Sunday, July 30, 2006

The Signs Are There - Are You Ready?


Yes, this is a sign advertising the Zoning Hearing challenge by Kings Mill & partners. The first of two hearings will be held on Monday, August 7 at 7:30 PM.

Everyone is invited! Bring your families, bring your friends and neighbors. The meeting is being held in the Community Center. There will be plenty of room.

For those of you unfamiliar with this first challenge to Forks' brand new Zoning Ordinance, it is a big deal. It is a new twist on last August's attempt by the then Kings Mill partnership (Zawarski & Maloney) to get a plan for high density development in the Farmland Preservation approved by the Planning Commission. It called for 800 plus homes on 400 acres.

This time the expanded Kings Mill partnership (Zawarski, Maloney, & now Benner), armed with more acreage (545 acres are either owned or under contract) wants to construct 3,042 homes in the Farmland Preservation district. For a map of the area in contention, click here. To read what an Express Times editorial writer had to say, click here. To read more of what happened last year, click here (There are two posts about that August meeting so scroll down).

It is not up to our Planners or our Supervisors this time. Our Zoning Hearing Board is on the front line. The Board is quasi-judicial by design. Testimony will be taken in two planned hearing sessions, Aug 7 and Aug 21.

If either party (the Township or Kings Mill et al) is unhappy with the outcome, it can be appealed to the Court of Common Pleas. This court does not take new testimony and rules solely on what has been presented to the Zoning Hearing Board. You can understand now, just how important these hearings are. They are it. There is no more.

Many links to what has been written can be found in this blog post about the June 8 PC meeting. Also, there is a good synopsis of the process In the Solicitor's Report section of the June 15 Board of Supervisors meeting notes.

Now that you are armed with all the background, are you ready?


Don't miss the August 7 Zoning Hearing Challenge.
It's about your quality of life!

1 comment:

It's a FAC said...

Welcome Forks Fan. We wish we could answer your question regarding the group, Residents Who Care, but all we know of it is what we read in the papers. You may find some direction in this article about the Forks Action Committee's perceived "lull" since reporter Sarah Mausolf interviewed several of their members. Good luck. We hope this has helped.

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