| Forks Action Committee |
| Homepage - Last Day of the Month |
| October 31, 2006 |
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And, On October 11th, Channel 69 interviewed Virginia Jackson about the new sign on her farm. She has vowed to stay put and never sell to developers! Kudos Virginia! Round 4 of the Kings Mill challenge is set for Monday, October 30 at 7:30 PM. It is scheduled for the Community Center but in view of this low turnout, it may be moved to the Municipal Building meeting room. We will keep you posted. |
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The Express Times editorial from August 25th says it all. This IS the last stand for Forks' agricultural heritage, and is a veritable King's Ransom. EASD Superintendent, Dennis Riker wrote an Express Times letter, one that proves it is indeed a "King's Millage" for us all. Click on the links to read both articles. Dates for the next rounds are October 16th & 30th. You can't afford to miss the this hearing! |
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The October 5, 2006 marathon meeting of the Board of Supervisors began with a 6:30 PM workshop session
to continue work on the Township Manager job description/duties and ended after midnight with 5 votes on Township IT
issues. There was a very long executive session before the votes to discuss a personnel matter and potential litigation.
Invited in, one at a time, were Finance Manager Jim Farley, Chief of Police Greg Dorney and Mel Hodges of Hodges
Technologies. Joe Nixon (Morning Call) and Courtney Lomax (Express Times) wrote about the Board's approval of a 36 unit
townhouse project to be built along the "unnamed" flood plain at the northeast corner of Newlins Road and Sullivan Trail.
In brief:
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.
to continue work on the Township Manager job description/duties and ended after midnight with 5 votes on Township IT
issues. There was a very long executive session before the votes to discuss a personnel matter and potential litigation.
Invited in, one at a time, were Finance Manager Jim Farley, Chief of Police Greg Dorney and Mel Hodges of Hodges
Technologies. Joe Nixon (Morning Call) and Courtney Lomax (Express Times) wrote about the Board's approval of a 36 unit
townhouse project to be built along the "unnamed" flood plain at the northeast corner of Newlins Road and Sullivan Trail.
In brief:
- The Township has hired Hodges Technologies to "effectuate enhancement to the computer intrusion system" including
the installation of GroupWise7 for an estimated cost of $4,000. All IT functions for the purpose of intrusion detection
have been out-sourced to Hodges. - Township employees are prohibited from personal use of the computers effective 10/9/06 until further notice.
- Alex Gale is now associated with Keystone Engineering and will appear before the Board at the next meeting to help
resolve a $20K invoice from USA Architects. - Blinking lights will be installed at the Arndt/Bushkill intersection.
- PennDot speed/traffic studies were authorized by the Board for a section of Richmond Road and a stretch of Route 611.
- Boy Scout Troop 29 is looking for community service projects in the Township and next spring will be looking for Eagle
projects. Gollub Park was suggested. - There will be no lapse in subscription coverage for EMS services. Suburban EMS (the current provider) and Forks EMS
(the not yet re-licensed provider) have come to an agreement regarding the language of the subscription notices and
the escrow account. - Forks EMS is continuing to work with Dr. Binns, executive director of the Eastern PA EMS Council, to regain its license.
- The Vial of Life Program, a Forks Police Department initiative was introduced by Chief Dorney. Pharmaceutical bottle
kits are free to residents and will be available at the Police Department, the Fire Department, the Municipal Building and
the Community Center. Residents are encouraged to put their pertinent medical information (doctors, prescriptions,
etc.) in the bottles and keep them in their refrigerators should the information be needed in an emergency. - As part of the emergency preparedness plan, all Forks employees will be issued picture ID badges.
- Galley sheets for the new Forks Quarterly should be available for Board review in a week or so.
- Resident Ken Nagy again urged the Board to change its meeting night an to attend Northampton County Council
meetings. He said that what is in the newspapers is not what happens at the meetings and that the Township is
missing out on a lot of grant money. - At Mr. Nagy's suggestion, the Board will invite the Easton Suburban Water Authority to the next Board meeting.
- Work on "recycling" Frutchey Hill is due to start on Friday, 10/6.
- Jay Reese told of disrespect shown by developers' employees and of flooding, dust, and weed control problems
caused by a the same developer. - Scott Gingold asked the Board why his group was told by the publishers agent that all advertising space was sold out
when he contacted them. He said that others who called after him were not told the same thing. - Mr. Gingold also "corrected" misinformation he said is on the F.A.C. website as to the purpose of his group's zoning
appeal. He said that they are not against a grocery store. They are against spot zoning. - The Two Rivers Greenway Plan (agreement signed by the Township last year) doesn't count when considering
developers' plans since its provisions were not adopted in the new zoning ordinance nor are they in the current SALDO. - Flow meters will be used to test stormwater infiltration into the sewer lines. The cost will be approximately $71K and
half of that will be paid by the DEP. It will be much cheaper than building a new sewage treatment plant (in the near
term) to accommodate phantom capacity needs.
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.
On October 12, 2006 the Planning Commission was subjected to a full agenda of controversial projects. Joe Nixon
(Morning Call 10/13/06) detailed the mix and Courtney Lomax (Express Times 10/13/06) focused on the Weis Market.
Discussed and acted upon projects include:
And, we learned from a developer that the Yautz farm on Glover Road will likely be under development in 10 years! Read more
on the FAC newspage. All projects are updated with the discussion details.
(Morning Call 10/13/06) detailed the mix and Courtney Lomax (Express Times 10/13/06) focused on the Weis Market.
