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