Lower Macungie Agenda Preview – 2/19

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FYI –  In these previews I may indicate thoughts on an issue, but it in no way means my mind is set. During a critical hearing for the Jaindl issue, a Commissioner spoke before public comment outlining he was voting to move forward the project regardless of what people said during public comment. That was wrong. Public debate was circumvented when the Commissioner indicated his mind was made up.

My hope is by blogging I open the door for conversations before issues are settled. One of my biggest issues with the Jaindl debacle was folks didn’t truly understand what was happening until it was “too late”. This is one mechanism to avoid that. I hope people find it useful. 

Hearings:
Farr Tract Rezoning Request: This property located at Lower Macungie Rd. and Cedar Crest Rd. is currently zoned S Suburban. The applicant is seeking a text amendment to allow restricted over 55 as a condition. The developers have submitted a sketch plan that calls for 142 homes on 54 acres at the northwest corner of Cedar Crest and Lower Macungie Road.

Both the Planning and Zoning Committee (PZ) and Planning Commission (see letter below) have recommended rejecting this request. I sit on the PZ. My views reflect that of the planning commission on this issue. 

Screen Shot 2015-02-19 at 1.47.01 PMCommunication
Resident Donald Richards writes asking for an ordinance to control distribution of free newspapers like the merchandiser. This is something we’ve talked about recently. The problem is when people are away these papers stack up as a tell-tale sign the house is empty. Also in the winter the papers often get buried under snow… then when you go through with a blower it jams up the intake. These are just a couple of examples on why we should take a look at this issue see what we can do. Maybe evaluate what other communities do.

Dept. Matters
Approving the Southwestern Lehigh County Plan Inter-municipal agreement. I support this. The plan is a non-binding document created 7 years ago in a joint effort by Emmaus, Alburtis, Macungie, Upper Milford & Lower Macungie.

This original Plan was funded by grants. The Comprehensive Plan is intended to establish overall policies for the development and conservation of the Southwestern Lehigh County Region over the next 15 years. This Plan is not by itself a regulation, but is intended to provide the policy direction for changes to the municipalities’ development regulations.

Recently there has been consensus to update the plan. This was largely necessitated because Lower Macungie has significantly deviated from the plan.  The biggest example of course was the Jaindl development debacle and rezoning of 700 acres of ag protected land to Industrial, Strip Commercial and Residential.

Manager Report:
The manager will be requesting moving forward Quarry Park Synthetic Field Turf Project and NPDES permitting. I voted against inserting this project into the budget and have been vocal in opposition. More information here. I think it’s important to to invest in our parks but I don’t believe this is the most cost effective way to do it.

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Update on executive session abuse legislation.

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I originally wrote about this here. I believe executive session abuse is unfortunately rampant at the local level of Gov’t. This is amplified locally based on the process which led us to the Jaindl Rezoning. The latest bill HB 340 is an update to the original HB 1670. I would encourage local Representatives to co-sponsor this legislation which I see as essential to open and transparent government.

Below is a quick 3 min overview where Rep. Saccone talks about his bill:

Lehigh County at-large race shaping up.

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3 Democrat challengers announced today for at large Commissioner seats in Lehigh County via what appears to be a flyer produced by a PAC called Citizens for a better Lehigh County. The website at this point simply says “coming soon”. With the exception of Hillary Smith I don’t know much about them at all but I am looking forward to learning. 

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Hillary is a Lower Mac resident and very active in Democratic politics. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the LCDC. But she has in the past supported bi-partisan slates in local races. Personally, I tend to support Republicans but I always keep an open mind. Bi-partisanship is something I appreciate. And a quality Hillary exhibits. Elections should be about the quality of the candidate, not just the letter behind someones name. I am interested to learn about her platform. I know Hillary to be a good person and wish her the best of luck. Running for an at-large position is a huge undertaking if done right. To do it seriously takes a major time commitment. The rest of the slate I look forward to learning more about.

The Incumbents: Lisa Sheller Fmr. Chair, Vic Mazziotti, Amanda Holt and Brad Osborne Current Chair. Of them I have heard Lisa Sheller will not be running for re-election. This is not confirmed. *Update confirmed via Express times Sheller is out. 

Amanda Holt was appointed last year to fill a vacancy left by Scott Ott when he moved to Texas. She was one of 15 who applied. As an activist before her appointment Holt legally challenged the way redistricting was occurring in PA. She felt as though there were too many municipal and county splits as a result of gerrymandering. According to the letter of the law this was unconstitutional. Her work on the issue is really interesting to read about. End of the day courts agreed with her assessment and forced the legislature to re-do the maps. When Holt was appointed she said she wouldn’t run when her term was up but didn’t totally rule it out. *updated Amanda Holt announced she is running.

