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This article appeared in the Elucidator, Spring 2007.
Something rotten in the township
Spring 2007
"There are few situations where a local township's antics can be pegged as brutal. Bureaucratic, maybe; lackadaisical, possibly; passive, even; yet rarely so blatant as to be seen as vindictive. But, _____Township's treatment of one of their residents is just that - brutal to the point of irresponsible. And apparently, more than a handful of State agencies feel the same.
The Morning Call recently ran the second of two well-deserved columns about a situation in Williams Township concerning a resident trying desperately to get back on her feet after enduring all three floods along the Delaware Corridor. Ivan is what did the most damage in September 2004; her home is at the bottom of a hill where runoff from the entire Stout's valley (increased with 5 new developments since 1999) tore out a stream bank wall, including her drive and access to her home, leaving her home exposed.
After approaching the Township for help following Ivan, and being turned away, this resident turned to the state and federal government and was key in unleashing close to $200,000 in state/federal funds to help repair her own and her neighbor's property. It took more than six months of almost full-time work, but the owners and state agencies, including DEP, worked together putting the plans and designs in place.
To hear the Township's version, one would think they went out of their way to [hold the world's biggest bake sale and ] cull $200,000 from their coffers and mobilize all their resources to help their residents in need and were rebuffed. Instead, it appears they were adamant, initially: it was private property, so not their responsibility. But, they jumped on board once landowners worked to put funding and plans in place.
And take over they did; apparently, the first order of business was for the Township engineer to pounce on and denounce the DEP design - before they ever officially came on board. Hard to believe, but true. Perhaps the Township felt the Department of Waterways Engineering at DEP had some questionable experience when it came to engineering stream bank walls in waterways? When the landowners gently reminded the Township they were effectively past this point, that the DEP designed these projects as a matter of course, and that time was of the essence, a township supervisor angrily berated them.
Eventually, when the Township couldn't convince this resident to sign on for an optional 10-year easement for control/maintenance of the structure, the Township engineer directed a survey be done of her property without her knowledge, in an effort to bypass her decision not to sign on for the easement, to build on those areas they believed didn't belong to her. They forwarded their plans to the DEP, but the DEP didn't go for them. Apparently, not only was it a backhanded attempt to gain control of her property, but according to DEP this plan would have caused her even more severe erosion problems. [motivation?]
Not surprisingly, this is when she chose to step away from the project, and turned the remaining funding over to the landowners on the opposite side. Her portion of the funding went back into the pot for other PA residents in need. Meanwhile, the township had other plans.
Once she stepped out of the program and tried to get her bank repaired privately, with the blessing and permits of all other agencies - now a year after IVAN - the Township slapped a Cease and Desist order on her, claiming Zoning Violations. Interestingly, not only were these supposed violations considered an undo burden, but also inappropriate to her situation by both DEP and the very organization that writes the boilerplate Zoning Ordinances for municipalities across the state.
The Township has since hit her with a litany of other [constantly changing] demands. She has met them all. Most importantly, she has met the final criteria set at a final meeting last April [2006] with all the State agencies in attendance. The latest? She had to incur the cost and time of ensuring clear title to her property by getting a Court Order clarifying ownership of areas she'd be working on, even though she and the previous owner kept, maintained and paid taxes on it for 60 years combined. Now the Township is trying to undermine her legal title to her own property!
What is wrong with these people? If this isn't harassment, I don't know what is. And even more disturbing: they're spending tax dollars doing it!
All the State agencies involved are in support of her and have not been shy in admitting their disgust with the Township's antics. While the Township seems to want to play King of the Hill, her house is exposed, erosion is accelerating, more of her property is being lost, and she is a sitting duck for further damage from stormwater runoff in the stream, not to mention someone actually getting hurt on the property as it sits now. The Township recently tried to get her to sign off on a a "liability release" to release them from any and all liability, one would guess, from their delays, yet they still continue to blatantly ignore the strongest urgings of all these professional agencies!
Somewhere along the line, these public servants have lost sight of the fact that local government, just like state and federal, is there to protect the people, not to maintain the sanctity of power of those employed behind the walls of a Township building. I believe we call it a democracy. Does this mean that anyone, for no reason whatsoever short of irritating the powers that be, can be the target of this kind of absurd abuse of power?
Holy Fiefdom, Batman! Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this why we left the Queen behind over 200 years ago? Even at a Federal level, overstepping authority is not tolerated for long. A system of checks and balances is in place to ensure arrogant abuse of power does not reign supreme. Unfortunately, local "politicians" seem to feel they are not held under the same microscope as heads of state.
It's up to us to let them know we are watching. And we don't like what we see.
I would wager to say it is time for some housecleaning: methinks there is something rotten in the Township of William."
- Elucidator, Spring 2007.
