Environmental Advisory Council Meeting Minutes - December 9, 2026

Environmental Advisory Council Meeting Minutes
December 9, 2026 @ 7pm
 
This meeting was held in person at the Township building.

• Call to Order: Meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm
• Attendees: Anne Kadar-Duzan, Mike Irwin, JoEllen McBride, Debbie Town, Cheryl Spaulding, and Lindsey Beacher
• Staff Present: Abbey Swan
• Guests Present: None
• Public Comment: None
• November 11, 2025 Minutes Approved Unanimously
• Old business:
  • January Newsletter Piece – We’re set for the December newsletter and Anne will work on a piece on safe ice melt. Lindsey suggested content about cardboard recycling/repurpose after the holidays. Debbie asked about the success of the Christmas tree composting program – Abbey will get the annual report.
  • Zoning Update Update – Mike attended and reported out on the most recent Zoning Update meeting. Our proposed changes were well-received by the group, with a few notes: we need a better definition and/or a list of “specimen trees”; the wording around tree replacement needs some attention; and the consultant will follow up about requiring an extra 6 inches above the flood plane requirements (as recommended in the Brandywine Flood Study). The plant list created by the group was especially exemplary (kudos to Anne especially). Anne offered to clean up the SOP for how to create the plant list to keep for future updates. Mike noted that the goal is to make all of the changes by the end of December before it’s passed along to the Planning Commission. Once the zoning update is enacted, the township plans to update the SALDO to coordinate the two.
• New Business
  • Development Plan Review – Habitat for Humanity Project. Mike and JoEllen created a terrific rubric to review upcoming projects. Abbey made a Plan Review folder on the OneDrive with individual folders within for each project. Mike suggested we focus on the grading and landscape plans, specifically. He also explained how the rubric was created (using the recommendations from the Sustainability Report) and how to we’ll use it to review plans. Once we’ve run it through the process, we can make changes as needed. The group agreed to split the work with different people focusing on different areas: Biodiversity – Anne, Stormwater – Debbie and Abbey, Land Use – Cheryl and Lindsey, Waste Management – Jo, Energy – Cheryl, Transportation – Mike. Energy. Lindsey suggested clarifying definitions, i.e. “High density.” Lindsey will save a link to the county’s eTools in the plan review folder. Once the rubric is completed and approved by the EAC, Abbey will draw up a review letter to include in the project packets.
  • Mike attended a workshop on winter seed sowing and suggested it would be a good EAC activity.
• Adjournment