Local Trick or Treat updates: Macungie, Lower Macungie, Alburtis

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Here’s the scoop on local Trick or Treats – PLEASE BE SAFE EVERYONE! I think the township made the right call postponing til Saturday and holding during the day because we have no idea if power will be back on yet in many areas on saturday. On the more suburban township roads (many without sidewalks) it’s too dangerous to hold the event without streetlights.

For those still having it in Alburtis and Macungie tonight PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL!

Macungie and Alburtis Borough: Via Mcall – Trick or Treat still on for Wednesday Night


Emmaus Borough: Via Emmaus Facebook Page

Attention Borough Residents: TRICK OR TREAT NIGHT HAS BEEN CHANGEDDue to the potential damage and circumstances as a result of Hurricane Sandy, the Borough of Emmaus has cancelled Trick or Treat Night for Wednesday evening. Because of the potential for lasting effects of the hurricane, Trick or Treat Night for the Borough of Emmaus has been RESCHEDULED for SATURDAY, November 3rd from 6pm to 8pm.Please share this with your friends that live in the Borough. We will also be providing a telephone announcement this afternoon. Please stay safe!

 

Lower Macungie Township: Via LMT Facebook Page

Lower Macungie Township

Trick-or-Treat is cancelled for tonight and is rescheduled for Saturday, November 3rd, 3:00-6:00 p.m. Due to reports that power could be out until Sunday, the Trick-or-Treat hours were scheduled during the day for safety reasons. If your children are Trick-or-Treating without an adult, please remind them to be careful when it starts to get dark. Have fun and be safe!
Interested in East Penn Smart Growth issues? Do you think our township is growing too fast  and the traffic, school enrollment issues and taxes are starting to effect our quality of life?

Local social media valuable during storm

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I started advocating for LMT to initiate social media about 2 years ago. A month ago they launched their Facebook and Twitter. Props to Commissioner Conrad for spearheading it despite sometimes snarky support from some of the other commissioners.

Sandy showed us exactly why it’s critical local gov’t uses every tool available to get information out to the public.

During the height of the storm LMT, Alburtis and Allentown Social media were humming with updates and information. And it was a two way street. Residents posted questions, concerns and updates throughout the storm. Lower Macungie Patch’s facebook gained nearly 150 “likes” during the height of the storm. It was clear, residents were turning to the internet for information.

And it was very effective. Residents in the Borough of Macungie however were left in the dark. Despite staff drawing up a social media policy some on council are skeptical. I hope this shows beyond doubt how critical it is to use this powerful tool.

Here are many of the local links that residents turned to for information during the storm.

Local Gov’t Social Media
Alburtis PD
Alburtis Borough
Lower Macungie Township
Commissioner Ryan Conrad (LMT)
Allentown Mayor
City of Allentown

Local organizations
Lower Macungie Library
Friends for Protection of Lower Macungie Township (East Penn Smart Growth resident organization)

Local Media
Morning Call
Lower Macungie Patch 
Emmaus Patch Facebook

Who benefits from job poaching?

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Question: If locality ‘A’ steals a business from locality ‘B’ through tax breaks and subsidies, in general, is the American economy better off?

Bringin it home:

Ocean Spray in Fogelsville – 

“The Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, with the help of a $4.5 million incentive package from the state, lured the juice maker away from its existing plant in Bordentown, New Jersey to Upper Macungie.” – Patch May 2012

Employment figures – 165 employees in the new modern facility vs. 250 at the old Bordentown NJ plant. Bordentown is 70 miles away across the Jersey border. Ok so the greater region and the American economy lost 90 jobs. But wait thats 165 new jobs for Valley residents. Eh not so fast…

“During the transition from the New Jersey to Upper Macungie, Ocean Spray will offer its Bordentown City employees relocation packages.”

