Large contiguous tract of farmland in Lower Macungie Township

(Submitted as LTE to LMT Patch and an abbreviated version to EPP)

Preserving open space with a balanced land use approach reduces costs for infrastructure and services, therefore over the long term reducing the need for tax increases. Farmland and open space generate no traffic, create no crime, requires no additional fire protection and brings no new students into our school system.

The appropriate alternative to rezoning our last large contiguous swaths of agricultural land is concentrating growth where infrastructure investments have already been made and permanently preserving our remaining farmland.

Many farmland preservation advocates are motivated by a belief that it enhances our quality of life. While this is true, often overlooked and equally important are the financial benefits. Farmland is a form of industrial infrastructure that’s a positive contributor to our tax base. What often replaces it such as strip commercial and warehouses cost taxpayers over the long run.  This happens when additional liabilities to provide infrastructure and services outweigh new revenue.  Studies show farmland costs around $0.25 in services for every $1.00 it generates in taxes. Uses like warehouses are the opposite and cost more in new liabilities than new revenue. When you do the math you see that preservation efforts pay dividends in the long run.

Some Lower Macungie Commissioners in the past have expressed interest in rezoning large swaths of agriculture land along Rt. 100 for more strip commercial development. Not only would this hurt our quality of life but I can’t think of a quicker way to guarantee higher township taxes over the long term.

Ron Beitler
www.ronbeitler.com

*UPDATE 2018
Since I first wrote this post in 2013 and became a township Commissioner I’m proud of the fact we permanently preserved nearly 500 acres of farmland and in total over 600 acres of farmland & open space!