12/17 Board of Commissioners agenda with detail.
Announcements & Presentations:
At the last meeting of the year we take the time to thank volunteers whose terms are ending and opt not to re-apply. We have a few this year including the current chair of the Environmental Advisory Council – Scott Alderfer. Scott served for I believe 7 years on the EAC. He’s a founding member. Huge thanks to Scott who has always been a hard working chair. Spearheaded a number of projects ranging from tree plantings to invasive plant removals. Scott is moving on from the EAC will continue to make LMT a better place by chairing the newly formed Arbor Day committee. Each year the Committee plants a tree and holds a ceremony in a township open space.
This will also be the last meeting of Commissioner Jim Lancsek who served for 4 years. Prior to that Jim was the zoning officer for 2 decades. I’m going to write a post about Jim tomorrow. He’s a good guy and I learned alot from him.
Hearings and Approvals: We have the Fields at Indian Creek Project up for final approval. This has not been a very inspiring project. It represents the kind of project we must get away from. Lower Mac is reviewing it but we only have a very small % in our township. The rest is a 50/50 split with Emmaus Borough & Upper Milford.
The project calls for 218 homes to be shoe horned on 72 acres of the former Indian Creek Golf Course.
200+ units shoehorned on the old Indian Creek Golf Course. Many units directly back onto the turnpike. A totally uninspiring project.
The concerns throughout the review were:
- Emergency Access
- Open Space (or lack thereof)
- Ensuring walkability along Indian Creek Rd. and connectivity with Camp Olympic and Cedar Crest Rd. open space.
- Ensuring a traffic signal is installed at Allen and Chestnut St.
- Homes jammed up against the turnpike
Bottom line with this one is it’s a real shame this golf course was never preserved. The development is a shoe horn project. Wholly uninspiring. It’s just not at all a good design. And no matter how we handle it access will always be a problem. The proximity to the turnpike also in my opinion is crazy. The noise will be constant. A large percentage of units will abut directly.
There could have been some neat opportunities to do an innovative cluster plan here. But they were never explored. End of the day the fault lies with ALL (LMT, UM AND EMMAUS) of our very poor and antiquated zoning codes which still allow projects like this. Another reason Lower Mac needs a comprehensive re-write.
Communication:
Most of the letters this week deal with volunteer board applications and appointments. thank you to all our applicants.
Engineering:
We have 4 penndot traffic signal permits on the agenda. All are related to “Grandview” crossings development. (The new weis & apartments). 3 are pretty straightforward. I still have issues with signal proposed at Willow Ln and Sauerkraut Rd. All together the township will takeover long term maintenance of by my latest count at least a DOZEN new traffic lights in the next few years. There are going to be costs…
The four signals are:
Willow Lane & Rt. 100
Alburtis Rd. & Rt. 100
Gehman & Rt. 100
Willow Ln. & Sauerkraut
Solicitor:
A request to fund a land preservation acquisition fee was put on the agenda by me. An application costs 500.00. I believe we should be doing everything possible to help out landowners who wish to permanently preserve farmland. This property in particular is a very important one. It’s on the already stressed Rt. 100 corridor and has some of the townships best soil quality.
I would ask for a blanket policy for any farmland preservation applicant to ensure everyone has the same opportunity and also that the cost is reimbursed at the end of the process that way if an applicant pulls for any reason the township isn’t stuck with the bill.
Manager:
Approving the 2016 Township budget.
Here is an email I sent out with an overview.
It goes into detail my thoughts on some of the biggest picture items. Approving the budget is one of the biggest tasks of the year. It was a multi-month process with 3 public workshops and a month long public vetting period.
If you have any questions on anything not mentioned here please email me at ronbeitler@gmail.com