[MA-RPC] FW: Development in Cumberland Valley

[James Hooper]

In Pa. it is very hard to stop developments except by using the tools 
of Zoning or purchasing the development rights.  Waiting until there is 
a problem is too late.  To handle the zoning one needs to have someone 
attending the township meetings that is from the township.
On Aug 2, 2005, at 7:49 PM, Kerry Snow wrote:

> Thanks for sharing those links, Walt.  I don't know about the rest of 
> the
> folks in the committee, but I hadn't heard about this development 
> plan.  I
> thought the poster's comment "It seems that no one is aware of projects
> affecting the AT until the bulldozers begin to tear through the
> mountainside" was a sort of scary.  While that's obviously not true (I
> noticed that Bob Williams was on your original distribution list), 
> there's
> an element of truth to it, I think, and that opinion is probably 
> shared by
> others in the AT community.
>
> I think one of the big challenges for our committee will be the 
> transition
> from an annual discussion group to a working group with some muscle to 
> act
> on these sorts of threats.  I think we probably all agree that the 
> role of
> the MARPC, in situations like this, will be to coordinate activity 
> between
> the local clubs (who will, presumably be more sensitive to threats in 
> their
> community) with the Conservancy (who may have clout or dollars to 
> address
> the problem), but we'll need to develop a reliable mechanism, I think, 
> to
> make sure that this process is working.  One suggestion is to develop
> sub-committees (or individuals in the MARPC) who will take on the
> responsibility for coordinating certain types of work.  This will be 
> on the
> agenda for our October meeting, but it will be helpful to get the 
> discussion
> rolling beforehand.
>
> On the topic of our October agenda, I'll be meeting with the Boiling 
> Springs
> staff on Monday to start hammering out details.  Please let me know if
> anyone has particular items that should be on the list.  As indicated 
> by the
> example above, I think we're going to have some big issues to address, 
> and
> some organizational details that need to be worked out, so we're 
> hoping to
> keep the discussion as "regional" as possible (i.e. we're hoping to 
> avoid
> dead-end issues of local heartburn, such as if some chain sawyers 
> resent
> having to wear chaps).
>
> Topics that will probably be on the agenda include 1) large trail 
> projects
> on the horizon (prioritization/budgeting/manpower), 2) regional budget
> issues, 3) recruitment/membership (ATC, local clubs, leadership 
> recruitment,
> etc.), and 4) corridor issues (such as the Cumberland Valley 
> development,
> the Dutchess County development, etc.).  The over-arching issue will 
> be how
> our committee will identify and respond to all of these challenges, 
> and the
> mechanisms we'll use to coordinate between the maintaining clubs and 
> the ATC
> Mid-Atlantic Office.
>
> At this point, we're planning a Fall meeting that will include a 
> morning
> get-together with our partners and State Mgmt Committee 
> representatives, and
> an afternoon session to address our committee agenda.  We're planning 
> to get
> rolling at 10 (coffee, etc. at 9), lunch around 1PM, wrap up around 5, 
> with
> dinner provided.  We're hoping to have invitations and a preliminary 
> agenda
> in the mail soon, so again, please let me know if there are issues 
> you'd
> like to see addressed.
>
> I had several informal meetings, in Johnson City, with the other RPC 
> Chairs
> (Ned Kuhns from Virginia, Ann Sherwood from New England, and Don 
> Walton from
> the South).  It was reassuring to know that we're all on pretty much 
> the
> same trajectory, and facing the same sorts of challenges (figuring out 
> our
> role in the new organization).  The other committees are established 
> along
> the same lines as the MARPC and have similar meeting schedules (one 
> meeting
> with partners, one RPC-only get-together).  All of the other chairs 
> are on
> our e-mail distribution list, and all are welcome to join our meetings.
>
> I suspect that our upcoming meeting will provide plenty of work for 
> what was
> once considered our "off season."  I'm looking forward to working with 
> you
> all, and hope we can have a full turnout in October.
>
> Kerry
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org
> [mailto:ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org] On Behalf Of Walt Daniels
> Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 8:19 PM
> To: MARPC list
> Subject: [MA-RPC] FW: Development in Cumberland Valley
>
>  I should have sent this to the MARPC list as well. I think part of our
> mandate is to watch for threats to the AT in our region. We need a 
> mechanism
> to rate the probabilities of bad things happening and escalate them as
> necessary. But we can't do that unless we know about them.
>
> In fact there is another similar project perking along in Dutchess 
> County
> (NY) which our committee is dealing with. It is in full view from the
> Telephone Pioneers Shelter.
>
> Anybody else have some bad news?
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Walt Daniels [mailto:wdhiker at optonline.net]
> Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 8:09 PM
> To: Karen Lutz (klutz at appalachiantrail.org); Bob Williams
> (bwilliams at atconf.org); Thyra Sperry (hikesperry at aol.com)
> Subject: Development in Cumberland Valley
>
> Discussion on AT list.
>
>
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