Fall Beginnings

Well, the summer is over and it’s time to leave the afternoon swim behind and return to our regular schedule of helping the O’Hara Township Council do a really excellent job of governing.  If you’re a resident, come on out to experience “one of the best kept secrets” (that’s a quote from a first-time attendee last month!) in our area when you join me at the O’Hara Township Council Workshop on Tuesday evening September 6 starting at 7pm.  The full agenda is not available as of this writing (but check the link again on Monday if you’re interested).

One thing I do know:  the Township Council is currently discussing a proposed “Long Range Comprehensive Plan” which will determine zoning, environmental, transportation, parks development, and many other important directions for the Township over the next decade.  Particular proposals for re-zoning are already being advanced, discussion of many other opportunities are completely absent from the proposed plan. Check some of the previous postings in this blog for more details.  It’s certain that the Plan will only be improved before approval by the Township Council if residents who care get informed and then come out to listen to the discussion and voice their opinions.  And it needs lots of improvement, particularly in the areas of sustainability and technology infrastructure:  neither of these is mentioned in the current version, and there are many of us who would love to see those things addressed before approval. If we accept the “Oh, we can approve this Plan and modify it later” explanation, I’m pretty sure it’s never going to happen.  After all, it took more than ten years just to get this Plan developed, and they managed to use 2000 census data at that.  The Township’s “Strategic Plan” is apparently even older and it’s not even on the agenda….

There should also be some discussion of the status of the Guyasuta VFD at Tuesday’s meeting since the deadline for response from the VFD to the Township regarding reorganization is coming up in early September.

So read the Executive Summary of the proposed Long Range Comprehensive Plan, take a look at chapters 5 and 6 in the full plan (that’s what they said in July they’ll be discussing at this meeting), and come on out to see what’s going on in your Township.  I promise you won’t be bored!