So back to the fundamental question. Are we better off? Well PA taxpayers have subsidized another greenfield project. Not to mention the infrastructure to support it. The area gets more traffic, more tractor trailers and more future liability in terms of police, roads, water, sewer ect. The American economy as a whole loses 90 jobs.

So who are the winners? Ocean Spray wins. And I’m happy for that. Played the system. Pitted two communities against each other to see who can dangle the biggest fruit. They come out leaner and meaner as a company. Certainly a private companies right to do so. And yes, thats great. So who else? The politicians (Gov. Corbett and local officials) get a nice feather in their cap. And of course the Jaindl Land Company churns up another 44 acres of subsidized farmfield for a hefty profit. Again, it’s right working within the rules of the system.

My problem is the system. What we need right now. What needs to be a fundamental question on the national stage in this presidential election. How do we create new jobs. Not just encourage poaching? How do we make a sustainable dent in the unemployment rate thats been stagnant for a half decade. Not just prop up a broken system where jobs are poached from one community to another with temporary tax breaks and subsidies? Where are the vehicles to create new jobs? Whose talking about and addressing this problem?

That being said, I ask again: If locality ‘A’ steals a business from locality ‘B’ through tax breaks and subsidies is the American economy as a whole better off?

Sidenote: Remember International Battery? Another business lured by ured to Upper Macungie by $4 million in tax incentives. They closed in March. Failing to make a profit.

Rhetoric vs. Actions

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An amazing re-branding is happening as the Board of Commissioners tries to distance themselves from comments made by planning commissioners they recently rubber stamped. About 2 months ago smart growth buzzwords started flying around at meetings.

This same Board of Commissioners (BOC) who immediately after taking office steamrolled the absolute antithesis of smart growth, an amendment allowing 700 acres of agriculture protected zoning to change to industrial, Strip Mall and Urban are now attempting to re-brand themselves smart growth champions.

 

Wonderful. Nearly 3 years into Reis, Conrad and Eichenberg’s terms they have started studying possible smart growth implementation.

 

I am a believer that actions speak louder then words, so lets review their actions:
1. Jaindl MOU. Mere days after taking office the group began working with Mr. Jaindl his lawyers and Engineers to craft a document chock full of waivers and concessions allowing 700 acres of farmland to be developed with warehouses, strip malls and urban density housing.
2. The Allen Organ project. A project that so far has been spoken in favorable terms by this BOC including Eichenberg who happens to be the realtor of the project. (before eventually recusing himself) This project would create the highest residential density in the township. The plan that at one time was ridiculously branded as “Smart Growth Mixed Use” but after community concern that label was dropped. Now it’s simply being called exactly what it is. A box supermarket and over 200 apartments smushed together on a small parcel.
3. Hamilton Boulevard is becoming Macarther Rd. Two keystone properties are being developed as strip centers on a critical portion of Hamilton boulevard in The Village of Wescosville. It’s been stated this area should become the “Main St.” of the township. Instead we’re getting Macarther Rd.
4. Anti smart growth appointments Planning commissioners who state it’s too late for smart growth get unanimous rubber stamp, while community members who constantly advocate for smart growth are blocked.

 

Again. Rhetoric vs. Action.
Smart growth needs wholesale buy in. Without it you get the Allen Organ proposal. A smart growth sham. 200 apartments crammed with a supermarket that funnels all the traffic onto one intersection. No interconnectivity with adjacent neighborhoods, lip service walkability a sidewalk here and there, no range of housing options and virtually no compact building design.

 

On the national stage on both sides of the aisle we see politicians who speak out of two sides of their mouths everyday. Where the rhetoric is wonderful but actions don’t always line up. Here on our little local stage we see the exact same thing. This group is trying to shut the barn door after the horse has been stolen. Funny the smart growth talk is being ratcheted up a few months before a primary election? It’s probably just coincidence right?

Lower Macungie BOC approves removal of 20 street trees in Legacy Oaks

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Street Trees along Legacy Oaks in Lower Macungie Township

Street Trees along Legacy Oaks in Lower Macungie Township, Trees on the right will be removed.

