Scranton, Dunmore and nine communities in the Abingtons are participating in the regional plan to concentrate development and curb urban sprawl.
Mr. Keisling said his property would be “worth zero” if very low density agricultural zoning were applied to his land. The agricultural zoning, which is included in a draft list of available implementation strategies drawn by planning firm McCormick Taylor, would allow only one home per 25 acres of land.
“If my land were to end up in this preservation area, what’s my recourse as a landowner?” Mr. Keisling asked.
Association members pointed to other tools proposed by McCormick Taylor that will add value to rural land, including clustered development surrounded by preserved land and transferable development rights that farmers could sell to people who want to build in denser areas.
They also emphasized that the plan is developing and dependent on feedback from area residents. They estimated that a final draft of the plan will be finished next summer; it will then have to be adopted by each individual municipality.
Even then, it will only be a guide for the future, they said.
“Adoption of this plan does not change anybody’s ordinances,” Glenburn representative Ed Osman explained. “What it is, is a road map of what this area will look like in 20 years.”
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a steamroller going over me,” Mr. Keisling said.
Later in the meeting, after Mr. Keisling had left, association members discussed how best to address similar concerns when a comprehensive draft of the plan is finished.
“I guess we can’t repeat it enough,” Clarks Green representative John Earley said. “We’re not confiscating people’s land.”
Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com
