Author Archives: admin

About admin

Born and raised in Lower Macungie Township in the village of East Texas. B.A. in Political Science from Slippery Rock University. Co-owner of Bar None Weddings & Entertainment. I love and care about my hometown and frequently blog about local issues that I think are important.

Lower Macungie BOC Agenda Preview 12/19

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FYI – This is a practice I started and will continue as a member of the BOC. In these previews  I may indicate a voting inclination, but it in no way means my mind is made up on any issue. During a critical hearing for the Jaindl issue, a Commissioner once spoke before public comment outlining he was voting to move forward the project regardless of what people said during public comment. That was wrong.

My hope is by doing this I open the door for conversations before public meetings. One of my biggest issues with the Jaindl debacle was people didn’t truly understand what was happening until it was “too late”. I plan on doing everything I can to make sure residents have background information and then my thoughts on issues before they come to a vote  in front of the board. This is one mechanism to do that. I hope people find it useful. Please contact me at ronbeitler@gmail.com if you have any questions about any issues.

12/19/13 Complete agenda with detail

NOTE: This will be the first BOC in the new meeting room. I have mixed feelings about this. Yes, it is beautiful. And most of the work was done by township public works staff. And they did a fantastic job. And yes, I think it includes much needed improvements to our Audio Visual setup. These are important since they allow better participation for residents during critical hearings and approvals. Especially ones dealing with land development plans. I firmly believe residents should be able to see what commissioners  see during hearings. The new room has a giant monitor just for this specific purpose. Additionally the recording equipment was updated.

Where my mixed feelings come into play is the giant (and I mean GIANT) new Dias. I do not think this was needed and felt moving the old Dias to the new room (previous ballroom) would have been sufficient if this would have resulted in cost savings. I do not think we needed additional seating and further I actually prefer volunteer commission meetings to take place in more informal settings. I think the formality of the room in some ways creates a barrier to participation. If I had my way, the pulpit would be removed and residents could speak (when called upon to maintain order) from their seats. I do understand this is tough because of the recording requirements of meetings. Basically, I think the AV enhancements were needed. But overall, the room is pretty exorbitant and I’m not sure if I would have voted for this version had I been seated in 2013. I would have liked to explore less costly and smaller Dias variations/options.

Announcements & Presentations
There are 2 Eagle Scout projects on the Agenda. This is always a pleasure to see.
Dr. Gary Cordner – Police Protection Study.
Executive summary outline here of police protection study.

Hearings and Approvals – None

Communication

  • 5 statements of interest for various positions. Remember,  these vacancies will be filled in January but the township always accepts applications! (they will keep on file for 1 year)
  • There is one letter opposing Hamilton Crossings TIF.
  • 6 letters opposing Real Estate Tax
  • 2 letters supporting increase EIT instead of Real Estate Tax
  • 2 letters in support of Real Estate Tax
  • 1 Letter encouraging investigation of Home Rule Charter
  • One letter encouraging creation of a police force and supportive of tax to support. (Note, seems to be the minority opinion based on conversations with residents)

Engineer – Approval of Hydrant Installation for Spring Creek Properties (Jaindl). Note, I believe we will be seeing Jaindl spring creek land development plans coming to the township next month. I will be sure to keep residents informed. The entire subdivision will be one of the largest development projects in township history. Over the last 3 years I opposed the rezoning of 700 acres of farmland where this industrial (warehouse) project will be built and I supported the resident funded litigation attempting to overturn the zoning. Moving forward, I think it’s critical residents stay involved in the process.

Township Manager: Presenting 2013 year in review.

Page 2 od LMT Manager Report 2013 in review

Page 2 od LMT Manager Report 2013 in review

Old Business:

Couple items here, one of note. The policy regarding appointments of incumbents to volunteer boards. I feel as though all applicants including incumbents should be interviewed. This will be addressed at a January meeting.

Nice letter about Willow Lane Elementary

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Below is a letter written by a resident about WLES. There was another couple weeks ago complimenting the crossing guards. Last BOC meeting was justifiably dominated by tax issues so I wanted to post the letter. It reflects alot of the rationale for building neighborhood schools as opposed to “sprawl campuses” that are disconnected from the neighborhoods they serve.

