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Archive
of past issues and meetings:
The Concerned Citizens to Preserve Zoning
Derry Township - 2006
Welcome to the Concerned Citizens to Preserve
Zoning. Our goal is to provide you with
useful information about land use issues in the
Township, and we hope you will share your ideas with
us and others.
We are a group of Derry Township residents who
are concerned about zoning and land use issues and
are taking action to ensure the protection of land
that is zoned for agriculture and conservation uses
(commonly referred to as open space). The Derry Township Land Trust
started this process with the goal of preservation
of open space here in Hershey. Together, we are
dedicated to:
(1) Protecting the integrity of the Township's
Comprehensive Plan;
(2) Opposing efforts to rezone
agricultural/conservation land; and
(3) Finally, acquiring land so that it may be protected from
irresponsible development.
We do not oppose growth and expansion, but we do
believe that land use decisions must benefit the
people of this Township. After all, the
Comprehensive Plan and zoning laws are here to
protect us.
Concerned Citizens to Preserve Zoning
organized to raise awareness among Derry Township
residents about how today's decisions about rezoning
and the Comprehensive Plan will affect the
appearance, the feel, and the livability of our town
in the future. On this site, you will discover
some of the issues facing our community, as well as
our efforts to improve and preserve our current
positive environment for all in the Township.
The following are issues and notices from past
events and concerns.
Parkview
parking plan draws ire
By: Lindsay Johnson
İHershey Chronicle
05/05/2006
"Yes, HERCO owns Parkview and we can not force
them to re-open this popular and historic golf
course. No, HERCO is not allowed to do whatever they
want on their land," Sandy Ballard, Hershey
resident, said in a statement she read to the board.
"All landowners, even powerful ones with
expensive lobbyists and generous campaign
contributions for elected officials, must obey the
law and zoning rules when using their land."
The company plans to use about 30 acres of the
golf course, which was closed in November 2005, as a
temporary parking lot for high-attendance days, such
as when multiple events are happening at the
Hersheypark Sports and Entertainment Complex and the
park is open.
In her statement, Ballard compared the 30
requested acres to 121 neighboring residents who own
quarter-acre lots deciding to tear down their houses
and pave the land.
The golf course is currently zoned as
Commercial Recreation, which does not include a
parking lot as one of its uses and therefore
requires the request of three zoning variances.
Using the golf course for parking is a potential
solution to HE&R losing the use of Whitefield, also
known as the old airport strip, for overflow parking
because of Milton Hershey School construction at Old
Senior Hall. It was noted at the meeting that
Whitefield is also zoned Commercial Recreation.
The area within Parkview intended for parking
is actually two lots, which require one of the three
requested variances to combine. HE&R plans to
accommodate about 3,000 cars on the combined lots.
"I have a petition signed by 17 residents of
this fine township urging the board to reject this
proposal in its entirety," Roger Olson, township
resident, said. "To desecrate this beautiful piece
of real estate with its lovely hills, trees and
streams is a very poor decision, if that decision is
made. So we are urging the board to reject the
petition. If the petition is rejected and HERCO
doesn't know what to do with the golf course,
perhaps they could consider giving it to the
township to use as a park."
Olson's signatures, combined with other
signatures collected by Victor Peracchia and
Ballard, added up to about 350 residents against
Parkview's use as a parking lot.
Historical value and environmental concerns
were not the only woes shared by residents.
"I work part-time at the museum, and I do know
exactly how bad the traffic situation is. I would
like to request that any parking you do on a
permanent basis, that you would consider a permeable
parking area and not blacktop. When we had Hurricane
Ivan come through, we had a lot of flooding. There's
a sewage plant there, and I have this picture of
flooding and the sewage plant overflowing, and
that's not a nice thought," Janette Murray, township
resident, said.
Representatives from HE&R presented the
company's perspective, as well. Garrett Gallia,
director of corporate relations, said the decision
to use Parkview for this purpose was "not made
easily or taken lightly" and that the company was
"looking at every possible solution."
In a statement released to the media at the
hearing, HE&R said, "As the amount of land that we
own in close proximity to our operations is in short
supply, our options were very limited. Indeed, the
only land suitable to replace the lost parking is
located within the Parkview site.
"We are evaluating our options for the future
use of the balance of the Parkview property. While
the decision to close Parkview was difficult because
of its history, we firmly believe that the resulting
use of the land will have wide-ranging benefits for
our Company and the community."
Charles M. Suhr, as legal counsel for HE&R,
asked that the board make a decision on the
requested variances that evening instead of giving
themselves the standard 45 days allowed to render a
decision. Roy Wells, chairman of the board,
suggested that instead, the company should ask the
board to "expedite its decision, which has been done
in a two-week period before." The board agreed to
grant that amended request.
Under the company's request, the temporary
variance, if awarded to them, would expire on Oct.
31, 2006. Jay Robertson, director of safety and
security for HE&R, said that the company intends to
submit a proposal for a permanent solution to the
complex's parking strains before the temporary
variance would expire.
Gallia said that parking in Parkview, if
approved, would cost the same as in the larger paved
lot.
The entire former golf course contains more
than 130 acres.
Parkview opened in 1929, one of the few
landmarks that is still around from Milton Hershey's
lifetime. The course was owned by the American Golf
Company from 1994 to 2002, when it was reacquired by
HE&R as part of the Country Club acquisition. HE&R
owned the course prior to the ACG purchase, as well.
İHershey Chronicle 2006
What
can I do?
(1) Talk to and
email your friends
and neighbors about these issues
By
learning more about these issues and having a full
discussion of them among residents, we can
collectively decide the best future for our
Township.