Vic Mazziotti ran together with the very conservative block of Sheller and Ott. Ott has since moved to Texas. Schware very narrowly defeated challenger Wes Barrett last year. Have heard from couple people he may be 1 term. *Updated Vic Mazziotti has announced he is running. *Correction: I had indicated Schware ran with the so called reform team. That is incorrect. Schware was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Glenn Eckhart in 2012. Schware does however vote often with the block on major issues. 

Osborne was recently elected Chair. His second go around in the leadership position. He has not officially announced his intention for re-election but I imagine he will. If so I will support him. Brad is consistently one of the most informed members of the board and the voice of reason. For example, after much deliberation and reflection he correctly voted against the Hamilton Crossings TIF. This was the right decision then but even more clearly so in hind-site. Because of his vote Lehigh County will receive 100% of the incremental tax increases instead of giving 50% away. I know Brad struggled with the decision. But that struggle reflects how he thinks through an issue from all sides. Too often politicians locally come out the gate with an inflexible position and refuse to reconsider. Brad isn’t that kind of ideologue. Prior to serving as County Commissioner Brad served 6 years in South Whitehall Township. *update Osborne is officially in. 

Rest of the field: It’s likely former Commissioner Chair Dean Browning might take another stab. I like Browning. He’s another voice of reason. Very intelligent. Great guy. But is he still viable after two unsuccessful races? Does he have enough political capital left in the tank for another run? If he runs I’d consider supporting Dean, but if the field gets crowded on the Republican side he needs to be realistic about his chances. During his last two campaigns he was hammered pretty hard in primaries. Some of the criticism fair but most was not.

Marty Nothstein announced he’s running as a Repbulican. Yes, for those of us in western Lehigh Valley that’s EHS grad and Olympic Gold Medalist Nothstein. At this point he’s a neat and interesting name. But we know little about his politics. Looking forward to learning more.

Bernie has some thoughts over here.

Could a tax break be coming to East Penn?

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Looking into the crystal ball the answer is… possibly. But it all depends on Lower Mac. This is based on the districts summary of outstanding debt. My friend Mark Spengler presented an outline of the school districts outstanding debt last week. Here is a summary:

East Penn School District Summary of Outstanding debt.
2017: $13,998,754
2018: $13,498,225
2019: $7,972,918


This shows the school districts debt payments will drop dramatically in 2019. Basically, what Mark was demonstrating is that long range strategic planning has for a long time accounted for another major capital investment in a second High School or other major academic building. However the most recent demographics report compiled by the Pennsylvania Economy League shows that East Penn will likely experience declining enrollment over the next 10 years.This means that if we can avoid having to build a new school that in just a few years the East Penn School District would have a $6 million reduction in the budget.

Whether or not major capital expenses can be avoided depends primarily on… Lower Macungie Township. Our land use policies will dictate whether we need major school construction or not. This is why the current conversation about open space preservation must be centered around strategies to take developable residential land off the table. Farmland preservation is the best strategy for keeping local Lower Mac taxes predictably low and stable. But it’s also clearly the best chance we have to set the table for East Penn to actually lower taxes in 2019. Lower Macungie can help even more by focusing efforts on more valuable neighborhood commercial mixed use (vs. low value strip commercial) and incentivizing over 55 communities with a new conservation cluster ordinance.

Now admittedly, all this accounts for alot of variables falling into place. As we know school districts are at the mercy of the state year to year. But the fact remains two predictable variables are debt and enrollment. We can by and large control these two items. Based on that alone we have the potential for a golden opportunity. That is, if Lower Mac doesn’t go off the rails again.


A Place for People

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My friend Michael who I had the pleasure of meeting at this years RenewLV Smart Growth summit has a blog call ‘A Place for People‘. (love the name!) He is a College student at Penn State. On it he writes about his hometown of Hellertown and how he thinks leaders and residents can improve the Borough incrementally with a focus on value capture and walkability.

Here you can check out his thoughts on how to improve Hellertown

 

 

Related articles across the web

Long Term Value – Neighborhood Mixed Use vs. Strip Commercial

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In the Lehigh Valley where land is an ever increasingly valuable commodity, it’s time to stop ignoring the property tax implications of different land development patterns.

Neighborhood mixed use developments and re-developments produce more value/acre and less long term liabilities than strip commercial development. The comparison below breaks down one block in the Village of Wescosville located in Lower Macungie. It demonstrates that traditional mixed use development produces significantly more revenue, more jobs, more businesses and less liabilities – for example traffic than the strip development that occurred on the other side of the street.

An additional major benefit one that is the icing on the cake is aesthetic. The traditional side of the street maintains the historic character and form of the Village.