Discussed and acted upon projects include:
- Kings Farm's "by right" plan. This is the one "grandfathered" under the old zoning for two acre lots. Because the
developer has done nothing in regard to the engineer's letter and has not done even one perc test, the planners voted 6:
0 to recommend rejection of this plan to the Supervisors. - The CVS preliminary plan was approved 6:1. SamCar is keeping this plan alive just in case the grocery zoning is
overturned. If it is, this plan will be good-to-go. - The Weis Market preliminary major subdivision was discussed, reviewed, and tabled in a 7:0 vote. This action moves it
to the township engineer for review. - Knollwood Estates Phase II was tabled and thereby accepted for engineering review in a 7:0 vote. Hay said that the box
culvert bridge is big enough to drive a car through and does not constitute development in the floodplain ( Note: This
was in response to a concern expressed by Supervisor Nicholas at a recent BoS meeting, who thought the township
may, by allowing it, have violated the Twin Rivers Greenway agreement.) Hay distributed a printout from the FEMA
website with a definition of a 100-year flood to the PC members. - Jacobs Farm II is now being developed by Jim Seitz Construction Co., Inc. and not Quixote Ventures. There will be
sidewalks along the full length (and both sides) of Biltmore. It will have its own clubhouse and no parking signs along
the interior roads. - The Fort James III developer, J.G. Petrucci is not hopeful about discussions with Norfolk Southern for a grade crossing
to allow the construction of Braden Boulevard at Kesslersville Road. Kline will ask the BoS to write a letter in support of
the crossing since it is crucial to the plan for the industrial park. The Township wants the road and demands that there
be two ways in and out of the project. The developer's representative asked for condemnation of the edge of a
residential lot on Glover. The PC countered with condemnation of land along the border of two industrial lots to give
access to Kuebler. Rogerson (from Petrucci) found that unacceptable and offered that the developer may withdraw the
plan.
And, we learned from a developer that the Yautz farm on Glover Road will likely be under development in 10 years! Read more
on the FAC newspage. All projects are updated with the discussion details.
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On October 19, 2006 the Board of Supervisors faced a big decision - whether or not to accept the offer of a time
extension until January 31, 2007 for the Kings Mill by-right plan submitted under the old zoning ordinance last December. This
is the plan with 182 homes on 485 acres in the FP and was first shown to the public at the August 2005 Planning Commission
meeting in the Community Center. It was the one that wasn't done in colored ink.
Attorney John VanLunanee offered the extension on behalf of the developers (Nic Zawarski & Sons, JT Maloney/Signature
Homes, and Dennis Benner) saying that a revised plan had been submitted to the Township that morning and that it answered
point by point the issues detailed in Engineer Fred Hay's review "memo."
There was some question of the "good faith" involved and it was pointed out that none of the necessary, and promised by
Benner at the 7/20 BoS meeting, perc tests and soil tests have been done. The planning module is incomplete without the
tests.
In a 3:2 vote, the Board accepted the time extension. Supervisors Howell and Nicholas voted against it. The completed
module must be delivered to the Township by 1/31/07 so that it can be reviewed by Hay for the February 8, 2007 Planning
Commission meeting. If the tests are not submitted, the plan will likely be rejected. Joe Nixon (Morning Call) and Courtney
Lomax (Express Times) wrote about it.
Some of the other items covered:
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.
extension until January 31, 2007 for the Kings Mill by-right plan submitted under the old zoning ordinance last December. This
is the plan with 182 homes on 485 acres in the FP and was first shown to the public at the August 2005 Planning Commission
meeting in the Community Center. It was the one that wasn't done in colored ink.
Attorney John VanLunanee offered the extension on behalf of the developers (Nic Zawarski & Sons, JT Maloney/Signature
Homes, and Dennis Benner) saying that a revised plan had been submitted to the Township that morning and that it answered
point by point the issues detailed in Engineer Fred Hay's review "memo."
There was some question of the "good faith" involved and it was pointed out that none of the necessary, and promised by
Benner at the 7/20 BoS meeting, perc tests and soil tests have been done. The planning module is incomplete without the
tests.
In a 3:2 vote, the Board accepted the time extension. Supervisors Howell and Nicholas voted against it. The completed
module must be delivered to the Township by 1/31/07 so that it can be reviewed by Hay for the February 8, 2007 Planning
Commission meeting. If the tests are not submitted, the plan will likely be rejected. Joe Nixon (Morning Call) and Courtney
Lomax (Express Times) wrote about it.
Some of the other items covered:
- The Township Manager job description prepared by Howell was accepted after the sentence "The Township Manager
is the chief administrative officer and serves by Board appointment" was modified to "The Township Manager serves by
Board appointment." - The sewer lines will be studied for infiltration/inflow. The EAJSA is conducting a study of all member municipalities'
sewer lines because of the in excess of 1,000,000 gallons of unaccounted for water (daily). The study should pinpoint
where storm and ground water are getting into the system. This special study will cost Forks $71K with 50% to be
refunded by the DEP. - USA Architects' invoice for $20,000 will be paid. The original invoice received last May was for $33K. It was negotiated
down at the time but the firm did not send the revised invoice until a few weeks ago. Solicitor Kline suggested that the
check be accompanied by a letter stating that the check represents payment in full. - The Board agreed to a resolution to join with Northampton County to accept the reduced assessment on Knox Avenue
Senior Associates from $900,000 to $485,700. - The non-uniformed employee pension plan is solvent and no employee contributions for 2005 and 2006 will be
required! - A homeowner trimmed a Township tree back to within a foot of its trunk. He said that it got worms. He will be asked to
replace the tree. - Leaf collection has begun.
- The new Forks quarterly publication may be mailed by the end of the month.
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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