Townships prepare for highway, prison changes
LUZERNE TWP. – With a new state prison soon to open and the Mon Fayette Expressway coming through Luzerne and Redstone townships, supervisors in both areas think it wise to plan for changes. In order to have some control over how the new prison and the expressway will impact residents, supervisors hired Benatec Associates and Spotts, Stevens and McCoy Inc. (SSM) to develop a comprehensive 10-year plan for both townships. They appointed members of the community to serve on a steering committee that could solicit opinions from local residents so that they may be included in the plan. The committee recently held its first public meeting to give the public an opportunity to comment, after hearing what was proposed.
“These townships are in close proximity and have similar issues,” said Jeffrey Butler, certified planner at SSM. “For this reason, it made sense to join them for planning purposes and have regional planning.”
Marjorie Ryan, senior planner for Benatec Associates, explained that joining the townships as one community for planning purposes will not bring any changes in government.
“Our purpose is to have a long term vision of an action plan for how future growth and development should be managed,” said Ryan. “You can plan for a more efficient and cost effective use of resources.”
Ryan said inevitably that changes will come once the expressway is complete, especially since major interchanges are planned in each township.
“In order to make informed decisions, everyone involved in the process should have a complete understanding of the plan,” said Ryan, adding that the idea of the plan was to bring economic development to the community by providing more high-paying jobs.
She presented research that showed that in the past 30 years, there has been a significant decrease in population in both townships.
“Fayette County lost about 4 percent of the population, but Luzerne and Redstone townships lost about 20 percent,” said Ryan. “You can see that they fared much worse.”
She pointed out that the number of people who own the homes they are living in was greater than the county and state, but most people owned older housing.
Ryan explained that the average person in each township had a 24- to 30-minute commute to work.
“The farther people drive, it means there aren’t enough jobs in close proximity, so they have to travel to work,” said Ryan, adding that a 30-minute commute may not seem very long, but problems such as traffic congestion and excessive air pollution do arise.
She explained that many people could be leaving the area to seek employment elsewhere, because the majority of people in Fayette County work lower-paying jobs.
“If these trends continue, disposable income will decrease even further, and local businesses will be hurt because there is no spending power to support them,” said Ryan. “The population loss will continue, and the older homes that have less value will mean less tax revenue for the area. We all want clean streets, police presence when needed, and streets to be fixed when they need repair. Without tax revenue it will make the municipality unable to pay for those things that everyone wants. Quality of life could decrease, which could worsen the population loss.”
Butler said that the scenario they were planning for is to have moderate growth to help improve the quality of life, and he presented the public with a map that showed the proposed land usage.
To some residents, the prospect of more jobs and tax revenue sounded appealing, but many people in the large crowd said they were accustomed to their rural lifestyles and did not want to see any changes.
Because such a large crowd attended the meeting, the speakers chose to have everyone write down their questions and comments; they responded accordingly.
One person wrote, “Most people here don’t like city living. They like it the way it is.” The comment drew applause.
Others wanted to know if there would be space between the industrialization and their homes, because they did not want to live near businesses. They were concerned that the industrial part of the map had already been finalized, but the planners assured them that it was not.
“The whole purpose of having these public meetings is to get the public’s ideas,” said Ryan. “If you want to maintain the rural parts of the community, this is the best process to do that. If we do nothing at all, we may have more of what we don’t want. This way we have some control over it, and we may have to change some of the lines on this map, but we can do that.”
She explained that their goals were broken into eight areas, and highlighted some of those goals, so that the public could see some of the benefits that would come by following the plan.
Under natural and scenic resources, Ryan said they wanted “the quantity and quality to be sufficient for the residents here.”
Butler also pointed out the on the map, about 75 percent consisted of rural and natural areas.
Ryan said that for the historic and cultural aspects of the area, they would like to reuse historic structures.
“This will bring life back to the places that have meaning to local heritage,” said Ryan.
For open space and recreation, Ryan said they plan to encourage growth and development around existing infrastructure.
Under land use and housing objectives, Ryan said they want to “allow a variety of attractive types of homes in appropriate areas.”
She said the No. 1 goal for transportation is to lobby for construction funding for the Mon Fayette Expressway. They would also like to preserve the historic national road.
“There is a great need for transportation improvements in the area,” said Ryan.
For community facilities and services, they plan to evaluate the need for additional protective services, and sewer and water planning.
To help economic development, Ryan said the main goal is to provide stability.
“We want a place that is attractive to others to live here because there are good jobs, and they can raise a family.”
For planning objectives, one goal is to encourage long-term, community-based planning for schools.
“The bottom line is, when the prison and the expressway come, change is going to happen,” said Ryan.
“You can choose to let it happen to you, or you can manage it in a way that will be in the best interest of the townships. That is what the steering committee wants to do. All of your comments are welcome, and they will be analyzed to see how we can implement them into the plan.”
Although they have yet to set a date for the next steering committee meeting, Ryan said the public is invited, and they will publicize the date and time.