Bristol Borough approved a plan to update its zoning ordinances, zoning map, master plan, and subdivision land development ordinance for the first time in over a decade by approving the hiring of Lynn Bush, the former executive director of the Bucks County Planning Commission, on the same night it announced Code Inspector John Miller is retiring.
Borough Manager Jim Dillon said the documents have not been comprehensively updated in about 10 or 12 years. Bush will oversee the process, Dillon said.
The borough announced the plan during the September council meeting. Zoning official Sally Bellaspica and Councilman Greg Pezza, met with Bush and spoke with her about providing council with a proposal to oversee the work involved with the updating ordinances and zoning maps, Dillon said.
Dillon said having Bush do the updating work is a “ a tremendous asset” for Bristol.
She served as a planner at the Montgomery County Planning Commission for two years and then started a planning consulting business which she ran until 1999. Ms. Bush’s clients were all municipal governments or nonprofit organizations. She became executive director of the Bucks County Planning Commission in 1999.
Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe said he supported the proposal and further announced his intention to appoint council members to serve on a zoning committee to assist with the updates and report progress back to council and the community at large.
Credit: Delaware Canal 21
Once approved, I’m going to appoint Mr. Quattrocchi and Mr. Pezza to serve on a zoning board, along with council vice-president Betty Rodriguez, DiGuiseppe said.
We want every ward represented to make this work, DiGuiseppe added.
The motion, which says to “accept proposal from…,” – the former county planning official did not include the price/cost for her “updating” services/work -, was approved unanimously. What is known, according to the meeting agenda, is Bush authored and submitted a proposal for approval to the borough which they did unanimously. How long the work will take, when it will start and what is actually involved was not discussed by members.
In an Inspection Department/Code Enforcement announcement, Inspector John Miller, who has led the department for years, submitted his letter of resignation as of October 1. He will not be leaving the position right away, officials said, noting the planned retirement is a six month warning to the borough,
Discussions will be held, on how to move forward with the inspection dept, in the coming weeks focusing on whether to hire new staff, said officials.
Miller, at one time, was once rumored to being considered for the job of borough police chief before and around the time former Chief Arnold Porter was preparing to retire (late 2105/2016). Miller, who served as law enforcement official in New Jersey before coming to work for Bristol Borough, said the rumors were not true at the time, but would laugh when this writer called him ‘chief’.’
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