Palmer Township EAC – Minutes

Environmental Steering Committee

October 22, 2008

 

Attendees: Rob Reese, Tom Ganssle, Denise Veres, Bob Lammi, Tom Dittmar,    

 

Meeting opened at:  7:03 PM

 

Guests:  Ben Swartout and Brian Carey, students at Lafayette College, attended the meeting to discuss a semester-long environmental engineering project on riparian buffer zones (RBZ) and their use as efficient ways of managing storm water and improving the quality of water.  Along with their research, they want to share findings with communities that are situated around riparian buffer zones with emphasis on how and why it’s important to maintain and preserve them.  Another aspect of their project is to try to increase the width of minimum RBZ from 50 ft to larger; more like 75 ft. Mr. Carey mentioned that they are interested in getting the Lafayette RBZ master plan, especially since Lafayette just purchased so much land/property at the bottom of College Hill.  They would like to try to impact the construction of RBZ in that area.  They asked the ESC for feedback and suggestions.

 

Rob R. mentioned that there was a restoration project at the Village at Mill Race (supervisors working with developers and Conservancy) to restore what had been damaged during development/construction.  Bob L. suggested that they speak with George Kinney, Director of Planning.  Rob R. suggested talking with Linda? about sinkholes and the Bushkill Creek.

 

As far as increasing the width of RBZ in Palmer, Bob L. said that Palmer follows the recommendations of the Conservancy concerning width of RBZ and also keeping “no mow” regulations in those areas.  Tom D. mentioned the Silk Mill at 13th and Bushkill Dr. as another place to look at reconstructing/maintaining RBZ and Rob R. mentioned the Penn Pump area..  Rob R. also recommended that Mr. Swartout and Mr. Carey look at the Comprehensive Plan of Palmer which is on the Palmer website.

 

Approval of Minutes:  September minutes could not be approved because there was not a quorum.

 

Hauler Report:

 

There was not a Mascaro representative at this meeting.

 

Recycling Coordinator Report:

 

The Recycling Coordinator was not able to attend the meeting.

 

Old Business:

Compost Seminar:  Through the Penn State Cooperative Extension program, Northampton and Lehigh County are  holding composting seminars, but they are poorly attended.  Tom D. is trying to get money for bins for Easton and Forks to hold seminars.  

 

District-Wide Recycling:  Tom G.  reported that Forks Elementary is ready to go with recycling and he is meeting with principal of Palmer, so things will be ready to go there as well. 

 

New Business:

County E-cycling Event   The event took place on October 4th at Nazareth Middle School from 10 AM to 2 PM (35,011 lbs collected).  The next one is planned in spring at EAHS on May 9, 2009.  Tom D. is looking for Palmer ESC to help with traffic control.  Another event is being planned for Fall 2009 in Nazareth.  Between the past 2 e-cycling events, 100,000 lbs of electronics have been pulled out of the waste stream.

 

County HHW:  This event was held on October 11th at NACC from 10AM to 2PM. 675 cars came through, none waiting longer than 10 minutes.  Tom D. reported that a total of $1,500 was spent on advertising.   He said that for the next year’s event they might have to charge residents because the hauler, MXI, charges $50 per car and $2,000 set-up fee.

 

Yard Waste:  Bob L. felt that advertising for the 2 annual yard waste pick-up needs to be stepped up because many residents don’t know about it.  He recommended advertising in the newspapers, perhaps Mascaro sticking a small sign on emptied trash containers the week before, having signs at Hartley and Berks St., etc. 

 

De-Watering of the Bushkill Creek:  Rob R. reported that the Bushkill Creek dried up in Tatamy and there was a massive fish kill all the way to Penn Pump.  He cited the reason as Hercules using smaller diesel pumps because of maintenance on the main pumps, and did not maintain the water level in the creek.   Rob suggested that the ESC recommend to BOS to draft a letter to BSC to send to DEP, US Army Corp, PennDot, Hercules, and Fish and Boat Commission telling Hercules that Bushkill Creek de-watering will not be allowed in the future or they would be fined.  Bob L. said that the BOS has already commented on it.   Bob L. said a lot of the drainage is due to a huge sinkhole and that one of the solutions may be to install a liner to stop the drainage from the sinkhole.   

 

Announcements:

Open Space Seminar at Eastonian November 13th at 7PM.

Growing Greener By Design on October 28th

Greening Our Streets- Urban WaterSheds on October 31st

 

 Next Meeting:

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 26, 7:00 PM, at Palmer Municipal Building, but discussion for having the week before (Wednesday November 19th).  Tom G. will poll members via e-mail to see if this is possible.  

 

Adjournment:   8:10PM

 

Minutes submitted by D. Veres