Hi neighbors,
I feel the need to check in with my fellow Paradise township residents. How do you feel about open space? l have been a supporter of our Open Space fund since its inception. At this Monday’s Paradise Township Board of Supervisors meeting, I was disappointed to see the supervisors pass on an opportunity to protect a 70-acre property that lies in Paradise and a neighboring municipality that doesn’t have an open space fund. I work for Pocono Heritage Land Trust. We applied for two grants to buy the property to make it a public nature preserve. We were turned down for one of them (it was a bit of a stretch – they fund water protection and while this property protects water, it doesn’t contain any water bodies). I went to the Paradise supervisors to ask them to contribute $230,000 (50% of the cost) from our Open Space Fund toward the purchase of the property.
What happened? At the supervisors July 15th meeting, Supervisor Reda Briglia voted no and Chairman Peter Gonze voted yes. Reda stated that she would like to see future open space purchases be an expansion of existing preserved land or create a greenway (the township is not reaching out to adjacent landowners so I’m not sure how this would happen). She believes the township has enough open space. Peter stated that he wanted to protect the character of Paradise Twp, prevent further expensive road repairs (this property is on a road that had a washout after a severe rain a few years ago), and maintain the desirability of living in the township. He believes our open space is an amenity for residents. Supervisor Mike Stein was on vacation at the July meeting so we agreed I would come back to the next meeting when all three supervisors were present to vote.
At the meeting this past Monday, Peter and Reda stated their views again, Mike asked a few questions and then Peter made a motion to go forward with the deal, with Paradise providing up to $230,000 from our Open Space fund. Neither Mike nor Reda seconded the motion and it died. Mike Stein did not give a reason for not supporting the purchase.
Earlier in the same meeting, the township auditor reported that at the end of 2023, the township had $1.1 million in its Open Space fund, which continues to grow. That $1.1 million is the result of a voter referendum in 2006, when we, the residents of Paradise Township, voted to tax ourselves ¼ of 1%, to be restricted for the purchase and maintenance of open space properties. The township will soon be receiving a bequest from Sara and Dan Hamblin, two life-long, community-minded Paradise residents, who left the township an as-yet-undetermined amount restricted for open space in their will (they left PHLT a bequest, too, as well as the library and PMSD – nice people!). This will increase the amount of money in our Open Space fund even more.
What does this mean? I reminded the supervisors that the price of land in our county is increasing and the amount of available land is decreasing – and will continue to do so. I also reminded them that land protection requires the rare landowner who’s willing to accept appraised value for their property and is willing to wait 2 -3 years for PHLT to get grants before we can close on their property. In this case, the landowner has deep Paradise roots, is environmentally- and community-minded and has been patiently waiting for 2+ years for us to buy her land. While a portion of the Open Space fund can be used to pay the salaries of our seasonal park workers and for maintenance of our existing open space properties, the primary use of our Open Space fund is supposed to be protecting land. Ignoring opportunities like the one PHLT presented to the township means landowners are forced to sell for development, and not always the development we want.
What can we do? I love living in Paradise and would like to ensure our township NEVER looks like the five points intersection in Mt. Pocono. That’s why I work for Pocono Heritage Land Trust and why I volunteer in our township (currently as a member of the zoning hearing board but previously a member of the EAC, planning commission and board of supervisors). Feel free to let me know your thoughts, either here or ltroutman@phlt.org. Make sure your voice is heard by attending the next township meeting (8/19 @ 6pm) or send the supervisors your thoughts via email. I like to think I’m not the only one who values open space and wants to keep Paradise… Paradise. Thanks for reading.
Supervisor Mike Stein – mstein@ptd.net
Supervisor Reda Briglia - rbriglia33@gmail.com
Chairman Peter Gonze - pgonze1949@gmail.com