Yes, rollout was at times complicated to say the least. But when dealing with ensuring safe routes most of the parent safety concerns were warranted. After initial hiccups and the inevitable politicking that came during election season, from my observations the program has been a success. From my standpoint as a smart growth advocate, I agree with many of Scott’s comments below about fostering a connected community with a sense of place.

A community benefits when we build neighborhood schools. I was supportive of WLES’s location for this reason during the planning process. I think it’s a suburban walkable model located appropriately in the middle of 100’s of homes. Hindsight, I  wish the walking routes were discussed during land development so that walking was rolled out when the school first came online. I still to this day have no clue why they weren’t. I know it was late in the game that walking was postponed.

So let’s keep working through the kinks.  I have heard about speeding issues on the interior driveways leading to the school. I also still believe we need to texture the crosswalks and install “stalker boards” (radar boards that tell drivers their speed) on the corridor. Aside from that, I think the township improvements have worked out. I do think the crossing guards have done a fine job.

Anything else on the township end that we should be aware of? What do you think of the letter below? Let me know in the comments. 

How we make traditional development illegal.

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Interested in stunting the re-development of a traditional Main St.? Do you want to make entrepreneurship prohibitively expensive? How do you ensure your Main St. is a ghost-town during prime business hours?

Set up more barriers! Make sure you institute arbitrary parking requirements and require them of all commercial land uses.

Take 5 minutes to watch this case study of a place called Surrey. (From Stroad to Boulevard blog). This really demonstrates the insanity of arbitrary parking requirements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuLM3iV9H7w

At 3:30 mark is it coincidence the devolution of Front street occurred with the institution of arbitrary offstreet parking standards?

Main St. Macungie, the downtown business district – 11am on a Tuesday.

Macungie Borough business district 11am on a Tuesday. Parking issues?

Interested in Smart Growth issues in the East Penn area? Friends “FriendsLMT” on facebook! An online smart growth resident association.

LMT BOC Agenda Preview 12/5

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FYI – This is a practice I started and will continue as a member of the BOC. With these previews while I may indicate a voting inclination, it in no way means my mind is made up on any issue. Back during a critical hearing for the Jaindl issue, a Commissioner once spoke before public comment outlining he was voting to move forward the project regardless of what people said during public comment. That was wrong.

My hope is this opens the door for conversations before public meetings. One of my biggest issues with the Jaindl debacle was people didn’t truly understand what was happening until it was “too late”. I plan on doing everything I can to make sure residents have background information and my thoughts on issues before they come to a vote  in front of the board. This is one mechanism to do that. I hope people find it useful. 

12/5/13 Complete agenda with detail

Hearings and Approvals – Kratzer Farm Minor Subdivision
I’ve written alot on this subject. The house will not be sold before January 6th when new Commissioners are sworn in. I do not support the sale of any portion of the Kratzer farm parcel at this time. Selling assets is not solving our underlying financing problems. Selling assets that make sense to sell was good policy over the last 3 years. The Kratzer farm however is unique. It makes no sense to sell at this time. Or better put, there is not good reason or pressing reason to sell it at this time. Not before a comprehensive plan is complete for the parcel. Further, every relevant volunteer board (planning commission, EAC, Parks) objects to the sale of park property at this time. Original position on Kratzer Farm open space

Communication
Compliments:
Scott Alderfer writes a nice letter complimenting crossing guard staff at WLES.
Richard O’Keefe writes complimenting staff on Leaf Collection

Positions:
Carol Black writes in opposition of TIF funding for Hamilton Crossings

18 residents wrote in opposition to property tax. Many favor Conrads EIT alternative. Of note, at least 2 seemed confused about municipal taxes. For ex: one mentioned “subsidizing schools”. Seems confused on school tax vs. muni property taxes….

3 residents wrote in favor of the tax increase and provided supporting rationale.

Solicitor: Solicitor has a note about “Deed in lieu of condemnation of Sauerkraut Rt. 100 intersection. I think this has to do with acquiring land for Sauerkraut extension. I need more information about this before I write about it.

Township Manager:
This will be the huge topic of the night. The ordinance adopting the 2014 budget. I will be writing about this tomorrow. I am looking forward to hearing comments from residents, Commissioners and staff.

