February 2023
Borough Committee Meeting
Backyard Hens - Ordinance Change Request
What in the cluck? A renewed effort to allow chickens through a permit process for homeowners.
Cortney Pokrop has recently led an effort of likeminded residents to approach Council and request an ordinance update to allow chickens. Currently, they are not permitted in the borough unless you have a minimum of 5 acres, extremely rare within town limits. In attendance supporting her were approximately 20 other local citizens.
The presentation highlighted the following reasons for allowing chickens in the borough:
The raising of chickens, with a proposed limit of 4 per yard, is not just for financial savings. In fact, it could take a few years before the up-front costs are matched in egg purchase savings.
It allows for some self sufficiency, especially in times of food/economic insecurity.
There is a lot less food waste by throwing scraps to the chickens, and the eventual waste sustains the soil.
Pokrop pointed out some of the myths that surround backyard chickens. She provided Council and the audience some research regarding items like noise, smell, attraction of vermin, property value changes. Also shared was a list of local municipalities in Lancaster County who allow chickens as well as a sample zoning ordinance and permit from Hanover borough in York County.
Council opened up the discussion to the audience, where an overwhelming majority of those speaking were in favor of changing the ordinance. One father in attendance stated that they have a family of 8 with 1 on the way, and this helps them further their efforts to be more self-sufficient and teach their children responsibility, as well as enjoying what some would call "pets". Others spoke on the positive environmental impact of a full circle with no food waste going to landfills.
Council seemed receptive to the idea of considering changes to the ordinance. There were many concerns that were brought up as part of previous discussions (years ago), and Council seemed willing to pursue the concept IF all of the citizens had their chance to weigh in. Council member Gochnauer recommended that they consider a referendum on a ballot, where voters would have a chance to have their choice legally recorded. Then, if the referendum passed, Council could direct the local Planning Commission to review the ordinance(s) and begin further action. The borough's Solicitor advised that she could not speak on the actual process and details of a referendum at this meeting because of the complexity. At the end of the discussion, it was agreed that Council would continue to look into the referendum once the Solicitor has more information. When asked about how long this process could take, the Solicitor advised that this is a lengthy process and even if expedited, will take at least 6-7 months.
Events Committee
The Events Committee Chairperson, Kristen Troop, provided some updates for this year's activities. She advised that the music in the park will be expanding this year with another date added. The three music events include:
July 15 - music TBD
August 5 - this one has much excitement as a larger band is coming, sponsored by Gochnauer's.
September 2 - Blues Fest
Kristen came to Council to request adding a beer garden for the August 5th event and Blues Fest, as last year's event was a huge success. Council agreed that last year was impressive and well-controlled. So it appears that beer will be available for these events, with the Events Committee providing more details in the near future.
Maker's Market - Request to Rent Park
The head of the Maker's Market (Megan) came to this meeting to request renting the park on June 10th. She expects that there will be approximately 100 vendors, many from the local area, who will be selling their homemade goods. It sounds like the MLMs (Thirty-One, Pampered Chef, etc.) are not part of this.
Megan provided a list of successful events, some much larger than this, throughout the area. She also described how she uses volunteers from local schools and organizations so students can obtain service hours helping with cleanup, sales, and other necessary tasks to keep the event running. Her company will handle obtaining all permits and coordinating with local emergency officials, and will utilize the borough's current emergency plans. Overall, it sounds like this could be a very well attended event with an expected attendance of 1500-2000 people. Council advised Megan that they'll make their decision at the next public meeting, held on March 7th.
Borough Manager Report
Borough Manager Karen St. Clair provided information about additional money that the borough has realized due to coming under budget in previous years. For the past few years, budgets were developed for several projects that didn't happen during 2020-2021 due to COVID. This resulted in being under budget by $640,000* (including last year's transfer of money to Capital Reserve):
2020 - $250,000
2021 - $300,000
2022 - $290,000 ($200,000 of this was transferred to Capital Reserve in that year)
She is requesting to move the surplus of ~$638,000 from the General Fund to Capital Reserve. That is a significant amount of money, approximately 27% of our annual budget ($2,324,674 in 2021). Hopefully that money can earn a little bit of interest and prevent any tax hike for next year. This is an election year
As a side note, St. Clair confirmed that these projects are budgeted currently and are still in-progress or coming up.
*Rounded numbers
Misc. Items
Hempfield Area Recreation Commission (HARC) requested to limit the East Pete pool to HARC members only for two days during Memorial Day weekend this year. They wanted to host a 10th anniversary event for members with food trucks and other activities. This was met with resistance from Council, as this would disenfranchise our own citizens who OWN the pool (HARC only manages it for us). Memorial Day is one of the pool's two busiest weekends (the other is July 4th), so Council is recommending that HARC find another date or open the event to all of East Pete. More to come on this.
Summer pool rates are shown in the image. If you sign up for a membership before April 29th, rates are $20 lower.
Citizens asked about Hempfield Area Fire Services Commission (HAFSC) and the lack of any information. The borough authorized East Pete FD to represent us at these meetings, but it sounds like the Fire Commission is completely dysfunctional and not really conducting business. Taxpayer money is involved, and meetings have to be public. Councilmember Gochnauer advised that this is being resolved and we will receive answers.