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Support is growing!

 As of this writing (Thursday, December 16 around 5:15 PM) we are seeing overwhelming support for halting development of the Perkiomen Valley airport property (brace yourself ... there is statistics geekery afoot!). However, we ain't out of the woods yet.

Since we started this effort in the beginning of November, we have visited 453 homes (we are counting electronic petition submissions as a visit). When we eliminate non-responses (no answer when we knocked on the door, the people stated they needed more information, or they asked us to come back another time and we have not yet done that), we see the following results:

  • Total number of yes or no responses: 346
  • Number of signatures: 325 (94%)
  • Number of refusals: 21 (6%)

Quite frankly, this is about as close to unanimous as we can get.

This doesn't mean we can rest on our laurels, though. Basically, the township is required by law to approve any development plan that conforms with the law. However, there may be a slight possibility for the county or the state to step in on our behalf provided we can show sufficient support for the cause. We are also speaking with the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Montgomery County Conservation District, and the Montgomery County Planning Commission.

It also begs the question: who is it that the Board of Supervisors is representing, anyway? At the BoS meeting of  November 10th we were told that a property owner has a right to do with their property as they wish regardless of how the residents around the property feel about it, as long as they aren't breaking any laws. While this may be a valid stance to take on a small scale (a homeowner wants to put a prefab aluminum shed on their property but the neighbors think it's ugly), on a larger scale such as this it becomes a clear case of putting the property interests of a single entity (the developer) ahead of the wishes of the community at large and of the residents as a whole.

Our position is that, if nearly 95% of residents -- the vast majority of whom are within a three mile radius of the proposed development -- are opposed to it, then this public sentiment needs to be taken into account. We urge everyone reading this to contact one or more of the following people and organizations to voice your support for halting this development.

Chris Heleniak, Township Manager 610-454-0909 cheleniak@skippacktownship.org
Montgomery County Planning Commission 610-738-3722  
Anne Leavitt-Gruberger 610-278-3727 aleavitt@montcopa.org
Bill Hartman, Montgomery County Open Space Board 610-278-3746 bhartman@montcopa.org
Joe Webster, State Representative for the 150th Legislative District 484-200-8258 RepWebster@pahouse.net
(717) 787-0419
Bob Mensch, State Senator (215) 541-2388 (Red Hill office)  
(215) 368-3117 (Landsale office)  
(717) 787-3110 (Harrisburg)  
Madeleine Dean, Congresswoman, 4th Congressional District 215-884-4300 (Glenside office)  
610-382-1250 (Norristown office)
202 225-4731 (Washington DC office)
Pat Toomey, United States Senator (610) 434-1444 (Allentown)  
(215) 241-1090 (Philadelphia)
(814) 453-3010 (Erie)
(412) 803-3501 (Pittsburgh)
(717) 782-3951 (Harrisburg)
570) 820-4088 (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre)
(814) 266-5970 (Johnstown)
(202) 224-4254 (Washington DC)
Bob Casey, United States Senator (610) 782-9470 (Allentown)  
(814) 357-0314 (Bellefonte)
(814) 874-5080 (Erie)
(866) 461-9159 (Harrisburg)
(215) 405-9660 (Philadelphia)
(412) 803-7370 (Pittsburgh)
(570) 941-0930 (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre)
(866) 802-2833 (Washington DC)


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