News

September 10, 2009

Trust eyes acreage near reservoir

Group wants Bear Creek Twp. to apply for grant to preserve 3,400 acres as woodlands.

JANINE UNGVARSKY Times Leader Correspondent

BEAR CREEK TWP. – A nonprofit land conservancy with an eye on a parcel in the township asked supervisors to consider taking part in raising money to meet the purchase price.

Peter Williamson represented Natural Land Trust, which he said organized in the 1950s and has worked in this region since the 1970s.

In 2006, Williamson said, the trust acquired two tracts totaling 3,400 acres near the Francis E. Walter Reservoir. The largest tract is in Bear Creek Township, he said, and is separated from the smaller portion by 1,200 acres owned by developer Blue Ridge Realty.

Williamson said the trust wants to acquire the land owned by Blue Ridge and has arranged for a grant for half of the $3 million purchase price. He asked the township to consider applying for community development funds from state casino funding programs to help fund the rest.

“They don’t allow nonprofits to apply. They require municipalities. We’re asking the township to be the applicant,” Williamson said, noting that other municipalities have done this and that the trust would do all the work.

Supervisors questioned how the land would be used.

“Our history with gaming revenues is less than stellar, and I suspect there will be some resistance to applying for a large sum of money for something that won’t benefit the majority of taxpayers,” township board Chairman Gary Zingaretti said.

Williamson said the proposed acquisition includes a peninsula that extends into the reservoir and would increase access to the deepest part of the reservoir. He said plans call for wildlife habitat with minimal development, with one or possibly two management centers and walking/hiking trails. Deer hunting by permit and fishing would be allowed.

Zingaretti told Williamson the board “would be in touch.”

In other business, officials said a development agreement is nearly ready for a parcel behind the Bear Creek Community Charter School.

School officials want to build a new school and recreation complex on the land. A meeting for public comment is scheduled for Sept. 24.

The board also discussed requests for street lights, noting that PPL has not responded to a request for a light at Fairway Drive and Golf Course Road and that a new request will be made for lighting on a cul-de-sac on Pike Road, where school buses frequently turn around after dark.

Zingaretti said the township will review placement of all lights.

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