Lower Saucon Township Council voted 4-0 Wednesday to purchase a 76-acre parcel off Easton Road called the Benner/Whitmore property for $300,000, to preserve it as open space and open it up for eventual use by the public, but the decision wasn’t met with universal praise at the meeting.
The property–which already had a conservation easement on it–is adjacent to the former Woodland Hills Golf Course that was purchased and preserved by the township last year.
The golf course land is now known as Woodland Hills Preserve, and is in the process of being transformed into a passive recreation area.
At Wednesday night’s meeting, council reviewed a map of proposed walking trails throughout the preserve and a parking area off Countryside Lane that will accommodate 10 to 12 cars.
The preserve will have grassy outer and inner trails, with the former being 2.4 miles long and the latter being 1.1 miles long, according to the map.
Township manager Jack Cahalan said some of the suggested recreational activities for the preserve will be birdwatching, hiking on the marked trails, cross country skiing and fishing in the ponds on the property.
When councilwoman Priscilla deLeon asked why horseback riding wasn’t included in the list of suggested uses, Cahalan said it was because horses “tend to chew up trails” and because the parking area would have to be made large enough to accommodate horse trailers.
Dogs will be permitted as long as they are leashed.
Cahalan said that although the preserve is in the process of being transformed from what it once was, it’s “already becoming pretty popular” with hikers who are discovering the trails that have been carved around former sand traps and the like.
Council vice president Tom Maxfield said the property is already almost unrecognizable as a former golf course.
“The fairways are now fields,” he said. “There are eight ponds. It is really a beautiful, exceptional piece of property.”
“I’m so glad that we got it,” he added. “It’s going to be a great, great, enjoyable thing for the residents of the township.”
Not all residents, however, appear to be as happy with the township’s land purchases.
One of them lashed out at council at the meeting.
Matt McClarin called the township’s commitment to preserving open space while it ignores his pleas and those of his Steel City neighbors who oppose a proposed rezoning that would allow for IESI Bethlehem Landfill to expand westward “bullcrap.”
“Nearly 90 percent of the people living around that landfill do not want it to expand, and they wish that open space could be bought by their houses. We’re not asking for that. We’re just asking for rezoning–the zoning to stay how it is,” he said. “I mean, for you to worry about a bicycle riding on a path, and not worry about the destruction of a mountain with millions of tons of trash being put into it is absolutely ridiculous.”
“This landfill is tearing this township apart for money,” he continued. “I’m sick of wasting my nights away from my family, to come here because I’m worried about what goes on in this township and why some people get–get stuff near their houses.”
While a proposal by Phoebe Ministries to build senior housing in the western part of the township was squashed within several months, the proposed rezoning near the landfill remains on the table more than three years after it was first brought up, he commented.
McClarin said that meanwhile, the environment in the area of the landfill is being compromised by the facility. He said runoff downstream from IESI “looked like Hershey’s chocolate milk running down Applebutter Road and the east branch of the Saucon Creek” during recent torrential rainstorms.
If the township did a better job of budgeting its money, it wouldn’t have to rely on the fees generated by the landfill for income, he said.
