Aug 10, 2017 2 min read

Donegal Township enacted a zoning ordinance for the first time Wednesday night. But Supervisor Doug Teagarden isn’t sure it will last six months.

“I don’t know of any municipalities that have been unzoned, but that may happen,” he said Thursday morning.

Township officials looked into zoning for more than a year and a half, while encountering opposition from a number of residents, led by the citizens organization Donegal Freedom Group. The ordinance did pass, which Teagarden said “provides protection for residents and industry. You have more orderly development where things have a lasting impact on people.”

Location is a key to zoning, he said, regulating where, say, parking spaces or a home can be placed on a property. “Our machine gun range outside West Alexander. That makes for unpleasant evenings on the porch,” Teagarden said, citing an example.

As for the “unzoning,” Teagarden said Donegal Freedom Group has nine candidates running for four supervisor positions in November. There are no other candidates. The four winners will serve on the five-member board with Teagarden, who said he has two years remaining on his term “… maybe. I don’t know if I’ll stay.”

The citizens group could not be immediately reached for comment.

Teagarden said the group has filed 60 right-to-know requests against Donegal officials and has “waged a campaign against us” on zoning. He added three Donegal officials have resigned: Tammy Malson, secretary/treasurer and elected tax collector; Mark Gordon, code enforcement officer; and Tom Bibby, operator of the water system and sewer plant.

Doug Trbovich, the building code enforcement officer, has indicated he will step down in January, said Teagarden, who is now serving as temporary secretary/treasurer.