As is its practice, the Solebury Board of Supervisors met early in the new year to make sure it has its priorities straight.
So on Jan. 4, the board went over a list of 29 items to see what is being been done and what still needs to done.
On the former New Hope Crushed Stone quarry on Phillips Mill Road, Supervisor Kevin Morrissey reported, “...when I started working on this project over 12 years ago, we were concerned with a deep pit in the ground. Now our concerns are with an approximate 90-acre lake and the effects upon the surrounding environment (and) acreage. This property is returning from its industrial past.”
Working with Supervisor John Francis on the effort, he said, “We meet with the (state) Department of Environmental Protection approximately every three to four months concerning the ongoing issue of reclamation of this area.”
The major discussion areas, he said, involve:
• The ultimate water level of the quarry lake;
• The design and height of the structure that will manage the flow of water out of the quarry lake to the downstream section of Primrose Creek;
• The effects of the water on the downstream properties;
• The character and location of vegetation and soil on the property.
“...we are very open to discussions concerning the next chapter of this property. Our hope is that it will become an environmentally compatible addition to the community,” he noted.
Another issue of concern in Solebury is its deer population, and Supervisor Chair Mark Baum Baicker said there is continuing progress in hunters reducing the herd, so far by 24%, and thereby reducing deer-car accidents by 22%.
“When (the deer) get to the township line, they go right on back (out of the township),” he joked.
Other initiatives going through various committee and board reviews include developing a dark skies ordinance (reducing street and community lighting at night), an alternative energy ordinance, electric vehicle rules, updating the farm ordinance to make farms viable and friendlier to farmers.
In the talking stages are plans for a traffic “roundabout” at the routes 202 and 179 intersection as well as getting a professional designer for doing something with the township’s 13 acres next to the diner on Route 202.
Baum Baicker said the board also will start working with a consultant on candidates to replace Police Chief Dominick Bellizzie who will retire in June. He also called for urging the county to come up with a short-term plan to deal with flooding in Carversville.
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