(2)
Write a letter
or an email message
Who:
Derry Township Supervisors
235
Hockersville Road
Hershey, PA 17033
What:
A letter can be very simple, for example,
stating that you support the effort to conserve land
for conservation and open space in the township.
When:
As soon as possible, to ensure your voice
will be heard on this important subject
Email: manager@derrytownship.org
(Attn: Township Supervisors)
(you can cc us on your email by sending a
copy to preservehershey(no
spam)@yahoo.com)
(3) Attend Township
Meetings
Meetings are at the Derry
Township Municipal Building.
(4) Support Land
Preservation
Land trust effort dead
By: Lindsay Johnson
İHershey Chronicle 06/01/2006
In 2004, organizers said that the Derry
Township Land Trust was formed to acquire and
preserve land in the township that is designated for
conservation and agricultural uses.
In an article published in the Chronicle on
March 11, 2004, David McMillan, who served as
chairman of the trust, said, "The focus of this
organization is to be here long after the
individuals have left and become a focus of activity
of this nature in the township."
McMillan, however, moved to Utah about 10
months ago.
Developer Jack B. Billmyer, who was quoted by
the Chronicle as the vice chairman, is also unsure
of the status of the group and referred questions to
McMillan, who in turn referred questions to Billmyer.
Billmyer said, "We just kind-of threw
something together quickly to get people interested.
We put so much energy into the cause that we never
made anything formal."
When reached again, McMillan said, "I didn't
formally hand anything over because there was
nothing formal to hand over. I'm not sure what has
happened to it now."
A main focal point of the group's mission was
to eventually purchase land zoned as agricultural or
conservation that was in danger of being rezoned for
other opposing uses.
"There were lots of little groups defending
their own fence posts. We were trying to unify them
with the land trust," McMillan said.
According to McMillan, an account remains with
the funding the group received at its inception,
$69.23 "from another group that had folded a few
years before." An additional $15,000 of funding for
the land trust had come from McMillan's personal and
business accounts, he said. He said the trust spent
most of the money on things such as a presentation
to the board of supervisors, a cost efficiency
analysis and a land development plan analysis.
It is unclear what happened to those analyses
as McMillan told the Chronicle to not call him again
after giving a short interview.
İHershey Chronicle 2006
Open Space Referendum to
appeared on the May 17, 2005 Primary Ballot
May 17th Primary Ballot Question (from
the Township web site)
The Open Space Lands Acquisition And Preservation
Act As Amended By Act 153 of 1996(32 P.S. 5001,et
seq.)
Do you favor the imposition by the Township of
Derry of an additional earned income tax at the rate
of .1% (1/10 of 1%) to be used for financing the
acquisition by the Township of Derry of open space,
agriculture and conservation easements and such
other purposes as set forth in the Open Space Lands
Acquisition and Preservation Act?
Purpose
If approved, the ballot question would limit the use
of the new tax revenue to the above purposes but no
interests in real property could be acquired until
designated for acquisition by the Township Board of
Supervisors, followed by a public hearing on the
proposed acquisition. An additional limitation is
that the tax is imposed at the rate of .1% (1/10 of
1%), which is the equivalent to $1.00 per $1,000.00
of annual earned income of each resident of the
Township of Derry. A further limitation is that the
ordinance authorizing the ballot question limits the
imposition of this additional .1% tax to finance
debt up to five million ($5,000,000.00) dollars, at
which time the tax would expire unless reauthorized
by a subsequent referendum of the voters.
Approval of the ballot question would provide
additional financial resources to the Township
Supervisors to acquire the open space benefits
discussed above, without resulting in a reduction in
other Township services.
Limitation
To determine if the voters of the Township of Derry
want the Township Supervisors to enact an additional
earned income tax at the rate of .1%(1/10 of
1%).This tax will be used to finance the acquisition
of open space benefits which could include, but are
not limited to, protection and conservation of:
water resources, watersheds, forest lands and
farmland; park, recreation and conservation sites;
natural or scenic resources and scenic areas; sites
of historical, geologic or botanic interest; and
open spaces between communities to promote sound,
cohesive and efficient land development.
Effect
Approval of the ballot question would provide
additional financial resources to the Township
Supervisors to acquire the open space benefits
discussed above, without resulting in a reduction in
other Township services.
Background from David McMillan
Since 2000, the Township of Derry has seen
increased pressure, due to development, on the
remaining open spaces within our boundaries. The few
remaining open spaces within the Hershey village
area of the township, along 322 and 422 are slated
for development during the next 10 years as the
medical center and other infrastructure expands.
Additionally, there is increasing pressure to build
on the farm fields in the sand hills, and in other
corners of the township. Open fields will disappear.
Stream corridors will diminish. Opens spaces will
vanish forever.
We have managed to contain rampant development by
many instances of isolated, and a few concerted,
township-wide actions. It is apparent that the
community of Derry wants growth, and wants continued
improvement, but not at the cost of the life style
that we have come to enjoy. This includes active and
passive enjoyment of the many areas of green space
within our community.
With the proposed referendum (see more details at
the Township
web site) we have the opportunity to impact our
community for a long time to come.
The current supervisors have indicated their
willingness to entertain the purchase and
preservation of open space within the township, and
for this I laud them. If we combine the funds
generated from the proposed 0.1% earned income tax,
with other potential sources of funding (e.g.,
Pennsylvania's Growing Greener funding), we have a
real opportunity to make an impact on our community,
an impact that will be lasting and that will affect
not only us as we grow older in our community, but
will also benefit our children, and their children.
This conservation program will not stifle
growth, rather it will promote growth based on sound
planning principles, and it will preserve into perpetuity
the valuable land resources in our township. I
encourage you to vote on May 17th, and urge you
to vote in favor of the land preservation
tax. Thank you, Your fellow
Derry Township resident
David McMillan
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