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Donegal sued over zoning ordinances

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The Sept. 15 public hearing in Donegal Township on adopting zoning ordinances was canceled following an injunction request by township residents.

Kathleen Wright-Croft and Tammi Iams were listed as primary trustees of the nonincorporated citizens group, Donegal Freedom Group, which filed the motion in Washington County Common Pleas court Tuesday.

The motion sought an injunction to prevent Donegal Township from adopting a zoning ordinance that would be “null and void due to the improper and illegal procedures employed by an unauthorized and illegitimate ‘Planning Committee.'”

The filing, signed by attorney Dennis Makel, accuses the board of supervisors of improperly appointing itself as an ad hoc planning committee to oversee zoning planning and meetings.

“We formed this committee (in April 2016) and voted on it by motion in July,” said Supervisor Douglas Teagarden.

The court filing said the supervisors should have held a public vote at the April meeting. Regardless, the filing said the municipal planning code bars the supervisors from making themselves a planning committee with a vote. The injunction request argues it must be done by ordinance. Additionally, the motion argued the existing planning commission had to be dissolved before the board appointed itself a duplicate or special planning committee.

“Should the supervisors move forward with the adoption of zoning ordinances, they’ll form a planning committee by ordinance,” said township solicitor Gary Sweat. “I disagree with the reading of the municipality planning code that it must be done by ordinance. It can also be done by vote. But we don’t want to waste time and taxpayers’ money by dragging this out in court, so stipulating the public hearing be canceled and we reconvene later is the best option.”

Teagarden said skepticism about the process has resulted in distrust, miscommunication and misunderstanding.

“We’ve held at least six public hearings since December 2015 on zoning. We’ve had many public meetings in addition to those. We’ve been very open and have been encouraging public feedback. We’ve given on so many issues trying to compromise, but the only compromise some residents want is no zoning ordinances at all … and that leaves us open to lawsuits,” Teagarden said. “But we do have a silent majority in Donegal, people telling us, ‘Keep it up.’ But they won’t come to meetings – not when they get verbally abused as we often do. I don’t want to shut anybody out. We just need to do this right.”

As for complaints about the existence of two planning committees, Sweat said the move was a practical one in light of absences.

“The planning commission in Donegal has historically not been active because they don’t have ordinances for it, so they’ve had a difficult time filling positions and arriving at quorum when the planning commission does meet. (Zoning) is such an undertaking, the supervisors opted to include themselves as they invited planning commission members to participate,” Sweat said.

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