Input

About 50 residents -- a full house -- gathered at the West Marlborough township building on Dec. 15 for a wide-ranging discussion about the zoning process, a proposal for the township to take over responsibility for state roads, and the proposed earned income tax that would help to fund it.
First, township solicitor Dwight Yoder and engineer Al Giannantonio gave a concise and well-organized summary of the local zoning process, as well as common pitfalls and misunderstandings (for instance, a "special exception" to a zoning ordinance is actually neither. "A terrible term," said Mr. Yoder). For a while there I felt like I was back in my State & Local Government class in college, minus Professor Entman's Marxist spin. The supervisors said they wanted to educate the public about the zoning process because an increasing number of zoning issues had arisen in the township.
Residents asked several questions about who enforces the ordinances and how landowners can prove that a nonconforming use has been ongoing on their properties.
Then traffic engineer Al Federico outlined the state roads that the township is thinking about taking back, such as Route 842, Route 841 and part of Springdell Road, parts of Newark Road and Route 82. He analyzed the costs that the township would have to bear (for instance, maintenance and snow removal) in return for gaining more control over the road in terms of speed limits and traffic restrictions.
One thing I learned is that taking back a road excludes the bridges, which PennDOT would still control.
Residents raised numerous objections and alternatives to the road turnback proposal:

• Would the township face additional legal liability?
• How much more equipment and personnel would be needed to maintain the roads, and could the township building accommodate it?
• Would having the township control the roads actually make a difference in terms of reducing traffic?
• Could the "traffic-calming" strategies actually backfire?
• Do all the roads need to be "taken back" at a time, or might it be better to experiment with only one at first?
• Would the money be better spent on more traffic enforcement, perhaps expanding police coverage?

By this time it was after 9 p.m., so the discussion of the proposed earned income tax consisted of only a brief explanation by the supervisors' chairman, Bill Wylie. I had expected this to be the "hot" part of the meeting, but I guess everyone just wanted to get home.
One exciting side note: Doe Run Farm owner Dick Hayne was at the meeting, to my knowledge the first one he has EVER attended. He stood in the back corner by the road grader and said nothing. At the end of the meeting he came up front, introduced himself to the supervisors and then left. I can understand wanting to operate behind the scenes, but why on earth didn't he do that a long time ago?