Letter below sent to township Board of Commissioners after attending today’s ‘curbside chat’ where Charles Marohn from Strongtowns.org advocated for developing in a fiscally sustainable way. This is one tool I have personally advocated for over the past two years.

Gentleman,

Please once again see attached “Cradle to Cradle” cost benefit analysis of the Jaindl Project and please note it was presented to the board approximately 2 years ago. I also did personally about a year ago via public comment.

This particular lifecycle analysis focused on the total costs to residents of the various waivers/exceptions granted in the MOU. In general these are the concepts that Charles Marohn talked about in today’s ‘curbside chat’. Including the ongoing costs of infrastructure and services. This strategy can and should be applied to all large scale development projects.

Simply put, usage of this tool or something simliar shows when development offers ROI on taxpayer investment and when it does not. This is the crux of what I have always questioned about the negotiated MOU and ongoing development projects in the township.

About the analysis: This was well thought out and researched but please note it does contain assumptions. The point however was to illustrate a process which was never done here in the township to my knowledge. Moving forward from the MOU this process needs to be implemented on future projects.

Please consider adding cost benefit analysis of all greenfield and large scale development projects into the scope of the smart growth review. This is one of the philosophical issues that frames the way we grow which in turn influences the patterns.

Thank you

Ron Beitler