November 30, 2005
by Jaime Bumbarger
Mo Valley Bureau Chief
Reproduced with permission.

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BELLEFONTE -- Developers of large-scale developments in Centre County now have more stringent requirements to meet. Yesterday, commissioners approved an amendment to an ordinance that gives the county a voice in "developments of regional significance," including a proposed landfill in Rush Township.

The vote came following a public hearing on the amendment in which a representative for Resource Recovery LLC, the developer of the landfill, objected to the process used to approve the amendment. John Blasko, an attorney, alleged the Centre County Planning Commission did not properly advertise the meeting in which it approved the amendment. He also objected to how yesterday's public hearing was conducted.

Mr. Blasko was the first to testify at the public hearing. But instead of offering testimony, he interrogated Bob Jacobs, the county's planning director, as to how and when the amendment was initiated and the process that followed.

Chris Exarchos, chairman of the board of commissioners, permitted the questioning to occur for several minutes, before cutting Mr. Blasko off. Mr. Exarchos said the public hearing was not the appropriate forum for those questions and offered to make the planning office staff available along with the county's solicitor to answer any questions at a later time.

At the press conference following the hearing and weekly meeting, commissioners and their solicitor said the county has followed the law. "If anything, the county has erred on the side of caution," said Louis Glantz, solicitor. "They took more than a year to enact something that could have been done in as little as 45 days."

The amendment was first discussed in June 2004. At that time, a public hearing was held on the proposed amendment, and it was decided to refer the matter back to the planning commission for review and comments.

The amendment to the county's subdivision and land development ordinance is intended to minimize the impacts a development in one municipality would have on its neighbors, Mr. Jacobs said, by subjecting the plan to a review by the planning commission.

There are three characteristics that could trigger a review: a development exceeds 200 acres, a development would have excessive traffic or environmental impacts, or the parcel of ground where the development is planned traverses a municipal boundary or is within one mile of another municipality.

The landfill proposed for Rush Township fits all three, and although the amendment was first discussed publicly just one month after Rush Township signed a host municipality agreement with RRLLC and again just weeks after the township amended the agreement to allow the use of local roadways, commissioners deny the amendment was designed to specifically target it. "Although it will affect the landfill, the extent of the issue is much greater than that," said commissioner Steve Dershem. The county is just being proactive, commissioners claim, by acting now before any large projects that are not even on the horizon.

And the amendment will not curtail economic development in Centre County. Mr. Exarchos said, including the proposed landfill. "Nothing in this ordinance would preclude Resource Recovery from moving ahead with the project," he said. "This board is for economic development," he continued, adding that first and foremost, its responsibility is to the citizens.

Rush Township resident and commissioner Scott Conklin agreed, saying the county has an obligation to protect all its citizens and their quality of life.

The opposition from the developer puzzled county officials who said the amendment will actually help developers. The amendment formalizes or spells out exactly what the county will require as part of its review process, Mr. Jacobs said. "It's nothing over and above what we ask for in the first place."

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