Here in Lower Mac we need to integrate this into our thinking. High value/high quality mixed use development can be used to balance low value high liability strip commercial development. My fear is we’re becoming increasingly saturated with the latter. Restoring balance is a win for EPSD but moreso for the twp. since we’re the ones who have to maintain roads and provide services. The major issue today is that our ordinances actually encourage (and in some cases require)  strip commercial development.

The more value we capture from small infill properties near East Texas and the Hamilton Boulevard Corridor with community friendly development while also maintaining a certain “Main St.” character the more financially resilient Lower Macungie will be moving forward.

EXAMPLE 1: 2 Acre Mixed Use Neighborhood Commercial Block in Photos.
Higher revenue vs. lower liabilities

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The 9 businesses on this block include: Landscape Designs, Carrols Hair Salon, Designer Re-runs (consignment apparel), Ritters upholstery, Tom Bates Construction, Werner CPA, Express sign outlet, Thrive media, Pathstones Phoebe Ministries. All together the block employes almost 50 people in addition to 6 residents.  Parking is hidden in the rear making a more pleasant interaction with the street.

 

 

 

Adaptive reuse of Classic Village of Wescosville home stock. Today after a very nice remodel this is home to two local businesses.

Adaptive reuse of Classic Village of Wescosville home stock. Today after a very nice remodel this is home to two local businesses. The entire block consists of very pleasant context sensitive buildings. Next store is an awesome reuse project of an old Church which now houses a CPA and a sign business.

Mixed Use Neighborhood Commercial Block by the numbers:

Land consumed: 2 acres
Businesses: 9
Employees total: 50 
Residents: 6 
*Projected EIT revenue for LMT: 984.00
School District Revenue per acre: 15,332.00 (16/Mil)
LMT LST revenue: **2,080
LMT property revenue per acre: 300/acre (.33 Mil)
Total LMT revenue: 3664.00
Traffic generation: LOW
*based on total 2015 / population. I understand not everyone contributes but thought this was the best way to get an estimate. Some of the 6 residents could be retirees. And this is assuming they all have average incomes. Anyone know a better way? I think this represents a fair projection without knowing that info.

**Adjusted to account for estimated number of 48 employees who pay LMT LST. Not all do.

2.25 acre strip commercial block in Photos

Lower revenue vs. higher liabilities

WaWa

WaWa

2.0 acre Strip Commercial block in Wescosville by the numbers:

Land Consumed: *2.25 Acres
Businesses: 1
Employees total: 30 (increases seasonally up to 35) 15.5/acre
Residents: 0
Projected EIT revenue for LMT: 0.00
School District Revenue per acre: 14,862.66 / acre @16.6 Mil
LMT LST revenue: **1,690  
LMT property tax revenue per acre:  294/acre @.33 Mil
Total LMT revenue: 2,351.50
Traffic liability: HIGH (according to ITE standards, convenience stores with gas pumps are one of the highest traffic generating uses.)

*I counted the remnant township parcel since the WaWa precludes any future development but it really would not have changed the numbers since it’s only .25 acre

** since employment figures are seasonal I split the high and low and used 32.5

Even more untapped potential on the traditional side…. Just get the sprawl zoning code and regulations out of the way!

As mentioned above the strip commercial block will likely never produce additional value. The single use has gobbled up all the useable land on that side of the street. On the traditional neighborhood side however there remains much un-tapped potential. For ex: 2 buildings experienced major renovations which likely resulted in increased assessments. Check out those projects here. 1 or 2 of the other buildings could get the same TLC resulting in higher value.

Additionally there is 1 vacant lot that can be developed with a mixed use building. The problem? Our zoning code makes it hard due to our ‘sprawly’ setback and parking requirements.

Another potential is the small residential building next to the re-purposed Church. The owner of the parcel was approached by a business owner who wanted to open an organic menu planning consultant. Would be an excellent fit for the space and neighborhood. However, regulations currently make it too expensive renovate the building up to code. Here is another opportunity I hope someday someone figures out how to take advantage of. These two projects plus some additional updating of 1 or 2 other buildings on the block could result in another 20% increase in value resulting in even more revenue, more jobs and more business generated by one block.

Lastly, below is a snapshot of one of the buildings demolished to make room for the WaWa. If the WaWa side were re-developed via adaptive reuse projects in the same fashion as the traditional side we’d likely see the same 50%+ increase in value returned to the township with much less traffic.

This is one building that was torn down in 2000 to make room for the WaWa

This is one building that was torn down in 2000 to make room for the WaWa

The best DOT…. Tennessee

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Here we have a head of a state DOT putting these concepts out there very publicly. He identifies fundamental problems. This needs to be shared, applauded and celebrated.

