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Saturday, November 13, 1993 Page: 1A QUICK WORDS: CONYNGHAM VALLEY
Editor’s note: This is the first of two stories on the growth in Conyngham
Valley
By LISA SCHEID
and JENNIFER LEARN
Times Leader Hazleton Bureau
To say the Conyngham Valley is a charming rural community would be like
calling Ramsom Young’s more than 100-acre Butler Township farm a nice garden.
For years, native farmers and a few country folk shared their valley with
wealthier residents who relocated here to enjoy rural life. It’s an image that
still shrouds the area like the morning fog that hovers over Interstate 81 in
lower Luzerne County. But the valley is no longer the rural place it used to
be.
“I would love to see the township the way it was 30 years ago. But that’s
like saying I wish I was 16 again,” said David Remenar, a lifelong resident of
Butler Township and its police chief.
Between 1960 and 1990, population in Butler, Sugarloaf, and Black Creek
townships and Conyngham borough nearly doubled from 7,661 to 13,519, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Valley officials count on the community changing more rapidly. Some see
growth hinging on the construction of the 1,000-acre CAN DO Corporate Center
that will house white-collar, high-tech businesses.
Sugarloaf Township Police Chief James Crawford completed a demographic
study of his township three years ago. He projects a 12 percent growth in
population and housing in the next few years.
In Butler Township, more than 1,800 homes are slated for construction in
the next decade, said Eugene Curry, Butler Township zoning officer, building
inspector and resident.
Among that number are the 779 homes in Sand Springs, a mini-city at the
headwaters of Nescopeck Creek. Sand Springs developers say the development
will include a golf course, motel and small-business park and with it a surge
of residents to the Conyngham Valley.
Young, a 39-year-old farmer, sees growth as inevitable. He also sees new
residents increasing the township tax base.
“The old-timers have decided that if this is what is going to happen, we
might as well make a buck with it.”
Young’s 12-year career as a Butler township supervisor ends in December.
New neighbors
Most newcomers to Conyngham Valley are from outside the Hazleton area, said
Anita Reber, a Valley Realty realtor who lives in Beech Mountain Lakes. She is
also a member of the Butler Planning Commission. Beech Mountain Lakes is a
relatively new development in the valley. The community has about 440 homes on
2,800 acres around a man-made lake. There’s room for about 800 more homes, she
said.
“People are moving from the city, getting out of New Jersey, New York and
Philadelphia. It’s as simple as that,” said Sugarloaf Township Zoning Officer
Stan Gorski.
Reber describes valley newcomers as executives and managers who work at
Crestwood Industrial Park or in the CAN DO industrial parks outside of
Hazleton. They are well-traveled and usually upper middle class.
Some will be transferred out of the area in three to five years, she said.
Others stay.
“I think people are coming in with industry and wanting to stay. My
perception is that many of these people are establishing roots here in the
valley. It is a beautiful scenic area with clean air, quality education,
reasonable taxes, recreation, low crime rate and friendly people,” said Drums
Elementary School Principal Francis X. Antonelli.
Most Hazleton residents could not afford a house in the valley, Reber said.
According to the Greater Hazleton Multiple Listing Service, the average
price of a valley home is $103,890. The average price of a home in Hazleton is
$55,935.
Sugarloaf, for example, has 58 homes valued at more than $300,000 and about
150 worth $199,000 to $299,000, he said.
“As more people become involved in the municipalities, maybe it’ll change
for the better,” Reber said.
Struggles
For five years Butler township residents argued with CAN DO directors about
a proposed business park, the CAN DO Corporate Center.
In March of this year, the fate was sealed. The corporate center would be
built.
At a groundbreaking ceremony just west of Route 309 and south of Interstate
80, Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey said the center would create a “whole
new economy” for a region that relied largely on industrial jobs.
The first phase of the park will create 2,000 white-collar jobs, CAN DO
directors have estimated. They say the center will generate more than $1.73
million in new tax revenues for the township, county and school district.
Supervisor Mark Evans said the hubbub about the center was a traumatic
affair for Conyngham Valley.
Some favored the center; some opposed it. Friendships were lost, and
families were divided.
“It was painful for me personally because friendships were destroyed over
it,” Evans said.
The struggle was apparent in the November election; the issues involved
growth. Two candidates, both wanting to control growth, argued about hiring a
township manager to help in that effort.
Democrat Todd Eachus opposed hiring a manager. Republican Tony Klinetop
favored a township manager. Eachus lost by seven votes but was granted a
recount.
Both candidates said the township’s 10-year-old zoning ordinance, the
blueprint upon which land is developed, needed revision.
Klinetop wanted specific zones requiring a minimum of one-acre lots.
“Development is going to come so quickly and with such pace that there
won’t be enough time to change the zoning ordinance,” Eachus warned.
He expects the township’s plans to update its zoning ordinance to be as
painful as the CAN DO issue. But he wouldn’t have it any other way. People
need to discuss the issues that will affect the community, he said.
“Where do you draw the line?” Evans asked. “When do you say and how do you
say to the next person, `No, you can’t live here.’ We have to find a mix and
not destroy what we have.”
Nearby Sugarloaf Township hasn’t seen quite the same struggle. The zoning
ordinance in Sugarloaf was updated in 1990.
A development boom sprouted in Sugarloaf 20 years ago, but lately major
developments have slowed because of limited sewer services, said Sugarloaf
zoning officer Gorski.
“There would probably be a lot more development here if we had our own
sewage-treatment plant,” he said.
For example, a proposed 170-lot development near Valley Elementary School
has been held up for two years because of an inadequate sewer system, Gorski
said.
New homes with private sewage systems have not slowed. About 20 new homes
go up in the rural 36-square-mile Sugarloaf Township every year , Gorski said.
Sugarloaf and Conyngham are jointly conducting a study to determine why the
borough’s sewage-treatment plant is filled to capacity and how to deal with
the plant in the future, Gorski said. The plant serves Conyngham and sections
of Sugarloaf Township not covered by private sewage treatment plants.
Conyngham’s growth has reached its peak. Structures occupy nearly all
available land in the borough. But Conyngham officials say they are trying to
retain its country charm.
This summer Butler Township residents squared off with developers over a
proposed townhouse complex. More than 350 people signed a petition opposing
134 townhouses planned for High Meadow at Crossroads Farm. Residents said they
worried about increased traffic, the strain on police and fire protection, the
effects on schools and overloading water and sewer-treatment facilities.
Growth puts a strain on many aspects of life in Conyngham Valley. The
valley schools and police departments are already feeling the pressure. The
second part of this two-part story will run in the Hazleton edition of the
Times Leader Sunday.