Group Trying to Preserve County's Rural Character Hears Pennsylvania Officials

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 by Alex. J. Hayes, Gettysburg Times Staff Writer

More than 40 people concerned about protecting the Adams County fruitbelt came to the York Springs Fire Hall Tuesday nighty to express their concerns and hear what others thought.

Save Our Rural Heritage (SORH) held their second annual town hall meeting last night, which included speeches from Rep. Steven Nickol, Crystal Newcomer of the Pa. Department of Environmental Projection, and Richard Schmoyer, director of Adams County Planning and Development.

The group is especially concerned with stopping the development of a 285-unit trailer park in Huntington Township. The trailer park would be located on 140 acres of active farmland.

Huntington Township originally denied the plans for the park, but the developer appealed the rejection and the Commonwealth Court ordered the plans be approved.

Nickol told the crowd that as a representative he is asked to support numerous groups that are trying to stop development. Normally he denies those requests because he feels it is up to the local government to make those decisions. He said he came out in support of SORH because the local government tried to stop it and failed.

"This sets it apart from any local opposition I have ever seen," he said.

Nickol also said he feels with all of the things the state has already done to protect the fruitbelt, allowing a trailer park in would be counterproductive.

"This would undermine all of those other efforts," said Nickol.

The development's plans include the construction of a sewer treatment plant. The plant requires several permits from DEP, which have not been applied for yet.

Amy Worden, vice president of SORH, said that the fact that the permits haven't been applied for yet allows the opposition even more time to voice their concern.

"There are many more opportunities for our voices to be heard and many more opportunities to change this plan," she said.

Crystal Newcomer, water program manager for DEP, said that once the permits are applied for there are two phases that must be completed.

Phase one, which usually takes nine months, is when the developer applies for a permit to discharge wastewater into the stream. This requires a review of the flow of the stream as well as a review of the pollutant level of the stream.

Phase two, which usually takes three months, the developer applies for a permit to build the treatment plant.

A notice of application for both phases is published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, and is subject to a 30-day comment period.

Schmoyer addressed the issue that development is happening all over the county. Currently, there are 108 development projects that are moving through the municipal governments. He also said that there are plans for 1,000 homes throughout the entire fruitbelt, which begins in Hamiltonban Township and extends up to York Springs.

Schmoyer said he would like all development to stay out of the rural areas, and concentrate where there is already growth. He hopes the rising cost of gas will help this idea, because people will not want to move far from commercial centers.

Jeff King, whose farm is adjacent to the site of the trailer park, put his land in preservation several years ago. Because his land can never be developed, many people thought he was ruining a chance to make a lot of money by selling to developers.

"Our family felt so strongly about preservation that we took that option off the table," he said. "This development is counterproductive."

King stressed that the group is not asking DEP or any government agency for any special treatment.

"We are just asking them to follow the letter of the law," he said.

Several residents also expressed concern that if the trailer park would come in, it would have a profound effect on the farms that still exist.

One resident expressed the concern that a trailer park would ruin land like King's, because the new residents would not be easily accustomed to living in a farming community. He said he sees the farming being ruined because the residents will complain about the smell from the dairy farms and agricultural sprays. He also said many farmers use Route 94 to move their farm equipment, and drivers will complain about slow moving tractors.

"There will be too many complaints to work around," he said.

Harrison Fair, who once owned the land the trailer park will be built on, said that he installed a drainage system so that the land would not flood.

"When they start putting in a sewer system what will happen to all that drainage work?" he said.

For more information on SORH, visit their Web site at http://www.sorh.org