UPPER MOUNT BETHEL TWP. Pa. — Representatives for several Slate Belt municipalities met for the first time Wednesday night in Upper Mt. Bethel Township to share concerns over plans for the planned River Pointe industrial park.
Representatives for Portland, East Bangor and Lower Mount Bethel Township who joined a special meeting of the Upper Mount Bethel Board of Supervisors began by saying how grateful they were to finally be included.
“This is something that has frustrated my township for the last at least three years: there has been no intermunicipal communication about a project that will have incredible impact on everybody that lives in the Slate Belt,” said Sandra Newman, a member of the Plan Slate Belt board who represented Lower Mount Bethel at Wednesday’s meeting.
“We have new supervisors, and we wanted to change the approach that we've been taking to our neighboring communities. Now we have a new administration that wants to do the best we can to try and be good neighbors.”Upper Mount Bethel Township Supervisors President John Bermingham
The change in approach, Upper Mount Bethel supervisors President John Bermingham said, stems from a recent change in personnel. November’s general election saw two board members friendly to the development, Martin Pinter and Robert Teel, replaced by much-more-skeptical newcomers Cori Eckman and Jason Albert.
Another pro-River Pointe supervisor, David Due, resigned a few days after the election and was replaced this month by Jonathan Erler.
“We have new supervisors, and we wanted to change the approach that we've been taking to our neighboring communities,” Bermingham said.
“Now we have a new administration that wants to do the best we can to try and be good neighbors.”
Impacts far outside the township
River Pointe, planned to include more than 5.8 million square feet of large-scale industrial buildings on roughly 800 acres along the Delaware River, would rest in Upper Mount Bethel Township, but the visiting officials said its impacts would reach well beyond the township’s borders.
“I don't understand how anyone could possibly say that the essence of living in Portland, and what it means, and what it feels like is not going to be completely changed.”Portland Mayor Heather Fischer
“I don't understand how anyone could possibly say that the essence of living in Portland, and what it means, and what it feels like is not going to be completely changed,” Portland Mayor Heather Fischer said.
River Pointe is planned for land just south of the borough.
“Me personally, there is no positive, and I hear that over and over again from residents,” Fischer said.
“I don't think we've had anyone that would possibly be in favor of the development without questioning the impact that it would have on our community,” East Bangor representative Susan Ruggiero said.
“It's not just about how it would impact us, but how it would impact everyone around us.”
Above all else, representatives for the three municipalities worried that increased heavy truck traffic would pollute the region’s air, snarl traffic and degrade the area’s narrow roads.
No representatives for River Pointe attended Wednesday’s meeting.
Proponents of the project say that the development will be a much-needed economic lifeline for the township.
Members of several other Slate Belt governments — Rosetto, Washington Township and others — were invited but did not attend, Bermingham said.
