Forks Action Committee

Homepage - Last Day of the Month

December 31, 2005

Many Thanks To Elsie Louise Brown And
Her Family!

The development rights to her 129.9 acre farm off of Klein Road
in the northern end of the Forks have been approved for
purchase by the Northampton County Conservation District. The
paperwork is yet to be finalized while some details are worked
out and according to her nephew, John Daub, it will happen.
This is a FIRST for Forks Township!

It was presented to the Planning Commission at their meeting on 12/8/05
during the discussion of a 2 acre minor subdivision for a family home on
the farm. In early 2006 there will be another lot line adjustment for an
existing property and 4 acres in Plainfield Township will also be subdivided
for another family home. After that, the remaining farmland will remain
farmland and cannot be developed.

The Board of Supervisors approved the 2 acre minor subdivision at the
December 15, 2005 meeting. It looks like a green light for the sale of the
farm's development rights to Northampton County. How exciting for Forks,
129.9 acres that can never be developed.

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F.A.C. received an email from Donald Dal Maso of Lower Mount Bethel Township. He is the resident noted in
the Morning Call article from 12/21/05 who spoke out at a Bangor Area School Board Meeting and suggested
that local officials and residents join forces to make developers pay for the real impact that their projects have on
local school districts. In addition to sending us his newsletter on the subject, he has posted to our blog so that
we can discuss it with him. Check it out! His post is a Comment to the "Yes Virginia, there is a Sanity
Clause" thread. Just click on Comments under the thread to read what's been written so far. Join in!

Dal Maso also sent us a link to the excellent Lower Mount Bethel Community Alliance website. We've added it to
our Tell Them (links) page. They have a few LMBT meeting videos and a community forum. Visit and read what
concerns our neighbors to the north.

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We recently received this note from Supervisor Elect Howell -

Dear friends at FAC, Subscribers and Website Visitors:

During my campaign, it became apparent that Forks residents considered

Open Government as one of the most important issues I addressed. After

the Primary in May, 2005 I began discussing my concerns about the Board

of Supervisors' Liaison structure as an example of closed government

with no checks and balances. Liaisons were placed on the Board's

12/1/05 Agenda by Supervisors Ackerman and Nicholas for discussion and

approval for 2006. I felt that this would be my only opportunity to

present my ideas. Attached is my statement to the Board. The matter was

tabled for further discussion at a Supervisor's Workshop later this

month. Please feel free to share this statement with your readers.

David Howell

For a look at Howell's attached statement click here. We are pleased that he has shared this
with us.

This month in Forks! updated 1/1/06

There was a special meeting of the Board of Supervisor's on 12/29/05 at 7:30 PM to approve the 2006 operating
budget. Meredith Bowen (Express Times) and Fred Walter (Morning Call) summed the meeting up nicely in their reports.
Please read them both. Our "nutshell" version follows:

Township Manager Cathy Kichline reported that Forks has been approved by PennDot for a stop control signal at the
Arndt and Bushkill intersection. She said it will likely be a 4-way stop.
Solicitor Karl Kline said that the court has ruled in favor of the Township in the Easton Area Industrial Land Development
case. EAILD owns land on the northwest intersection of Richmond and Newlins Roads and wanted to have trucks
exiting onto Newlins. The Township had approved their project stipulating that tractor trailers must exit onto Richmond
Road only. EAILD went to court. They lost.
Supervisor Bonnie Nicholas took issue with the 12/15/05 meeting minutes and asked that approval be postponed until
the tape of the meeting could be reviewed. Approval will be at the 1/3/06 meeting.
Nicholas abstained from the vote on the debits (payments) because she was not given the information before the
meeting for review. The list was given to her that evening.
Detective Philomena Sandt presented retiring Supervisor Henning Holmgaard with a plaque on behalf of the Forks
Police Department for his dedication and commitment. He in turn praised the department for its accomplishments.
The 2006 operating budget was not unanimously approved. It was approved with Nicholas voting against it. Kichline
noted that the health care cost estimate was replaced with actual figures and a reduction of $153K!
The Board promoted two officers to the rank of Corporal, Jack Dressler and Shawn Hummer.
Officer James Rowden was promoted to Detective with his primary responsibility to be juvenile matters.
Two new officers were hired, Joseph Effting and Sean Stark. Both come to Forks with previous police experience.
The Permanent Standing Committees proposal (to replace liaisons) was once again tabled to January. The workshop
is scheduled for 7:00 PM on Thursday, January 19, 2006.
Part-time Parks employee, Terry Hoff, was hired as a full-time Parks employee.
The ordinance to renew the Township's participation in the Two Rivers Council of governments was approved.
The public hearings on the new Zoning Ordinance were set. The Planning Commission hearing will be on Tuesday,
January 24, 2006 at 7:00 PM. The Board of Supervisors hearing is scheduled for 7:00 PM on Thursday February 7, 2006.
Vito Tamborrino, Jr., Planning Commission Chairman whose term is expiring expressed his unhappiness with being
requested to re-interview for his slot on the PC. After he "dared" the Board to find a more qualified candidate than
himself, it was decided that those who currently serve on appointed committees and boards and whose terms are
expiring and who want to be re-appointed, need not be subject to interviews.