 Last night at the Commissioners meeting the board approved the removal of 20 street trees along Village Walk between Caramoor Village Shopping Center and Legacy Oaks.

This was after receiving a letter from the Legacy Oaks HOA regarding issues with the tree roots and the bike path along the street. I agree with the reasoning for removing the tree’s. However absolutely disagree with allowing a blanket waiver of the requirement to replace the trees without exploring ways to replant some trees into the setback or requiring trees be re-planted or re-placed in other areas of the township currently without street trees or that have damaged trees.

Legacy Oaks Street Tree Removal Lower Macungie Township

Red circles are trees that could be removed. Green Circles are places where I think trees can easily be replanted in the setback and still provide the function of a street tree. For the remaining 12 the money to replace should be put into an account to plant replacement trees throughout the township. This would have been a better solution to a complete waiver.

The reason the trees need to be removed is because when Legacy Oaks was built 10 years ago instead of installing a 4 foot sidewalk the developers were allowed to install a bike path instead (probably much cheaper for the developer). It seems the difference in the size between a bike path and sidewalk was made up by cutting into the planting green strip where the trees were placed instead of the large setback. This resulted in a 36 inch green strip for planting, entirely too thin.

Green strip on right of bike path is too thin to handle the trees

Green strip on right of bike path is too thin to handle the trees

Because of this planning decision 10 years ago to allow for such a thin strip, as the trees have grown they have caused bulges in the bike path that have needed repair.

The reasoning was correct to remove the trees. However the reasoning to not replace the trees was flawed. Legacy Oaks argued that they have planted over 40 additional trees over the last couple years in and around their property. Note: Legacy Oaks is a private development.

I think it’s great Legacy Oaks is a tree friendly development and sees the value in additional plantings. My problem is these plantings are not street trees in the public right of way. Since Legacy Oaks is a posted private development any trees inside the property should not qualify as street trees. 

The BOC clearly (with the exception of Doug Brown last night who did bring up the some of the many benefits) seems to not understand or buy into the value street trees. A street tree is specifically one that is in the public right of way directly adjacent to a street vs. an ornamental tree which is a part of the landscaping. With street trees placing and spacing is critical. Street trees serve a different purpose then landscaping trees.

This is a great article that outlines 22 benefits of street trees.

Last night before the vote I wanted to make a comment proposing a compromise. Unfortunately it was missed before the vote. I think it was a simple oversight as I was in the back of the room.

This photo shows an area where 8 trees can easily be replaced in the seback. Still serving the function of a street tree but safely away from the bike path.

Basically after taking a look at the area, I believe at least 8 of the trees could very easily be replaced by being moved into the setback. (see attached diagram/map, green circles) There is enough space so the trees can still provide the functions of a public street tree while being moved safely away from the path. For the remaining 12 trees that cannot be replaced in this area the HOA should be required to pay replacement costs so that trees can be installed in other areas of the township.

What do you think about this compromise?

Jaindl again mis-uses the concept “smart growth”

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I’m tired of this. This is the 3rd time I’ve heard this. The 1st was by his attorney Joe Zator during the LMT zoning board hearings.

This being, Mr. Jaindl calling his “warehousevilles” smart growth. It’s mind numbing and insulting to hear this bastardization of smart growth principle.

Jaindl quoted as calling a warehouse project “smart growth” over at Bernie’s blog.

Here ARE the universally accepted 10 principles of Smart Growth.
1. Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities
2. Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place
3. Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions
4. Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost effective
5. Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas
6. Mix land uses
7. Create a range of housing opportunities and choices
8. Take advantage of compact building design
9. Create walkable neighborhoods
10. Provide a variety of transportation choices

You can CLEARLY see, what Jaindl does. He cherry picks item number 6 taking it out of context while ignoring 1, 2, 3 & 4 (in the case of LMT), 8, 9 and 10. He categorizes projects as mixed use because he frequently does put warehouses next to residential developments. Aside from ignoring most if not all of the other tenets, simply physically putting a warehouse next to a housing project is not the intent of the “mixed use” tenet.