Here are some posts I made about the subject over the past 2 weeks.

Blogs
What is home rule charter – and link to Ryan Conrad’s proposed plan
One pro property tax argument that has been made.

Mcall
Lower Macungie property tax proposal stirs last-minute outcry
 

Macungie Borough probably doesn’t have a parking problem….

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Continuing the parking theme this week. Moving over to Macungie Borough, the other municipality I spend a lot of time in. It’s where my business is located.

Perception is that Macungie has “parking problems”. As someone who parks in the borough daily I disagree. Rarely if ever do I have issues parking close to any destination I want to get to downtown.

How parking requirements hurt small businesses

To demonstrate my point I took a little walk. 11am on a Tuesday. Prime business time right? (NOTE: I’m am going to followup with the same exercise at night. I suspect we’ll be closer to peak parking since we have a lot of Main St. renters, but we’ll still have excess.)

From Park entrance to railroad tracks (what I’d call the business district):

  • 55 open spaces were completely unused. (this did include a loading zone and 30 minute parking spaces)
  • Only 33 spaces were actually utilized by vehicles.

To illustrate that here is what a 50 car parking lot looks like in the suburban model. Basically at 11am on a Tuesday you have this amount of parking in the downtown borough business district completely unused. If a box retailer had this amount of parking available during prime business hours would anyone call it an issue?

Parking for 50 cars is outlined in this photo. (CVS parking lot) This is basically equal to the amount of open parking in the borough of Macungie on any given weekday over lunch.

 Below are photos of the “Parking problem” Dec. 3rd (yes winter, but a nice winter day) at 11am. Like I said, going to try the same exercise tonight. See what we’re dealing with nighttime.

Macungie Borough 11am on a Tuesday. Parking issues?

Parking problems?

Yes, I do think Macungie has some issues with it’s Main St. business district. Tractor Trailer traffic is the biggest. The condition of the streetscape is next. But for some reason I hear parking most often. You don’t have a parking problem, until you have a parking problem. Parking issues are a symptom of a thriving business district. Excessive parking regulations are a barrier to a thriving business district. If a thriving business district is the goal, remove the barriers. Then deal with the by-products after you have success. Otherwise we’re just a place with a whole lotta parking, but not many places to go.

Will our new developments stand the test of time?

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I enjoyed reading this Mcall piece about the PPL building in Allentown: PPL manager takes special care of landmark building.

Got me thinking about growth & development here in Lower Mac. Are projects being built now in Lower Mac being built to last? Will our built environment stand the test of time like the PPL building has? For nearly a century the tower has stood as a local landmark. It’s a symbol of pride and creates a sense of place.

Histories Headlines: PPL Tower was architects ‘sculpted mountain’ – WFMZ

Do we still build landmarks? Here is an example: Is this project going to stand the test of time. In 100 years will it serve as a focal point of our community? (Hamilton Crossings) HC is billed as the “gateway to the township”. Does it deserve that pedestal? In 100 years will people feel a sense of pride when they look at Hamilton Crossings?

Will it even still stand in 75? How about 40 years? I for one doubt it. In fact, I would bet Hamilton Crossings will still be the beneficiary of tax abatement long after it’s deteriorated into another dated strip relic. Box commercial is notorious for it’s short lifespan.

What do you think? Why do we not build projects we can proud of here? Other suburbs value their built environment. Why don’t we get commercial development “built to last” here? What are we doing wrong? Is it because we don’t demand it? Is it because we are shortsighted and in 20 years we’ll pay the price when people flock to places that did care?

Photo: Artist John Epler’s winning 2008 Holiday Card for Allentown. Features the PPL building in downtown Allentown. The painting is titled “Shades of Winter.”

Will this building stand the test of time? Will it even be standing still in 20 years? The lifespan of strip box commercial is notoriously short. Will it even last the length of the TIF used to fund it?

Built to last? Or another strip eyesore in 20 years?

The other side of the Tax argument… Should residents pay for warehousing?

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Ongoing dialogue about the tax issue.

