In 2002, Lower Windsor Township completed a major overhaul of their Comprehensive Plan for the future of the community. A first step in updating the Plan was an assessment of citizen concerns about the community, followed by development of a community vision, goals and objectives to help direct Township policies for land use and public services. To gauge citizen views, a community survey was conducted by the Township. By a wide margin, the most expressed concern was for the preservation of farmland and natural lands.
A number of goals and objectives were developed, and to control land use a Zoning Ordinance with Zoning Map was adopted on the basis of the resulting policies in 2003. That legal document has been amended as recently as 2014 to remain relevant.
The property that Republic Services wishes to use for new landfill capacity is zoned Agricultural, which prohibits a solid waste facility. They will have to ask the township to change the Zoning Map and/or Ordinance and rezone the land to Industrial, and also, in a quasi-judicial hearing, convince the township that their landfill activities are appropriate for the site and will not impact the health and welfare of the residents, many of whom live on or near the border of the property.
Here are some of the policies established by the township with resident input in the Comprehensive Plan that shaped the Zoning Ordinance and Map that are in conflict with a landfill “expansion:”
Agricultural Development
Prime agricultural soils should be reserved and preserved wherever possible for agricultural purposes, thus maintaining the agricultural economy of the area and enhancing its rural character.
- The majority of the acreage planned to be covered by the new landfill is classified as prime agricultural soil. 325 of the acres are designated by the township as priority farmland for preservation.
Industrial Development
The inclusion of industrial sites in the township will be encouraged only in those specific instances in which industrial activity will not negatively impact on the environmental and social integrity of the community.
- Clearly, experience with 51 years of Modern Landfill has been inconsistent with a positive impact on the environment. 51 more years of the same is unthinkable. Our own trash is processed in a much more environmentally sensitive way. Causing residents to move from their established homes is hardly the way to preserve the social integrity of the community.
Conservation & Open Space Preservation
Open space should be preserved, reserved and located so as to provide strategic breaks in development, thus preserving a balanced and harmonious land development pattern. Natural features such as woodlands, streams, hills and scenic vistas should be preserved and protected from haphazard development.
- 325 of the acres are designated as priority farmland for conservation preservation. Priority is placed on land that can serve as buffer between intensive and possibly objectionable development such as landfills and residential areas. Scenic and natural features are also prioritized.
Historic Preservation
The cultural resources of the community should be preserved as a living part of the community life in order to create a sense of orientation for the community.
- Within the proposed area of expansion are four buildings on the Lower Windsor Township’s list of historic structures.
Environmental Security
Wherever and whenever development occurs, the quality of the environment of Lower Windsor Township should be maintained or advanced, but certainly not degraded, in order to provide the environmental security which the citizens so rightly deserve.
- The governing body of Lower Windsor Township is acknowledging their responsibility here for upholding the Rights of the People of the township as expressed in Article I, sections 25 and 27 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Many residents chose to live here because of the promise of a quiet rural community with natural lands and scenic views. A new landfill in our backyard displacing prime farmland and polluting the environment we live in would be a disaster and is antithetical to the Rights guaranteed by the PA Constitution and the intentions of Lower Windsor Township as documented in our Comprehensive Plan.
So, how should the township respond to Republic’s request for an “expansion” of the landfill? The reasoning behind the Comprehensive Plan is as relevant today as the day the Plan was adopted, and so are the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance and Map as they apply to a Solid Waste Facility. Lower Windsor Township can and must protect the residents’ health, their welfare, and the environment of our township by rejecting any further expansion of Modern Landfill.