Yes, SG encourages mixed use neighborhoods. Meaning that in today’s world you can live next to many commercial uses without affecting your quality of life. For ex. cafe’s, high end retail, services like hair salons, medical, ect. ect. ect.

SG encourages this because you can pack more into a compact area (tenets 1 & 8) therefore the taxpayer gets more return on our infrastructure investments and we grow in a more sustainable way.

Remember, we have Euclidean zoning (based on the town Euclid where it was first used) because it seperates INCOMPATIBLE uses. Back in the day we needed a mechanism to separate noisy industrial uses from our residential areas. Nowadays we just don’t have many noisy factories/industrial uses anymore and SG principle states you can now put COMPATIBLE uses together.

But what we have here with Jaindl’s warehouses is the EXACT reason we NEEDED Euclidean zoning for the last 5 decades and still do need it in some cases. These are noisy, unsightly ugly distribution centers. They are QOL killers. They are EXACTLY the reason for Euclidean zoning. They are completely incompatible with residential uses. (Trucks, Noise, aesthetics)

 

Lower Macungie and the Municipal Lifecycle

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I’ve written in my blog before about the great ponzi scheme that many suburban townships like ours fall into. You can read more about the ponzi scheme I’ve written about here at strongtowns.org. I found an old Geeting post titled the “5 stages of municipal death.” Again, this always amazes me how you can literally see this playing out here in LMT. It’s scary, but also sad that our elected officials don’t see it. This isn’t some theory. It’s literally played out over and over again all throughout the commonwealth.

Here’s the lifecycle:

1. Low taxes with Greenfield Growth
2. Gradually rising tax rates and increasing demand for services.
3. Plateau of tax base with reductions in non-core services.
4. Insufficient taxes or tax base with reductions in core services.
5. Loss of tax base and distress

Right now, we’re entrenched in the 1st stage. Artificially low taxes. 0% municipal tax rate. Due solely because of the perfect storm of subsidized greenfield growth and the EIT revenue it produced over the last 2 decades and the state taxpayer forking the bill for our police services. We’re about to very clearly enter the 2nd stage (the convo about an LMT police dept…which I believe we would be insane to enact until the state enacts critical reforms) with the 3rd stage on the horizon. (increasing enrollment in EPSD leading to school taxes going up year after year after year with outcomes stagnating) It might take a decade to get to stage 4 and 5 but if you don’t get this train off the tracks now it gets ugly down the road.

First you start your new township on some farmland, and pretend like you don’t need any services and set tax rates way too low.

Then the richest people flee higher tax places for the fake low tax rates. You get by for a few years and then Whoops! it turns out your township needs the same municipal services that every other town does.

Then people stop wanting to pay the increasing taxes, so David Jaindl builds yet another ring of suburbs on former farmland, forms a new government, and the new government Lower Macungies poaches other communities with fake low tax rates and steals your residents and businesses.

But now your tax base has shrunk and you still need to provide the same services over the same territory, so you have to raise taxes again just to maintain the same service levels. More people don’t like the tax increases, so they abandon you for the new Lower Macungie, and on and on.

How do we break this cycle? Through these 5 mechanisms we can break the cycle.

1. Getting the most bang for our taxpayer buck (ROI) on existing infrastructure. (value capture). And do not except any more unfunded maintenance obligations.
2. Conserving green space with mechanisms that are fair to landowners. (purchasing development rights)
3. Requiring complete cost benefit analysis of all greenfield projects to make sure the taxpayer sees benefits not just in the first lifecycle but after the shiny new roads and storm water mechanisms have been dedicated to the taxpayer.
4. Engaging the community in development decisions.
5. Don’t issue any new debt until current debts are fully paid off and limit what we bond for.

