ADAMS TWP — Township residents again discussed ongoing slope ordinance revisions at a planning commission meeting Wednesday evening.

Planning commission chairman Martin McKinney emphasized that amid debate and input from the public, the commission hopes to come to a solution that works for everyone.

“What we're trying to do is balance the needs — because we don't live in a flat zone — of when someone wants to develop property, how it can be done safely for the development and for the adjoining property owners,” McKinney said. “There's some back-and-forth questions for that because not everybody agrees on all the details of how it works. We're working really hard to try and balance it to some degree to provide appropriate information and appropriate protection.”

Township solicitor Sean Gallagher explained several revisions in the current iteration of the ordinance, dated Nov. 15.

Among several revisions discussed were provisions allowing for building pad construction on sites and protection of preexisting slopes on properties.

“The example we use is if you have one acre of steep slopes, you can create four acres of slopes,” Gallagher said. “This allows builders to build pads, which is what they're really looking for when they're building home sites. We've made allowance to allow for the creation of more steep slopes, but in return we said you can't disturb more that 25% of steep slopes on property.”

The majority of discussion related to item 8G under Application Procedure, which specified that “slopes steeper than or equal to 3h:1v, created or pre-existing, must be placed in conservation easements as defined by the township.”

This would result in areas that have certain levels of steepness being placed under conservation easement protection, which would prohibit construction or changes to the land.

“I'm not so sure that the conservation easement is the right label,” resident Jimmy Sperdute of Adams Township said. “What I'm reading is that I can't put a fence on a slope. Conservation easement might not be the right term.”

“What we might end up doing is hurting a lot of people who want to sell their property or build on their property,” said commission member Marilyn Watson. “I understand we are trying to set up something, but I don't want to get to the point where we can't even plant a garden.”

Gallagher said the planning commission would continue to work on the revisions based on feedback and would try to get another revision of the ordinance published on the website by the end of the month.

“When we're all done, not everybody is going to agree with everything,” McKinney said. “Sean has worked very hard to package this up in a useful fashion. We really are trying — I hope the public realizes that. We've got a couple different groups to try and work with us and do what's best for Adams Township.”