Forks Action Committee
Homepage - Last Day of the Month
May 31, 2006
The May 18th Board of Supervisors meeting was full of developments - pun intended.  Express
Times reporter Sarah Mausolf and Morning Call reporter Joe Nixon were there.  Please read their
articles for after-meeting interview details.

Here's our short version:

  • Georgia Pacific's Dixie plant presented the Township with a check for $5,000 for the
    community park's arboretum.
  • The Board voted 5:0 to send the zoning amendment (Ordinance 298 to allow a grocery store
    in the EC) to the next level -to the Planning Commission and to the Lehigh Valley Planning
    Commission for comments. The public hearing is scheduled for 6/29/06 at 7 PM.
  • RB Associates offered a 15 acre parcel in Forks Landing Business Park (north of the
    Uhler/Sullivan intersection) for consideration as a site for a grocery store.  The Board
    thanked them.  
  • The Board voted 5:0 to adopt (Lock Box) Ordinance 297 mandating that all businesses over
    5000 square feet in building size install lock boxes for emergency use.
  • The Police Department has begun accepting registrations for the Summer Youth Academy,
    a program for 11-15 year olds.  Call the PD for enrollment forms.  
  • The Police Department has begun week #1 of the Memorial Day Click It Or Ticket program.  
    You are asked to obey State law as the PD does not like giving out citations.  
  • The LVPC Hazard Mitigation Program has been received at the Township.
  • The Delaware Nation lost its appeal for Forks land.
  • The Parks & Recreation Committee will meet next week.
  • Kemie Heckman has resigned her spot on the Recreation Committee.  Applications are
    being accepted now!
  • The Recreation Board bylaws state that it picks board members.  In fact, the BoS appoints
    them.  
  • Portable basketball hoops are causing a problem for Penn's Ridge residents.
  • Pete Rossi (resident) has offered free stone fill for the Township's emergency access road
    to Gollub Park.  He said that he doesn't need it now that the Township is building the road.  
    He has 20 tandem loads on his building site.
  • The soonest the Township quarterly publication can be available is the first week of August.  
  • Contract negotiations with the Township's non-uniformed employees' association will start
    soon. It was discussed in Executive Session.
  • Traffic through the Community Center (park road) is once again "flying" - the speed bumps
    were ground down.  


Please read our blog for more meeting details!  Don't forget to read some of the other posts there...
and the Comments too.  Don't be afraid to join in the discussion(s) and add your own Comments.  
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The Planning Commission met on 5/11/06 and among the agenda items was the grocery store zoning change.  They
heard Solicitor Karl Kline explain the ordinance he drafted and concurred with the Board, that it should contain no provision for
drive-through uses (bank and pharmacy were in the original draft).  Joe Nixon (Morning Call) reported on the rest of the grocery
discussion.  Please read his article.  

In short, the Planners voted in a 5:2 split to recommend to the Board that  the zoning ordinance be changed to allow a grocery
store in the EC (Employment Center) district.  Dean Turner and Erik Chuss cast the nay votes both citing problems with traffic
and other possible unintended consequences.  Turner said that he looks at the empty Laneco building every day and doesn't
want to see another empty store (should the grocer fail or quit the site) in the Township.  Chuss said that he would hate to have
someone come along and buy the bank and storage business (northwest corner of Uhler/Sullivan), bulldoze them, and build
another commercial center.  

Turner asked the developer if the anticipated 4000 (additional) trips per day for the new Fort James III industrial park was
considered in their traffic report.  "No" was the answer.  This will be on the BoS meeting agenda possibly as soon as 5/18/06.

The other agenda items discussed and acted on have been updated on our News page.  

Please read our blog for more meeting details!  Don't forget to read some of the other posts there... and the Comments too.  
Don't be afraid to join in the discussion(s) and add your own Comments.  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
At their 5/4/06 meeting, the Board of Supervisors agreed to sign resolution #060504-1, showing their support of
developer impact fees to help school districts!  They discussed the zoning amendment to allow a grocery in the EC district (read
Sarah Mausolf/Express Times and Fred Walter/Morning Call) and they voted (after the Executive Session) to build an
emergency access road to Gollub Park!

