Jessup News Post - January 2009

Welcome to the first monthly Jessup News Post. The News Post will complement Jessup Jottings blogging by reporting information from township meetings, NTC meetings, and other sources.

Jessup Township Meeting :

The reorganization and monthly meeting was held Monday 5 January 2009. The township officials continue in their same roles.

Township meetings will still be held on the first Wednesday, but the time is changed to 7PM.

The property tax rate will be kept the same as 2009.

The supervisors are exploring options to reduce resident fees by obtaining a new provider for building code and sewage code permitting and enforcement instead of using COG.

The supervisors are considering a Post and Bond Ordinance and an engineering service provider to document the condition of our roads. The goal is to provide some protection from and reimbursement for major damage to roads by gas companies with fleets of water trucks and heavy drilling rigs.

NTC Meeting :

The NTC met 15 January at Silver Lake and installed new officers and committee members. Bill Stewart replaces Dave Darrow as Chairperson; Art Donato is Vice Chair; and Mary Long is Treasurer and Mary Mead is Secretary. Dave Darrow moves to the By Laws Committee. Congratulations to Bruce Griffis who has moved from the By Laws Committee to the Executive Committee.

Zoning issues were discussed with the usual degree of civility on both sides. Information about the recent survey of Franklin Township residents and voters was offered and, initially, strongly resisted by NTC officials and some supervisors. The survey was conducted by citizens mailing to 500 residents/voters and getting a 65% response with an overwhelming majority registering opposition to zoning. The Franklin Township representative expressed his disbelief until he could personally review the signatures, although he seemed already aware of the survey.

A letter by Carson Helfrich was presented which basically read like a farewell. He noted that the new (Oct08) version of the zoning ordinance could be adopted by any township independently of the others depending on their perceived need for zoning at this time, saying that some "may be ready for zoning and some may not". Bill Stewart reinforced the notion that zoning issues were a matter for the individual townships and not for discussion at the NTC. No mention was made of the fate of the Joint Planning Commission and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement set up to administer compliance with the comprehensive plan and zoning and land use ordinances related to it.

The January budget reflected income received from Carson Helfrich (Zoning Funds) of $59,690.74 resulting in a net Balance of $67.722.32 on hand. No mention was made of how the returned funds (originally from a DCED Grant which expired 30June08) would or could be used.

The November budget ( presented here because no meetings were held in November or December) reflected expenditure of $2,434 for Kilmer Insurance for Composting Equipment. It was resolved to pay for this from the funds on hand and not to request reimbursement from the townships.

Bill Stewart mentioned the Penn State Data Center population projection showing Susquehanna County growing to 77,530 by 2030 or almost 90% from 42,238 in 2000 as reported in the Township News magazine. I asked if anyone knew of any data to support this dramatic change from 7 years of constant decline to 41,123 in 2007 per the Census Bureau. No one did and I summarized the pertinent data as discussed in my post ( Susquehanna County Population Explosion - Really ?? ). Bob Templeton said that he thought the projection was too high ( as I recall, he used the term "outlandish"). Without substantial justification, this counter-trend projection for Susquehanna County is not credible.

There was discussion of a PSATS proposal to assess and collect property tax for the value of underlying natural gas based on leases. Pros and Cons were argued with the consensus being that it would be very hard to administer and that the NTC should oppose the proposal.

There was a question raised about getting gas company representatives to come to discuss impacts; I didn't hear the resolution, if any. Bob Templeton provided some copies of a Penn State brochure on impacts of gas drilling on townships.