Discussion and decisions are continuing in the update of the Salisbury Township Zoning Ordinance.

The Salisbury Township Planning Commission discussed portions of the ordinance and approved changes at its Feb. 11 regular meeting. There were no items on the agenda other than the zoning ordinance.

Planners approved changes to the wording of the ordinance discussed at the Feb. 11 meeting, as well as the Feb. 10 planners' workshop. The planners' Feb. 5 workshop was canceled because of inclement weather.

Planners also were to hold workshops 6 p.m. Feb. 25 and 26 to discuss the ordinance.

A date for the planners' public hearing on the zoning ordinance amendments has not been announced. The township commissioners also must hold a public hearing on the amendments before a vote is taken on changes to the ordinance.

Specific words used in the ordinance again were a main topic of debate by planners Feb. 10 and 11.

For example, Salisbury Township Director of Planning and Zoning Cynthia Sopka questioned the use of the word "restricted."

Another area of discussion at one point concerned the use of footnotes in a portion of the ordinance.

"Since it's already in Section 3," Sopka said, "do you think we need to have these footnotes here?"

Planners agreed the footnotes were unnecessary.

Another topic pertained to solar panels, or solar collectors.

"I'm concerned that we have references to solar in two different places and don't have consistent wording," planners Vice Chair Stephen J. McKitish, Jr. said.

At times, the normally chatty meeting took on the ambiance of the hushed tones in a public library as the planners read the sections of the ordinance up for discussion.

"If anything, we're going to be pretty sharp on this stuff," Planner Richard Schreiter said of the planners' familiarity with the ordinance as a part of the update review.

At the Feb. 10 workshop, Atty. John W. Ashley advised the planners on the definition of "ultimate right of way," "right of way" and "legal right of way."

Ashley also provided guidance on the definition of a building's "story" and "basement."

Regarding the township's proposed Health Care Overlay District, there was discussion about creating two distinctions between "college" and "university" or "medical college." Discussion on this topic is to continue, it was noted.