Donegal zoning plan sent back to supervisors
Donegal Township Planning Commission members Kathleen Gilmore and Jeff Dittmer discuss the zoning issue Monday.
Tammi Iams and Michael Smith, members of the Donegal Freedom Group, believe residents are being treated unfairly.
Donegal zoning is back in the hands of township supervisors.
The planning commission Monday evening confirmed the zoning ordinance the supervisors approved Aug. 9. The planners’ 4-3 vote occurred at a special meeting to validate or reconsider the ordinance. Township supervisors will vote on the measure again at their monthly meeting at 7 p.m. next Wednesday. Doug Teagarden, a planner and supervisor, said if the ordinance is approved, it might have to be sent to Washington County Planning Commission for review a second time.
“It is unusual to go through the adoption process twice,” he said.
The zoning ordinance, however, is temporarily in limbo. Christopher Furman, attorney for Donegal Freedom Group, a citizens organization, appeared in Washington County Court in early September requesting an injunction to prevent the ordinance from taking effect. Judge Damon Faldowski scheduled a hearing for 1 p.m. Oct. 25.
At that time, Furman told Faldowski, “Our position is that when the planning commission held their vote on May 23, they did not have the text or map of the proposed zoning ordinance before them. They did not complete their work. What was sent to the supervisors was incomplete.”
Donegal, formed in 1781 when Washington County came into being, has never had zoning. It is believed to be the only municipality in the county without, and a number of residents are in favor of maintaining the status quo.
They are led by the Freedom Group, composed of about 40 to 50 residents, some of whom have spoken out at municipal meetings. The group, according to Teagarden, has taken township officials to court three times on zoning and has filed 60 right-to-know requests against the township.
“It has been a very costly process,” the supervisor/planner said.
About a half-dozen or so Freedom Group members were in the audience at Monday’s meeting. Some asked planning board members whether they had read the entire ordinance, which supervisors approved May 23, and the zoning map, which they OK’d June 15. The planners said they did before passing the measure again. Several in the Freedom Group questioned that after the meeting.
Michael Smith, unofficial spokesman for those citizens, said the Freedom Group “consists of Republicans, Democrats and Independents. We have no party lines.”
At 42 square miles, Donegal is the third-largest township in the county geographically, but has a population of about 2,000. “Our community is 95 percent rural,” said Smith, who operates a farm.
“Zoning,” he said, “is necessary in some areas, but it is not needed here. We have no growth.”
Officials, Teagarden said, have been attempting to institute zoning for about two years. If the ordinance is eventually enacted, it might not last long. Donegal Freedom Group has nine candidates running for four supervisor positions Nov. 7. There are no other candidates. Starting Jan. 1, the four winners will serve on the five-member board with Teagarden, who has two years left on his term. (A referendum last November increased the number of supervisors from three.)
Smith, however, refuses to assume Freedom Group members will form a majority of that board. But he does have a vision if that likelihood occurs.
“If elected,” he said, “we’ll have open-agenda meetings. Every citizen will have an opportunity.”