Longtime Milford Township Supervisor Chairman Robert “Bob” Mansfield died suddenly Sept. 29, at his home, Supervisor Charlie Strunk announced at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Mansfield was 63. Funeral arrangements are private.
John Mininger was appointed and sworn in to fill out Mansfield’s elected term, which runs to 2023, township officials said.
Mininger is an active Milford Township resident, and he is the board chairman of the Bucks County Airport Authority in Doylestown.
“John, you are a known quality in our community,” Supervisor Tom Courduff said, as he welcomed Mininger to the dais.
Mininger did not cast a vote when the other two supervisors voted 2-0 Tuesday to approve a conditional use for a doggie day care center on Brick Tavern Road at a continued public hearing, which was part of the board’s regular business meeting.
The conditional use approval allows Camp Jean’s owner and operator LuJean Griffin-Young to continue her business with the following conditions:
• Not more than 25 dogs may be present on the property at one time, excluding her personal animals, limited to six.
• The driveway into the property must be widened to 20 feet with a 30-foot radius turn-around, to allow two cars to pass side-by-side and prevent patrons from backing onto Brick Tavern Road.
• Additional plantings along the frontage of the property, not to exceed 25 trees, for added privacy screening and sound buffering. Plantings must be made to the satisfaction of the township engineer.
• No additional business signs may be posted on the property.
• Solid dog waste must be picked up daily for weekly trash removal, as testified to during the hearing by Griffin-Young.
• Day care operation hours were set from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
• All conditions made as part of the Zoning Hearing Board’s August 13 use decision must be met.
Camp Jean’s is a small-dog day care and overnight boarding facility, located at 2200 Brick Tavern Road. Griffin-Young does not care for dogs larger than 25 pounds, and she has operated the dog-care business since 2006. Her property is roughly 11 acres.
The conditional use decision did not address dog boarding at Camp Jean’s. Griffin-Young said she provides after hours pick up of animals on a flexible, appointment basis and makes small dog boarding available to customers seven days a week.
Though a commercial kennel is permitted in the Rural Agriculture (RA) Zoning District where Camp Jean’s is located, Griffin-Young did not have the 200-foot setback clearances from adjacent property lines of her property, to comply with the township’s zoning ordinance.
“I’m still hearing from the neighbors and there are issues. This is a land use, and I’m hearing it’s also a neighbor use,” said Courduff.
Nearby neighbors have complained about noise, traffic safety and screening at the property.
Public hearings were held in January and on March 6.
Four neighbors who are parties to the public hearing attended the Oct. 1 meeting.
“Our intention was not to shut her business down. It was to bring it into compliance with your ordinance,” said Robert Forney, one of Camp Jean’s neighbors.
As in previous public hearings for Camp Jean’s, neighbors complained about noise from dogs barking and traffic safety concerns over cars traveling in and out of the property as well as through traffic on Brick Tavern Road.
Griffin-Young has added new fencing and barriers along the frontage of her property, and she said the dog-run area had been moved farther away from Brick Tavern Road in an effort to comply with her neighbors concerns. Dogs are no longer kept in the barn and when not outdoors they are kept in her home.
“I’m trying to work with my neighbors to minimize the issues,” Griffin-Young said.