We learned:
  • The Board of Supervisors meeting agenda will be online by 10:00 AM on Wednesdays before Thursday meetings.  
    Supervisors Ackerman and Nicholas felt that they should see the agenda before the public does - they do not get their
    copies until Tuesday evenings.
  • The DUI Awareness Program was very well received but enrollment was disappointing at 21.
  • Someone lost a car key in the meeting room and it can be recovered at the Police Department.
  • The PD was awarded a $4K grant by the Click It Or Ticket program for enforcement during the week of Memorial Day.
  • Talks are underway with the Township webmaster to make the website more responsive, easy to navigate, and fun.  If
    anyone has any suggestions to improve it, please contact Township Manager Cathy Kichline.
  • The Board received a mock-up copy of the new Forks quarterly for its review.  The quarterly will hit our mailboxes this
    summer and will contain a centerfold map of the Township and informative articles.
  • Ace Hardware was granted permission by PennDot to use the northbound right-in/right-out driveway.  Ace is officially
    open for business.
  • There will be a "use at your own risk" fenced in dog park on Township property near the airport.  It should be ready this
    summer.  The site may have a modular (people) bathroom facility connected to sewer and water.
  • The speed bumps in the Community Park roads have been milled down to speed "hump" size.  
  • Because of Supervisors' schedule conflicts no date has been set for the official Municipal Building Open House.  A firm
    date should be chosen at the next BoS meeting.  
  • The Town Center development did not go as the originators of the Comprehensive Plan intended.  According to Pete
    Rossi (one of the planners at the time) it was messed up by the Giant's deed restrictions on the old Laneco property
    and by planned town homes.  Rossi said that the only place for a new grocery store now is the intersection of Sullivan
    Trail and Uhler Road and he doesn't care which grocer builds there as long as a grocery store is built.  He wants a
    choice of where to shop.
  • The signed resolution in support of developer impact fees will be sent to the Northampton County Association of
    Township Supervisors and to the two State Representatives sponsoring impact fee bills.  
  • Residents who find dead deer (not roadkill or hunting quarry) are urged to contact Brad Kreider of the Northampton
    County Game Commission.  
  • The Township will remove the large rocks causing damage to the Chestnut Commons swale.  The homeowners there
    will find a use for the rocks.
  • The proposed zoning ordinance (written by Solicitor Karl Kline and reviewed by Charlie Schmehl of URDC) to allow a
    grocery store in the EC district will go to the Planning Commission for discussion at its May 11 meeting.  SamCar, the
    developers of the Uhler/Sullivan grocery/CVS will present the 5 mile radius demographics and discuss traffic with the
    PC. They have agreed to eliminate the word "upscale" from their description of the grocery store since it's a subjective
    word.  
  • SamCar informed the Board that all six of their grocery prospects are also eyeing a site (the same site) in Nazareth but
    prefer the Forks site.  They added that residential developers are trying to buy up all the farmland for residential
    development and "that's a good thing."
  • The Board granted authorization to advertise a mandatory lock-box ordinance.  If adopted, it will apply to all businesses  
    with over 5000 square feet (of building) in the Township.  It will enable rapid entry by emergency crews (PD and FD) in
    the event of emergencies and will be controlled by the 911 center.  Supervisors Nicholas and Ackerman objected to the
    mandatory aspect of the ordinance.
  • And the surprise of the night was the after-Executive-Session-vote to build an emergency access road to Gollub Park.  
    Apparently the property owners along the old trolley track decided not to grant the needed emergency easements.  

Please read our blog for more meeting details!  Don't forget to read some of the other posts there... and the Comments too.  
Don't be afraid to join in the discussion(s) and add your own Comments.  
In case any of you wonder how our website and blog are doing lately, here are some graphs to view.  Double click on the
images below for larger views.  We are excited at the traffic we are getting.  Thank you all!  Tell your friends!
Recent Website Visits through 5/27/2006
Recent Blog Visits through 5/27/2006