Radnor Board of Commissioners in Brief

On Monday night Radnor Township’s Board of Commissioners:

• Established a conflict of interest policy, disclosure requirement and form with the purpose of preventing the personal interest of commissioners, staff members, officers and volunteers from interfering with their respective duties.

 The policy is separate from and broader than what the state’s Ethics Act covers, according to Radnor solicitor John Rice.

But not everyone was completely satisfied with the policy and procedure of self-declaring any conflicts and other aspects. The resolution to establish the policy was approved six to one with Don Curley (Ward 6) dissenting.

• Established a Charter Review Committee to develop recommendations to improve the township’s Home Rule Charter, which was adopted in 1976 and not officially reviewed since.

Just who will sit on the committee came under some debate, as certain community groups have been given the right to seat one member on the review committee. Each commissioner and the township treasurer John Osborne may also each select someone to sit on the committee.

(In the past there had been a movement to amend the charter to remove the position of the elected office of the treasurer, but that was defeated.)

While the board voted unanimously to establish a charter review committee, the vote to add a member from the Radnor League of Women Voters to the committee passed four to two with Curley and Kevin Higgins (Ward 2) dissenting and John Fisher (Ward 7) abstaining because he has donated money to the League, he said.

Although some opined that the framework for the Charter review should be specific and narrower, Rice recommended not putting any restrictions on the committee.

After the committee makes its recommendations, the seven-member Board of Commissioners will need to pass an ordinance of exactly what changes will be placed on the ballot to amend the charter.

• Approved changes to the township’s student housing ordinance so that future new student housing applicants will have to get a special exception from the township’s Zoning Hearing Board. Existing student rentals would be grandfathered in.

The change moves the student housing regulations from the rental housing code into the zoning code.

Although one original proposal was to allow three students to live together, in the end the rules were kept at two non-related students as the maximum. Residents and even township officials say that in many cases the rules on occupancy are not followed.

Radnor did not choose to implement the three recommendations that came from the Delaware County Planning Commission: to reduce the minimum square footage of a unit to under 1,000 square feet, to permit twins for student housing, and to allow three students in a unit.

The vote for the student housing ordinance was five to two with John Nagle (Ward 5) and Bill Spingler (Ward 3) dissenting.