The following video is only a 4 minute investment of time. I think it’s critical for anyone who cares about transportation reform to watch. Tennessee and Commissioner John Schroer get it #transportationreform

Commissioner John Schroer  – “1.8 Billion dollar a year business with 4000 employees”  “We broke the department down and built it back up” “Top to bottom review. Looked at everything we did”

Fundamental issue is (paraphrase) – “Alot of places did a poor job of long range planning and took very little consideration into transportation mode – oftentimes these places would call us (TDOT) and say how do we fix this?”

The fix of course is to throw more and more and more money at the problem. “Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to build a bypass of a bypass” “It would be alot cheaper for a school board to buy a better piece of property with existing transportation infrastructure from the get go, than it would be to buy the really cheap (short term) property but one where the state needs to come in build a 30-40 million dollar access road.”

How do we avoid these pitfalls? What’s the bottom line? “We need localities to make better decisions. This helps the state save money.”

STOP WHAT WE’RE DOING! Re-evaluate assumptions. Identify alternatives. TDOT gets it.

Back to homepage.
How to keep taxes low? Preserve Farmland. 

Lower Macungie Snow Emergency Rules

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 Snow Emergencies will be announced via the news media. The township facebook page is also a great source for updates. Also monitor the website at www.lowermac.com

Operation Snowflake program airs on WAEB-AM790 and WAEB-FM B104

*New for 2015: If a Weather Emergency is declared it is mandatory that all vehicles be moved from ALL STREETS.

The Township will plow three public parking lots for residents to park; Wescosville Recreation Center, Hills at Lockridge Park, and Farmington Hills Park.

Plowing policies: The township will begin to plow when there is approximately 3” of accumulated snow. For public safety first priority is connector roads to allow for emergency vehicles.

Developments Lower Mac. does NOT currently plow include: Lehigh Crossings, Schaefer Run West and Spring Ridge Crossing. (These newer developments contain roads not yet dedicated to the township). Developments Lower Mac PARTIALLY PLOWs include: Graymoor, Harvest Fields, Hills at Lockridge.

More information here

On referendums

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I support most forms of ballot initiatives & referendums. Specifically on the local level and especially relating to local tax and spend decisions. Access to these tools should be expanded. Unfortunately, ‘Citizens in Charge’ a foundation that monitors initiative access ranks Pennsylvania one of the lowest in terms of ballot initiative rights.

thumbs up or down

The subject came up frequently here in Lower Mac over the last couple months in relation to open space funding and 3.3 Million dollar discretionary spending line for synthetic fields in the 2015 township budget.

In Pennsylvania:

  • We can’t recall elected officials
  • We have zero statewide initiative or referendum rights
  • We cannot propose state constitutional amendments via amendment
  • Silent majority has no access to final check & balance on Government through putting acts passed by legislators to a vote of the people.
  • It is currently muddy in PA if citizens can even legally petition for non-binding advisory questions. Even if to simply to gauge resident sentiment.

We are one of the worse states in the union in terms of local referendum rights. Is it coincidence we suffer from some of the same issues as other states who also have very low referenda access scores?

Elected officials tend to dislike initiative processes because they see it as infringing on their monopoly authority to legislate. This often takes form of dismissive statements such as “I was elected to make the tough decisions“. This is one we heard recently. Another is “most people don’t vote“. Which kind of puts the person making that statement in a hypocritical position since they simultaneously discredit the very electorate that put them into a position of power in the first place. Not sure exactly how that works.

Of the many advantages to initiatives at the local level one of the most important is they create rigorous inquiry on questions of policy by placing issues squarely in front of voters. Rigorous vetting of major spending decisions was certainly something missing in Lower Macungie’s 2015 budget process which included a major discretionary capital spending plan. Studies have also consistently shown that ballot initiatives result in more people voting. So again, back to the claim that “not enough people vote”…Initiatives are actually one of the most sure fire ways to address voter apathy by giving residents a direct voice. 

Although it’s definitely a bi-partisan sentiment many conservatives see initiative access as a much needed core reform. This includes Heritage Foundation co-founder Paul Weyrich.

Weyrich who passed away in 2008 wrote of critically needed reforms:  “Conservatism should promote increased use of ballot initiatives and referenda, term limits, putting ‘none of the above’ on the ballot and ending legalized bribery under the name of campaign contributions.” – Paul Weyrich. (I just happen to be reading one of his books currently)

It’s certainly not just conservative groups. Many groups advocating for better government across the political spectrum openly advocate for initiative access. Typically those who take the biggest issues with initiatives (this includes activists on both sides of the aisle) are people who champion viewpoints that run counter to the silent majority. Obviously, these folks would not support the great public check and balance available in our system.

Our referendum question was laid to rest last thursday in Lower Macungie accompanied with the usual statements of “we were elected to make decisions” and “not enough people vote”, however I still enjoy the conversation about this issue and will remain an advocate for good Government.

If your interested in more information check out: citizensincharge.org/