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Health & Fitness

Saving Open Space is no Forks Fairytale

Once upon a time, Forks faced the specter of 3,000 more cars using Sullivan Trail. Remember that? It was a hot 2005 August night ...

Once upon a time, Forks faced the specter of 3,000 more cars using Sullivan Trail.  Remember that? 

It was a hot 2005 August night when hundreds of residents packed the gym for a Planning Commission hearing. They hoped to halt developer KMRD from creating urban sprawl on protected farmlands. Kings Mill Residential Development claimed a legal right to place 731 mobile homes, 1952 condos and 359 townhouses, (3,042 units in all), on land Forks zoned as “preserved” agricultural land. 

For years KMRD had purchased “options” to buy large tracts of Forks farmland, planning a constitutional court challenge to Forks 2006 Farmland Preservation Zoning Ordinance.  Their goal was to build a huge residential community in the Township’s northeast tier. 

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Already inundated by massive development, in 2006 Supervisors voted to have Solicitors Karl Kline and Steve Goudsouzian aggressively defend our zoning ordinance from legal attacks that threatened to flood Forks open space with the most dense development yet.

Now that the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court in Philadelphia has just Township’s 2006 Ordinance, our victory in the current constitutional challenge may face a further review by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  

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Can Forks ordinance be found to be “unconstitutionally arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and unduly restrictive” as KMRD maintains? Courts have ruled that “a municipality has the right to reasonably limit an owner’s absolute right to use his or her property with zoning ordinance designed to protect or preserve public health, safety or welfare.”

For over six years of complex legal wrangling Forks Solicitor Kline and Supervisors resisted attempts by KMRD to settle the litigation, maintaining the Township would be forced to give up too much to KMRD. Opening our Farmland District to denser residential development was KMRD’s only goal regardless of the burden on our public schools, roads, infrastructure and quality of life. 

Once upon a time this nightmare scenario was no fairy tale. For now this hard-fought court victory hopefully will be confirmed and the long battle to preserve our open space won for the time being. 

Supervisor Martyak was briefed on all the serious litigation facing Forks before being sworn in on Jan. 3.  Nonetheless, he proposed deep-sixing our successful legal counsel to save $5 bucks an hour in legal fees.  If that’s not a fairy tale idea in the real brass-knuckles world of tough legal fights to preserve our , we don’t know what is?

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