Last week, I posted about Home Rule Charter. It’s the lynchpin of Commissioner Conrads proposal to replace property tax with an increased earned income tax. The problem is almost no one understands what Home Rule Charter is. Including myself until I started researching it. I’m still learning. As I outlined last week it’s a complicated undertaking. There are positives and negatives. One negative being it is not easy to initiate. It takes both time and alot of money. I thought it was important to get people thinking about Home Rule.

Today, I wanted to spend some time talking about arguments I’ve heard in favor of property tax. It’s important to present both sides of the argument. To understand the argument, we need context.  4 years ago, the township refused to fight a quarry proposal and instead engaged in a Memorandum of Understanding that resulted in 700 acres of farmland (Over 1 square mile) rezoned to mostly industrial.

Industrial and Orlic = Distribution warehouses. In this case, large distribution warehouses. This is our new reality.

The pro property tax argument centers around our growing inventory of commercial and industrial development. Since we’ve gone down this road with no turning back some argue warehousing is a key to our fiscal equation. Much like Upper Macungie. This, in my opinion becomes the most compelling counter argument for a property tax.

To put it simply, the EIT plan let’s warehousing and large commercial shopping centers off the hook.

Remember, there is no single use in the entire township that generates more liabilities than distribution warehouses. Under Ryan Conrad’s proposed plan warehousing contributes very little to Lower Macungie’s tax base aside from LST and one time windfall.

You can further assume that a large number working at these large distribution warehouses are folks from outside the township. (evidenced by LANTA’s push to expand lines to them) Because of this we capture little EIT from employees locally.

I have a hard time trying to reconcile warehousing paying so little in local taxes with my belief that development should pay it’s own way over the long term. Residents should not carry the bag for industrial and commercial development.

Here are some numbers to think about. Under .33 mil property tax proposal.
A 200,000 residential home: = 66.00 in property tax
8,000,000 Shopping Center (Trexlertown mall) = 2,640.00
*24,000,0000 Industrial Warehouse: = 8250.00 in property tax.
*74,000,000 projected value of Hamilton Crossings: = 24,420.00 (/2 with TIF = 12,210.00)
*Assessed values based on County website
**Based on TIF narrative 

Here is my question to residents:
Now that Commissioners have doubled down on warehousing, isn’t it sort of crazy not to cash in? 

Survey: Let East Penn officials know what’s important for new Superintendent.

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Let East Penn School District know what characteristics are important to you for new superintendent search. Read more here on patch. The school board asks parents, students, teachers, residents and taxpayers to help shape the search by completing the survey online.

 

Fill out the survey here

My thoughts:
Surveys like this are hard since there are no listed characteristics that are unimportant. They’re all important characteristics for the districts top admin. But here we have to rank them and I took my best shot.

Section 2 I ranked items like communication with legislature, comprehensive planning, negotiations and finances high. Development has repercussions for schools. In the past we’ve done a good job with strategic planning. Plans should be updated as Lower Mac has continued to deviate from comprehensive planning over the last 3 years. Since the last look at growth, Lower Macungie has changed zoning on nearly 1000 acres of land previously agriculturally protected.

Meanwhile traditionally senior oriented developments without restrictions are slowly changing over. More young couples are moving into these neighborhoods. (ex. Fairways at Brookside) Class size and the projected capital expenditures (new buildings) should be regularly updated. New superintendent needs to continue keeping a pulse on growth.

Negotiations with public unions are huge. New superintendent should be experienced on that front. He or she should have a proven track record to point to.

Communication with legislature I put into top 3 since schools face so many government mandates. Many fundamental issues affecting taxpayers can only be addressed at the state level. Given that here were my top 3:

1. Communication with legislature.
2. Negotiations
3. Comprehensive planning.

Section four I ranked items like class size (since relates to comprehensive planning), Finances, Gov’t mandates, New buildings and increasing student enrollment highest. In section 5 here were my top 3.

1. Class size
2. Finances Budget
3. Increasing student enrollment

What did you think was important? What jumped out at you? What were your top 3 concerns overall? Let’s talk about it in the comments below.

The East Penn School District: Serves the Boroughs of Alburtis, Emmaus and Macungie. Lower Macungie and Upper Milford Township.