Friends smart growth positions

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I want to make it so crystal clear. That there is a chasm between “Friends” vision for our township and that of our elected officials. Come election time it should be so completely obvious that voters will have a crystal clear choice…. I think I’ll repost again “friends’ smart growth policy suggestions that we’ve been promoting for nearly 2 years that have been largely ignored. Please share with your friends and neighbors if you think these solutions for the township makes more sense then the road we’re on.

What Friends supports:

1. Infill development with a focus on Mixed Land Use and Traditional Neighborhood projects.
– Focus on maximizing taxpayer return on investment on our existing infrastructure.
– To encourage this we support creation of Mixed Use ordinances grounded in smart growth principle.

2. Exploring conservation easements to conserve our remaining Green fields.
– Easements are the only effective way to truly preserve farmland that has come under market pressure to develop. It’s also the fairest mechanism for private landowners.
– To identify funding mechanisms and prioritize land to conserve we support the re-creation of a township farmland and open space preservation board.

3. Requiring complete cost benefit lifecycle analysis of all new development.-Including impact on services, maintenance of infrastructure, impact on the EPSD, impact on our tax base.

4. Encouraging community collaboration development decisions and making them predictable, fair and cost effective.

5. Fostering a strong sense of place by connecting our disconnected subdivisions through a complete street network.
– Complete streets are designed and operated to enable safe, attractive, and comfortable access and travel for all users, including cars, pedestrians and bicyclists and users of all ages and abilities.

Stormwater Pond gets Help Getting More Natural

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Scott Alderfer the chair of our township Environmental Advisory Council writes on his blog, ‘Streamhugger’ about the Penns Meadow rehabilitated stormwater project.

This past Saturday, our township’s Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) joined forces with our local Boy Scout Troop (Troop 131 of Wescosville, PA) to accomplish our goal of planting over 360 aquatic and wetland plants in and around the Penn’s Meadow pond.  Twenty-four boy scouts and 17 parents of scouts got down and dirty, and occasionally wet, while planting the native wetland plants that will provide cover and shelter for some of the wildlife that passes through or resides at the location.  In addition to EAC members, the scouts, and their parents, the work crew also included seven local residents who heard about the workday on Facebook and wanted to be a part of it.

ACT 537 Sewage Plan

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This post comes from a fellow Friends board member from our Facebook Page. (Scott is a resident of Upper Milford, but grew up in the township and is active advocate for smart growth and land preservation.)

If you have a septic tank sewage system. mandatory pumping of the tank is going to be required under the township’s proposed new Act 537 Sewage Plan. The pumping requirement is one part of the revised sewage plan. The other part of the sewage plan calls for the expansion of the township’s public sewer area to include the proposed Jaindl development project on Spring Creek Road.

Expansion of the public sewer area is necessary for the Jaindl project to be built. Giant warehouses, 700 new houses and townhouses and commercial sprawl can’t use septic systems. They need public sewers.

DEP may require some minor changes to the sewage plan but is expected to eventually approve it.
The township claims the public sewer area has to be enlarged to serve the zoning change of the Jaindl land. Only problem is that the zoning change is currently not in effect since a Lehigh County judge voided the zoning change last year because of inadequate advance public notice of the zoning change.

Meanwhile, Jaindl’s commercial and industrial subdivision plan for his land cannot get final approval until he completes specific sewage planning for his subdivision plan. And he can’t start that process until the township’s sewage expansion plan is approved by DEP.

in other news, the appellants appeal (supported by Friends) of the Jaindl subdivision plan is scheduled for oral arguments in Lehigh County court in October.

We claim the township cannot approve a subdivision plan while the underlying zoning change is still under legal appeal.

Meanwhile, we are waiting for the ruling from the commonwealth court on the township’s and Jaindl’s appeal of the county judge’s ruling that voided the zoning change.

Are you confused now ?? At least the people who have septic systems know that mandatory pumping is coming for sure.