Good News from Pennsylvania

In Eldred Township, the brakes are on for the racetrack. "John Woodling, director of the Monroe County Planning Commission, wrote in a letter last week, that plans should not be approved until certain issues with the plans are resolved. The issues include: a helipad proposal, sound attenuation barriers, various engineering issues and the differences between the preliminary plan approval and the final plan in regards to the increase in deforestation acreage." This is described a little further in a 9 July online Pocono Record story by Ashley Burrell titled "County planners say more work must be done on car club's plans"

A couple weeks ago the Appalachian Trail Conference's Mid-Atlantic head honcho (is that your formal title?), Karen Lutz, was there in Eldred for a site visit and tour that led up to this decision.

According to Alyssa Young's 24 June article in The Express-Times titled "Officials Get 3-D Look at Planned Race Course":

"Developer Richard Muller Jr. led planning commission members, supervisors and representatives of two environmental groups that oppose his project on a tour through tall grass and trees for a three-dimensional perspective of his plans.

"Planning Commissioner Kimberly Michael requested the visit at a June 17 meeting. That evening, the planners postponed until July their recommendation on whether the board of supervisors should grant final plan approval.

"Michael called the two-hour tour 'very informative.'"

The "group of about 20 people first gathered around a topographically accurate model of the $15 million resort. Muller said the model is a marketing tool created to attract members to his motor sports club. He never intended to show it to township officials."

[I'm wondering whether there were topographically accurate models of hikers on the part of the model showing the Trail who were holding their ears. And topographically accurate birds and animals shown leaving the area because of the noise, crowds, compacted soil, lost trees and so on. Wait! There wouldn't have been. The developer wasn't planning on showing non-investors the model.]

You see, "Muller later escorted a smaller group on a driving tour through the property on which several white-tailed deer and wild turkey were among the sights.

"He said he spent $200,000 conducting required studies to ensure the fields and forests are not home to any endangered species."

It's apparently okay to destroy the homes of UN-endangered species. Once those white tailed deer become endangered perhaps. [No, wait! This is Pennsylvania. There are way too many white tails in Pennsylvania as it is, for the ecosystem to support. Let's build a racetrack in their habitat so that drivers of little sports cars can have the pleasure of running into them at high speeds!]

In my mind, it's not just an issue of "earshed" or "viewshed" from the Trail's vantage points. It's really a quality of life issue for the folks who live in the area and would suffer the effects of noise and exhaust pollution, advertising pollution, dependence on gasoline-based jobs, and so on. It's an ethical issue.

Kudos to the County Planning Commission for recognizing that there are problems in the plans being foisted on the people on Eldred Township and Monroe County! And kudos to the ATC and other groups arguing against the Eldred racetrack.

Alyssa Young's article concludes "The Blue Mountain Preservation Association and the Appalachian Trail Conference have appealed the plan's preliminary approval in court. They say approving the project violates the Appalachian Trail Act which requires municipalities to 'preserve the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the trail.'" You betcha!