A residential development proposed for construction in Warriors Mark Township has been rejected by the municipality\u2019s board of supervisors \u2014 a huge victory for an area environmental group.
\nAt Tuesday\u2019s regular monthly meeting of the Warriors Mark supervisors, the board shot down plans for the proposed \u201cRaspberry Ridge\u201d mobile homepark, a development that would\u2019ve necessitated the implementation of a somewhat large-scale sewage treatment plant. The plans \u2014 introduced over a year ago by Warriors Mark developer John Gilliland were \u201cincomplete\u201d and \u201cunsatisfactory,\u201d according to the township solicitor.
\n\u201cThis board has already granted four 90-day time extensions for this particular proposal,\u201d solicitor Larry Clapper explained. \u201cTo date, many of the comments submitted by the township engineer have gone unanswered by the developer.
\n\u201cTonight, Mr. Gilliland\u2019s attorney is asking for yet another time extension. I\u2019d advise the board that requests were made by the township engineer over a year ago for sewage and water service modules, among many other things, to which no response has been made. I\u2019d also remind the board that, in the past, you\u2019ve stated that no additional time extensions would be granted after a fourth extension. If granted, this would be the fifth for the Raspberry Ridge proposal.\u201d
\nThe Raspberry Ridge development, a planned 253-lot \u201ctrailer park,\u201d has been labeled by the local environmental group, Save Our Streams, as a \u201chigh risk\u201d plan, one that would potentially jeopardize the integrity of ground water and congest small, rural roads. Members of Save Our Streams, who predominantly reside in the Warriors Mark and Spruce Creek areas, were out in force at Tuesday night\u2019s meeting and lobbied hard during the public comment period for an out-and-out rejection of the plan.
\n\u201cThe Raspberry Ridge subdivision has been a nightmare since its introduction,\u201d said Dorothy Gurney, chief spokesperson for Save Our Streams. \u201cThere would be enormous amounts of storm water runoff and the risk of ground water contamination would be so severe due to the density of these lots that a municipal sewage treatment plant would be needed.\u201d
\nGilliland\u2019s attorney, Thomas Scott, conceded that a treatment system of some sort would be required, but that it would be a \u201cprivately maintained\u201d system.
\n\u201cRoutes 350 and 550 \u2014 the only roads available to accommodate this trailer park and its traffic \u2014 would be congested beyond belief,\u201d Gurney continued. \u201cThese roads could not handle the huge increase in traffic and there\u2019s no way to widen them. Experts from Penn State agree that if any digging is done on that ridge, there\u2019s a very good chance we\u2019d see a similar result as that on Sky Top. Geologists feel that the acid rock runs the entire length of that ridge. We\u2019d see \u2018severe impairment\u2019 of our ground water, there\u2019d be dead fish everywhere and we could say good-bye to our drinking water.
\n\u201cThis development goes against everything in the township\u2019s recently adopted comprehensive plan and we feel it\u2019s this board\u2019s duty to reject it. According to your own ordinances, you are required to reject it.\u201d
\nThroughout the meeting\u2019s public comment period, several in the audience asked to concede their five-minute allotment to Gurney, a request that was initially granted by the board. This, at times, allowed Gurney to conduct a filibuster of sorts.
\nBoard chairman L. Stewart Neff told Gilliland\u2019s attorney and the crowd at hand that the board has \u201cbent over backwards\u201d to work with Mr. Gilliland concerning this and other proposed land developments. He expressed his frustration with this particular proposal.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve heard nothing in over a year,\u201d Neff said. \u201cWe\u2019ve asked for this information and our requests have been ignored. I\u2019m speaking for myself, but I think the time for granting extensions is over.\u201d
\nA motion was then made by board member Rodney Marshall to deny the request for a fifth time extension. The motion was seconded and a unanimous vote followed, rejecting the extension request.
\n\u201cSince this extension has been disallowed, we are required to make a decision on whether to approve the preliminary plan for the Raspberry Ridge development,\u201d Neff said.
\nMarshall again spoke up, making the motion to reject the proposal. The vote to reject was unanimous.
\n\u201cThis is a big victory for our group, for the citizens of Warriors Mark and those from surrounding communities,\u201d Gurney said after the meeting. \u201cThis type of explosive rural growth with no regard for the consequences is exactly what our group stands against.\u201d
\nFour other preliminary subdivision plans submitted by Gilliland \u2014 named Gillbrook I, II and III and Arbutus \u2014 were given preliminary approval by the township board.
\n– – – – –
\nOn The Net:
\nWarriors Mark Township: www.warriorsmarkpa.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A residential development proposed for construction in Warriors Mark Township has been rejected by the municipality\u2019s board of supervisors \u2014 a huge victory for an area environmental group. At Tuesday\u2019s regular monthly meeting of the Warriors Mark supervisors, the board shot down plans for the proposed \u201cRaspberry Ridge\u201d mobile homepark, a development that would\u2019ve necessitated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}