PLUM’s long labors bore sweet fruit last week.
By: Graham Strouse
After 15 months of clandestine meetings and public lobbying, PLUM, known more formally as the Partnership for Land Use Management Inc., a Bucks County- based non-profit conservationist organization, announced on April 19 the receipt of $81,000 in state grants for a hydrological study of the Paunacussing Creek watershed.
The money, most of which will come from Pennsylvania’s Department for Environmental Protection, includes $48,000 to evaluate water quality and content, $28,000 to develop a river conservation plan and $5,000 to conduct water resource seminars with local officials.
The Paunacussing watershed stretches from Doylestown to the Delaware River and drains much of Central Bucks County.
The study received strong support from a broad coalition including Buckingham, Plumstead and Solebury townships, Pennsylvania State Representative Charles McIlhenney Jr., State Senator Joseph Conti and the Paunacussing Watershed Association. It will be conducted over the next year by a corps of environmental and engineering specialists under the auspices of hydrologist Dr. Amaletto Pucci, author of the grant proposal. Its purpose: to study the watershed’s chemistry and pollution content as well as its ability to absorb and channel runoff as it snakes its way down to the Delaware.
The watershed maintains a fragile equilibrium, a fact underscored last fall when Floyd forced many residents of the Carversville- Lumberville region to go elsewhere until the flooding subsided.
PLUM Director Dave Mortimer, who made the announcement at a Carversville Inn Press Conference, said the coalition hopes expert analysis will prove that the watershed region is unfit for dense zoning and to gain "exceptional value" waterway status for the watershed. That recognition would grease the wheels for future efforts to buy up adjacent undeveloped land and keep it that way, he said.
"If the studies come in and indicate that there is a lack of natural resources, it would give us the power to go to some larger, less dense zoning," Mr. Mortimer said.
The key, he said, is expert tes timony and the credible backing of a significant scientific study. Previous efforts in the region to restrict development frequently have failed on both accounts.
"Neighbors stood at town meetings and said, ’I’m concerned about my well.’ But they’re not experts," he said. "One of our goals is to bring experts to bear in the development issue."
It seems to be working, he said, noting that the 75-acre plot known Fieldstone Farms at Tollgate Road was rejected for development due to the testimony of qualified expert testimony.
Without this sort of testimony, according to Mr. Mortimer, communities directly challenging large-scale development plans face potentially dire consequences. They can settle with the developer or go to court.
However, he added, "if you lose in court, (the developer) doesn’t have to abide by your zoning."
The consequence of failed court battles is the developer’s right to invoke curative amendment regulations.
"The cure is almost always much more intense development," Mr. Mortimer said.
Representative McIlhenney defined the cause even more succinctly.
"It’s a pristine area right now. We want to keep it that way," he said. "It’s going to establish the water quality. It’s going to establish the need for preserving farmland. You need this data to prove why we need to get the larger dollar amounts in there."
He was referring to additional state aid from the DEP’s $600 million Growing Greener Initiative that he said would enable local townships to deflect efforts by developers to overburden the region with thickets of development.
From the beginning, PLUM’s effort to raise money to fund the original proposal received widespread support from local residents. The release of a single newsletter brought in an estimated $5,000 to $6,000, enough to contract with Dr. Pucci to write the grant. Many of the environmental engineers and specialists who plan to work with Dr. Pucci are local volunteers.
"We didn’t have to twist too many people’s arms," said Denie Mathias, co-president of the Carversville Historic Society.
Ms. Mathias, for one, was particularly pleased to see a state representative attend at the Carversville press conference.
"I just wanted them to know how unique this town is," she said. "I think that’s why there are so many people who are so willing to keep it that way."