1. To be fair with the land developer which I believe we have been since day one. This included crediting the developer with money invested in offsite improvements associated with the projects. This is one reason why the amount publicized in the papers has gone down. We have this obligation to land developers.

2. To utilize every tool at our disposal to make sure improvements associated with new developments mitigate new traffic impact generated. The transportation impact fee is one of the biggest tools we have. We have this obligation to residents. 

Although not the ideal form for our Boulevard, I do think the anchor (The Movie Tavern) makes this a good project. The township is not against this project. We just need to make sure the rules are followed.

Communication
Spring Creek Dog Park Petition
A petition was submitted to the township by residents of Spring Ridge Apartments and adjacent neighborhoods. For a number of the months the township publicly debated two locations for the townships first dogpark. Feedback I received mostly indicated that many preferred Spring Creek as a more centralized location. One of the main benefits was immediate walkable proximity to 1000’s of homes since one spine of the proposed greenway trail will pass very closely to the project. (We do need to make sure we develop a safe crossing point)

While the petition comes late in the game, the residents who submitted make valid points. One thing I appreciate having rec’d a number of petitions over the last 2 years is this one includes a number of very good proactive suggestions. While they prefer the park not be built in this location, they do offer ways to improve it. I appreciate that.

One of the drivers of this project has been a resident dog park advocacy group. The leadership of this group has worked very hard to address concerns. They’ve taken ownership of the project which from day one I felt was important.

One item folks should understand up front is this will be controlled access. With the use of a fob system for access, we can limit the park to only approved users who have provided proof of vaccination, licensing, etc.  The application will be available at the rec center. If there would be an incident, the fob system would allow us to narrow the potential culprits down to only those using the park at the point in time when the incident occurred.

Aside from the rules and regulations aspect, the committee is also working on an education guide that will be provided to all dog owners describing basics of pet etiquette, safety, prevention techniques in the event of aggressive behavior, etc.

Update – The board saw a presentation by Roger Williams the chairperson of the dog park resident group. He addressed concerns raised by the petition. 

Act 4 re-authorization

Act 4 provides a process for freezing the millage on preserved farmland.  It’s an incentive for landowners to preserve. The township, school district and Lehigh County has had this in place for the last 10 years. .

Act 4 amended Pennsylvania’s Open Space Lands Act (Act 442 of 1967) to allow counties, school districts and municipalities to reward landowners who have chosen to permanently preserve their land with conservation easements by freezing their property tax millage rates. A conservation easement is a legal tool that is used to protect privately owned properties from future development.

Seeing the magnitude of the school costs resulting from new residential development on greenfields, the Southern Lehigh, East Penn, and Northern Lehigh school boards have all concluded that policies favoring land preservation will produce a long-term benefit for their taxpayers. School districts’ financial projections showed that a millage freeze for preserved properties will have a relatively small fiscal impact for a likely long-term financial benefit.

I support re-authorizing Act 4 keeping this important preservation incentive active. 

Update – The board last night tabled this to see where the school district is on re-authorization. I would have preferred just getting our reauthorization complete last night, but there is no harm since we do have to do this until next May.