Township business

Put July 30 on your schedule if you live in West Marlborough. The township supervisors will be holding public hearings on two contentious topics: (1) at 7 p.m., a zoning amendment that would allow off-site parking in the villages of Springdell and London Grove and (2) at 8 p.m., a 0.5 percent earned income tax assessed on township residents.
The common thread linking these two issues is the Whip Tavern, the Springdell bar/restaurant that is popular with everyone except a few of its neighbors (known as the "Springdell 8"). The Springdell 8 have complained vociferously about the parking problems at the Whip. In response, the township first banned parking on the shoulders of Springdell Road, but the problem has persisted: the lot is simply too small.
Which leads to Issue 1, the proposed zoning amendment, which would allow a business to have parking on a  separate lot from the principal use in the township's Village-Residential zones (Springdell and London Grove village). The logic, according to the proposed amendment, is that many of the lots in the zone "do not meet the minimum lot area requirement thereby resulting in principal uses on lots that do not have adequate space for the use." (That would certainly seem to be the case with the Whip.)
The parking lot has to be within 150 feet of the main property, 500 feet if there's "a continuous off-street path, sidewalk or accessway that directly connects with the principal use."  The ordinance includes regulations on the off-site uses in terms of size, lighting and signage. (The township planning commission suggested forbidding overnight parking and requiring the lights to be turned off after closing.)
Cathy Huston, one of the Springdell 8, objected to the amendment at the July 3 township meeting, saying that nonconforming uses like the Whip "don't really belong there" and should be tolerated only if "they stay their right size." The Whip, she said, has "greatly expanded" and "outgrown its space," and lifting the parking restrictions "flies in the face of the zoning ordinance." 
Moving on to Issue 2, the earned income tax. The township has tried several times to broker a compromise between the Whip and the neighbors, but to no avail. The Springdell 8 have filed several ongoing legal challenges against the Whip, and because of these actions West Marlborough Township has incurred legal and engineering fees of at least $50,000 -- and rising. Coupled with the decrease in income from the real-estate transfer tax, the township has had to borrow from other accounts and has proposed this tax as the best way of raising the needed money to get back on its financial feet.
Come to the hearing and let the supervisors know what you think.