For the last 27 months, Forks Township has been fighting the litigation brought by the Kings Mill developer – KMRD. It has been a very long road and the end of the King Mills hearings are finally at hand.
Just to summarize the current legal situation, the developer is proposing to build about 3,000 homes, consisting of single family homes, town homes, and mobile homes in Forks Township. This is an on-going legal proceeding to hear a substantive challenge to 2006 Forks Township FP Farm Land Protection district regulations. The challenge states the regulations concerning the development of single family detached homes in the FP district are arbitrary, unreasonable, and unconstitutional because the effect of the zoning laws discourage a landowner to develop the land with high density housing. The developer (KMRD) wants to build 1,952 condominium apartments, 359 townhouses and 731 mobile homes on 545 acres in new development called Kings Mill.
In my opinion, this proposal could add about 6,000 more cars on our roads every day, 4,800 more students in the schools, and Forks Township would lose about 25% of the remaining open farm fields. Not to mention, the aggravation and frustration of fighting heavy traffic in the township on a daily basis would be a burden. Here are some interesting facts discussed during the proceedings:
- By the KMRD developer’s admission, they made an economic decision to build large expensive houses – in zoning districts that allowed high density building - to accommodate the housing demand, but also to increase their profits.
- By the KMRD developer’s admission, and several Township experts, the current zoning laws allow for the building of town homes and affordable housing outside the FP district.
- By the KMRD developer’s admission, they can build houses today in the FP district and still make a profit.
During the Forks Township Zoning Hearing Board proceedings to discuss the Kings Mill development, Easton's Chief Planner, Becky Bradley, testified that Kings Mill as proposed would add 17,000 vehicles a day to Easton's streets! She stated, too, that the development would open the door for more development in Lower Mount Bethel Township.
Jeff Bader, the former Easton Area School District Business Manager, testified that the annual per student cost, exclusive of buildings, is $12,000 per year. The school tax money realized from a typical townhouse is $2,500, resulting in a net deficit of approximately $9,500 per student. More than one child per household would further increase this deficit. Additionally, Bader stated, “that would cost the district about $45 million in staff, administrative and transportation costs.” If we used the state planning level of 1.6 students per home, Bader said cutting the development in half would still result in 2,400 new students, which is roughly 25 percent of the current student population of about 9,000.
One of my neighbors said it best: “The building of the Kings Mill development will devastate this community!”
In these tough and challenging economic times, Forks Township, the Easton Area School District, and the residents of our community can no longer afford real estate speculation by the King Mills developers.
Please join me in publicly speaking against the proposed Kings Mills settlement at its last Zoning Hearing Board session on Monday, October 20, 2008 at 7:30 PM in the Forks Township Municipal building. Let’s send a clear message to the developers – honor our zoning laws.
David Billings
