Moore Township Land Use
To the Editor:
For the past ten years I have been attending the meetings of the Board of Supervisors of Moore Township. In that time I have only missed about ten to twelve meetings , so issues that have been discussed I have personally witnessed.
I am one resident who is grateful that the E.A.C.(Environmental Advisory Council) was willing to take the initiative to get the open space program going. Back before two of the three sitting Supervisors were elected there was a lot of discussion about tax revenue being collected and not being spent on land preservation and as one of the Supervisors put it, he did not have time to get involved, he was too busy with other responsibilities.
For Moore Township to get matching funds from Northampton County the township needed a comprehensive plan which the county would help with. The problem was gettig people to volunteer their time to do this.
This is when members of the E.A.C. stepped forward since the township was having difficulty filling the positions on the Farmland Preservation Board. In the past couple of years the township has spent a lot of money on preserving land in the township and for this I am thankful.
But questions have arisen by residents about the type of land being preserved. It seems that land that is environmentally sensitive is being preserved and not farm land. When the question was brought up at a meeting by a resident the Solicitor for Moore Township informed those attending that meeting that the money could be used for farm land or qualified open space land. The properties that have been preserved in Moore Township are worthy of being saved because they are pristine.
But some of the residents, including myself, feel that corn and soybean fields need to be protected more. WHY? Because they are more vulnerable to development by builders. With the existing S.A.L.D.O. (Subdivsion and Land Development Ordinance) and zoning it would be difficult for a builder to put housing on some of the properties that have been preserved.
A builder does not buy fifty acres of land to put ten to twelve homes on it. He buys fifty acres hoping to put thirty to forty homes on it. I cannot and will not speak for the Board of Supervisors of Moore township, but I for one feel that the more farmland we save is the way to better serve the residents of Moore township. The members who serve on the E.A.C. should remember that they are an advisory council and that there more than one opinion on which properties should be preserved.
Jeffery Ayers
Moore Township