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 December 15, 2005 Board of Supervisors meeting took place during an ice storm that kept many residents at
home. Joe Nixon (Morning Call) was there but no one from the Express Times made it. The 6:30 workshop session to discuss
the Howell proposal for standing committees was postponed to some time in January 2006. Here are the short meetings'
shorts:

The Police Department got their State Accreditation! Wonderful and congratulations!
The 28' blue spruce was donated by Wayne and Nancy Docker and Jennifer Long. According to Supervisor Holmgaard
the root ball will weigh 25-30 tons. The tree will be replaced (at the Docker's) with an 8'-10' one.
DPW Director Sandt said that the Township is still working on leaf collections.
Township Manager Kichline noted that 7 letters of interest were received for the Planning Commission vacancies and
she also received letters for the other vacancies. A Board of Supervisors workshop will be scheduled for January 3,
2006 at 5:30 PM to interview the applicants.
Supervisor Hoff sent a letter to the Board expressing his support of the standing committees proposal. (Because of a
work commitment, he was not at the meeting.)
The Elsie Louise Brown 2 acre subdivision was approved by the Board! The Brown family is now free to sell the 129.9
acres' development rights to the county's conservation district for farmland preservation. Chairman Ackerman noted that
he has farmed that land for many years and that he helped to write the Act 515 law.
The Township was able to settle its involvement in the Howard Homes litigation with the payment of a $1000 nuisance
fee and the inclusion of a "no guilt" clause. Howard Homes was sued by two home purchasers who were unhappy with
the response they got from the developer over their stormwater runoff problems.
The 2006 budget was NOT approved and will require a special meeting of the Board on 12/29/05. The discussion
revolved around the raises for department heads. The vote was tied with Miller and Holmgaard voting for the 4%
increases and Ackerman and Nicholas voting against them. Both were in favor of 3% increases.
The Police Department appointments were postponed and will be made at the 12/29/05 meeting.

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The Planning Commission meeting on December 8, 2005 was full of surprises. The most exciting one is
described above and on our blog, that the Brown farm in the Township's northernmost section is selling development rights to
the Northampton County Conservation District. WOW!

The project list on our News page has been updated to reflect it as well as the other project results before the PC that night.
Notable too was a recommendation to deny the Estates At Sterling Hill Final Subdivision and the lengthy discussion over the
Courts At Newlins Road. Even Solicitor Kline remarked that he couldn't imagine how these townhouses could be marketable.
The site is on Newlins between Kesslerville and Sullivan Trail, with the 100 year flood plain running through it.

There will be no PC workshop in December since most of the planners are unavailable on December 27th. Also, Chairman
Vito Tamborrino said that he will, in a month or so, present research that he has done on establishing an architectural review
committee.

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The December 1, 2005 Board of Supervisors meeting was longer and more important than the brief agenda
implied. Sarah Mausolf (Express Times) and Joe Nixon (Morning Call) covered the meeting. Their articles are must-reads.
Our highlights follow:

The new Municipal Building will not be ready for the 12/15/05 meeting as hoped. Due to the late (and still anticipated)
arrival of custom ceiling tiles, it appears the building is 1 month away from completion.
The fire department is getting a new fire truck. The Board voted to accept the low (and only) bid from Pierce
Manufacturing Inc.
The Zucksville Road entrance to the Community Center is going to get an electronic sign. The Board voted to award
the contract to the low bidder, JHM Communications, Phillipsburg, NJ.
The parks garage will be heated. The contract was awarded to the low (and only) bidder, KC Mechanical Services.
There was a lengthy discussion of the current liaison structure (Board members and individual departments) versus a
new permanent standing committee structure proposed by Supervisor-elect Howell. You can read Howell's statement
here. A special workshop has been scheduled for 6:30 PM before the December 15th regular BoS meeting to discuss
it further. If it is to be adopted, it must be done before year end so that the Board can fill the positions at its Re-
organization meeting on January 3, 2006.
Howell was invited to join the Executive Session because the topic under discussion was a real estate acquisition
matter that will be decided in 2006.

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 12/24/2005

Recent Blog Visits through 12/24/2005