What else is going on in Lower Mac?
Tax issue continues to be debated
Santa Claus is coming to town LMT Santa Run schedule
Hamilton Crossings issue 

The ridiculousness of minimum parking standards….

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#BlackFridayParking Live Feed – Visit the live feed here.

Today, across the nation strongtowns.org is helping to document in photos the absurdity of minimum parking requirements. There isn’t a more anti-business policy a town can enact than minimum parking regulations.

From Strongtowns.org – For years, American cities have required businesses to provide an amount of parking based on the anticipated peak demand. That peak demand is commonly believed to be “Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving. Cities disregard that businesses may not find it in their interests to devote valuable space and resources to providing parking spaces that will only be used once or twice a year. (or as most of these photos demonstrate…. never) Ostensibly the greater apostasy — from a regulatory standpoint — would be for a driver to show up in their automobile this Friday and not be able to quickly find a place to park. (#ohthehorror!) To avoid that horror, we set aside all of our “pro-businesses” inklings and roll out the red tape of parking minimums.

Fortunately, many cities have repealed minimum parking requirements. Many more are considering taking such a step. Let’s give them a push by helping them see the folly of their ways.

 

Here are some I added to the #blackfridayparking live feed from LMT and another Scott Alderfer posted from nearby South Mall. In every photo there is ample parking. Sure, if you want a spot 50 feet from the front door you might have to circle for a minute…. #horrors!!! But if you don’t mind walking a reasonable distance in each example there is literally a sea of wasted prime commercial space that’ll never be used in any meaningful fashion and will never provide any value to our community.

Each photo demonstrates overbuilt parking on the single busiest shopping day of the entire year.

South Mall, Allentown PA.#PoorParkingPlanning #TooManyParkingSpaces #BlackFridayParking pic.twitter.com/nvcROJNRdF

Black Friday 11am. Counted rows and rows of empty spaces that will never be used. This is wasted space on our most critical commercial corridor. Surface parking is the absolute lowest use of prime space. For years and years we’ve over regulated parking.

What is Home Rule Charter? And how it’s being proposed to address tax issue

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Commissioner Conrad has proposed an alternative to initiating a property tax. He outlines that position here. It involves a short term stop gap measure to address the capital fund deficit of just over a million dollars by borrowing from the general fund and cutting 600,000 in capital projects. Long term he proposes “A Home Rule Charter that would give us the option to explore an increase in the Earned Income Tax (EIT)”.

I am open to serious exploration of the proposed long term fix come January. Philosophically I agree with Conrad’s assertion that property tax disproportionately impacts homeowners, especially seniors. I have questions regarding the proposed short term fix. At this point I do not support borrowing from the general fund. I’m interested in more information and public debate on additional cuts to the capital budget. I’m looking forward to the discussion on Dec. 5th BOC meeting and appreciate Conrad looping Brian Higgins and I into the conversation.

In the meantime, I wanted to do a post about “Home Rule Charter” since this is at the heart of Conrad’s proposed long term fix. Here is the long version. Below I’ve taken my best crack at summarizing.

What is a home rule Charter?
The basic concept of home rule is simple. It’s the details and how you get there where it gets really complicated. Home rule means shifting of responsibility for local government from the State Legislature (via first class code) to the local community. Here in LMT we are currently governed by the 1st class township code. Choosing home rule would allow us to tailor our governmental organization and powers to suit our special needs. At least that’s the argument in favor.

Why is it being considered now?
This isn’t the first time Home Rule has come up in LMT. There was a discussion of the merits and move to explore it during the conversion to first class in 2008-2009. The current conversation is centered around the ability to raise EIT. Currently, we have maxed out our ability to raise EIT as an alternative to property tax based on what is allowed under 1st class township code. Home rule would allow us more flexibility.

How would we move forward?
It is not a quick process. It is complicated by design. State law allows for government study commissions. This is something that can be placed on a ballot, created by ordinance or started via petition. If agreement is reached by gov’t study commission the commission can then draft a Home Rule Charter. Again, a very complicated time consuming task. We’d be essentially drafting a new legal framework for our local gov’t that would replace the framework of the 1st class code.

Once a charter is drafted, it goes to the residents for approval by popular vote. This does not happen quickly.