As area taxpayers bear growth, state encourages regionalized planning
ROBERT B. SWIFT
Ottaway News Service
August 20, 2006
A skyline view along the Route 209 corridor is all the rage, and nationally known builders are working to meet the demand.
The higher elevations in Middle Smithfield Township are honeycombed with homes that weren't there five years ago or even one year ago — a mix of private communities, townhouse clusters and spacious homes selling for $1 million, all to accommodate the population migration from the New York metro area to the Poconos.
Bulldozers creak along the ridge tops, pushing the tree line further from view and leaving small pockets of resistance — piles of limbs and trunks to be burned or carted away.
Tucked away as it is in the folds and hollows, the full extent of the home-building activity is hidden to residents living in older subdivisions off Route 209.
Yet, they are affected by it. Their municipality is stretching services and working to address needs that an expanded population brings. The schools hike property taxes each year to cover the cost of new students.
In Pennsylvania, local taxpayers assume the main burden of coping with the effects of population growth. Harrisburg plays a supporting role since state officials lack legal authority to plan for growth. That job falls to local officials.
No one expects this arrangement to change, but the Rendell administration is working on a midway approach. The state planning board has made recommendations to encourage Pennsylvania's 2,500 municipalities to think and act regionally on growth-related issues like police, fire and emergency services, sewer and water systems and control of stormwater runoff. The goal is to help municipalities deliver better services to constituents at less cost.
Gov. Ed Rendell has yet to sign off on the recommendations, so it's uncertain what shape they will take. An initiative to improve local government services could be part of Rendell's second-term agenda if he wins re-election Nov. 7.
Good planning won't stop growth, but it gives local residents more of a say in how it occurs and how costs are to be shared. A lack of planning can lead to eyesores or a loss of landmarks valued by a community.
Monroe County's 20 municipalities already engage in regional planning to a greater extent than the rest of Pennsylvania, but even so the rapid growth in the Poconos leaves each municipality struggling to keep pace.
It's estimated that 4,200 new houses and apartments will be built in Middle Smithfield Township during the next five to 10 years as the migration from New York City continues. Middle Smithfield's population is 14,700, up more than 22 percent since the U.S. census in 2000.
The population explosion has hit Middle Smithfield Elementary School, situated on Route 209.
The school, built to accommodate 350 students, will have 800 students in the 2006-07 academic year. Officials in East Stroudsburg Area School District just announced plans for a new adjoining elementary school for 900 students.
"That one school really gives you the picture of what we are dealing with," said Middle Smithfield Township Supervisor Deborah Kulick.
The township is updating its comprehensive plan to delineate changes in commercial and residential areas since the document was completed in 2000. The township is underwriting a conservation easement to preserve the 4,000-acre Resica Falls Scout Reservation as open space. Yet, there's a limit to how many tax dollars can be earmarked for those kinds of efforts. Voters balked last fall when asked to approve a 0.25 percent local earned income tax to finance open space purchases.
The township can't afford its own police force, so it relies on state troopers for law enforcement, said Kulick. The two troopers assigned to the township work part-time out of a substation next to the Bushkill Ambulance Service. The ambulance service itself is a volunteer effort — something that newcomers accustomed to city-run services may not fully grasp.
Middle Smithfield Township Supervisor Chairman Scott Schaller said the local tax base can be broadened with commercial development in the township. He said the changes to the comprehensive plan will help accomplish this.
In neighboring Lehman Township, where 5,800 new homes will be built, supervisors are doing their second study in six years to determine if they should replace state police coverage with a municipal police force.
"We are reviving it to get a better idea of what it would cost to support a police force," said Supervisor John Sivick.
Traditionally, the state's attitude to local officials has been "You're on your own, kid," says Karen Miller, director of the Pennsylvania Economy League.
The league, through its IssuesPa forum, is critical of the way Pennsylvania approaches growth and development. The general charge is that state and local governments aren't adequately planning for the regional transportation networks and modern sewage systems that modern businesses need. The state doesn't provide enough guidance to local officials who, in turn, often act in relative isolation and make poor decisions about land use.
Harrisburg shouldn't dictate to local governments, but it can do more to help them plan in ways that make sense, said Joanne Denworth, a senior official in the governor's policy office. For example, she adds, it doesn't make sense for every municipality to have an industrial park struggling to attract businesses when one regional park may be better poised to achieve success.
The state uses a carrot approach to further better planning. A law enacted in 2000 gave municipalities authority for the first time to do planning with their neighbors.
The state gives preference when doling out grants and loans to projects that involve more than one municipality, said Denworth.
State agencies evaluate assistance based on whether a project will spur redevelopment of an old industrial area, use existing roads and rail lines and support local planning goals, to cite just a few criteria.
Now the state planning board, an advisory group re-created by Rendell after years of dormancy, wants to reopen the debate about local government's role.
The board's recommendations include the following:
Authorize broader regional agreements to provide police, fire and emergency services. Municipalities could opt in to an agreement. Create a simpler way for municipalities to merge or consolidate if they desire. The current process is too cumbersome and has discouraged merger efforts, said Denworth. Create regional bodies to address water, sewer and stormwater runoff needs and give them power to levy user assessments.
Regionalism can be a loaded word in a state with a 300-year tradition of strong local control.
Municipal officials are the ones vested with the planning authority, said Elam Herr, lobbyist for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors.
"We feel the supervisors, borough councils and city councils are closer to the people back home," added Herr. "They know the people in their area."
PEL's Miller questions how effective the 2000 law is in encouraging multi-municipal planning anyway.
"Everyone gives lip service to it," she adds. "How much of it is actually there is another question."
The alternative solution is impact fee legislation, giving municipal officials authority to levy fees on builders of new houses to help pay for education or infrastructure costs. The builders would pass on the cost of the fee to homebuyers.
State law allows for a limited transportation impact fee to pay for traffic improvements directly related to a new subdivision, but it isn't used widely because it's costly to administer.
House lawmakers have introduced bills recently to expand the use of impact fees but still allow local officials to decide if they want to levy them or not. One bill by Rep. Richard Grucela, D-Northampton, would target school costs, while another by Rep. Stephen Maitland, R-Adams, would apply to counties where the population increased by 0.75 percent or more during each of three consecutive years.
Few expect quick action on any impact fee bills as two active lobbying organizations — the township supervisors association and Pennsylvania Builders Association — are at loggerheads over the issue. The supervisors see impact fees as a way to avoid unpopular tax hikes; the builders say impact fees make homes less affordable for young couples.