Berlin Township studies UDC membership

Damascus joined three months ago

By TOM KANE

BEACH LAKE, PA - After 20 years of silence and opposition to joining the Upper Delaware Council (UDC), two Wayne County river towns are now thinking that membership might be a good idea. Damascus Township joined three months ago and neighboring Berlin is considering joining.

The Berlin Township Board will hold an open meeting before its monthly meeting on October 21 to hear from UDC staff members and some municipalities that are members.

The Upper Delaware Council, Inc. is the oversight body responsible for the coordinated implementation of the River Management Plan for the Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River, a component of the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System since 1978. The council formed in 1988.

“Last meeting, we had Bill Douglass [executive director] of the UDC and George Fluhr, former chairman of the Shohola Board, come to talk to us about the advantages of membership,” said Berlin Township supervisors chairman Paul Henry, who is in favor of joining the council. “The other two supervisors are still on the fence about joining.”

The main reasons against joining that have been expressed at meetings are fears that by joining there is a danger that the federal government will start to tell the township what to do, Henry said. “Many still think that the township will be forced to adopt zoning, which is a controversial subject, but this is not true.”

When the UDC was contacted for the writing of this article, Douglass said that zoning is not required, but is desirable. “No one is ever forced to adopt zoning or any other ordinances.”

He added that a township that joins had the option of reversing its membership at any time.

Henry has spoken for months in favor of joining and has pointed mainly to the technical assistance grants (TAG) that member towns and townships receive each year. The grants are meant to help the municipalities carry out planning and related projects.

“I’m in favor of joining because it’s in the best interest of the township,” Henry said. “We would be sitting at the UDC table when issues are discussed and deciding that which could affect our township. We should be there.”

Henry said that the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) is always in favor of townships joining in cooperative ventures with neighboring townships. “They haven’t talked about joining the UDC directly, but they favor actions like this,” Henry said.

Damascus Township joined after results of a survey conducted in preparation for the formulation of a comprehensive plan, indicated that 67 percent of residents and 75 percent of non-residents (second-home owners) wanted the township to join the UDC.