{"id":8591,"date":"2012-04-27T08:50:19","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T12:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=8591"},"modified":"2012-04-27T11:35:08","modified_gmt":"2012-04-27T15:35:08","slug":"macfarlan-easement-sparks-more-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=8591","title":{"rendered":"MacFarlan easement sparks more debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stevens asks that Elling recuse himself from vote; questions continue about procedure<\/span>
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By P.J. D\u2019Annunzio, <\/strong>Staff Writer, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kennett Township Supervisors Scudder Stevens (left) and Robert Hammaker discuss a potential easement, Monday night.<\/p><\/div>\n

KENNETT \u2014 At first, it seemed to be just another run of the mill vote. However, when Supervisor Scudder Stevens asked that Board of Supervisors Chairman Michael Elling exclude himself from the proceedings due to alleged procedural misconduct, a debate was sparked between the two supervisors that encompassed most of this month\u2019s BOS meeting.<\/p>\n

While all three supervisors said they were for the easement itself,\u00a0 Stevens and Hammaker said they were uncomfortable with the manner in which the proceedings were conducted.\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to request that Mike Elling recuse himself from this deliberation since he has been actively involved in all aspects of its creation. He obviously cannot act impartially in deliberations regarding its appropriateness as a township purchase,\u201d Stevens said alluding to Elling\u2019s initialing of documents provided by North American Land Trust \u2014 the organization brokering the deal \u2014 apparently without the consent of the BOS.<\/p>\n

The easement in question pertains to the proposed acquisition of portions of the Schmidt property located on the Southeast corner of Hillendale and MacFarlan roads, comprising roughly 9 acres, a house, barn, and several out-facilities. Once purchased by the Township, sections of the property would be incorporated into a trail network in the Red Clay Valley.<\/p>\n

Stevens also concluded that the appraisal for the property was out of date \u2014 as any appraisal used after a 60-day period is considered to be, he said \u2014 and thus would be in conflict with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations he referenced in a presentation to the Township.<\/p>\n

Schmidt\u2019s property was originally listed on June 18, 2011 for $1,195,000 and at the time of the meeting had been on the market in excess of 242 days. The price has been lowered to $997,000. \u201cNevertheless, the appraisal uses a value of $1,395,000 to calculate the conservancy easement value,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cThis price is inflated significantly. In addition, its comparables are inappropriate to the property and neighborhood.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to address the details of what you mentioned in your presentation,\u201d Elling responded. \u201cI pick on one particular point concerning the date of the appraisal. If the date of the appraisal was a concern\u2014and I\u2019m not aware whatsoever of the 60-days you\u2019re referring to\u2014that would invalidate every conservation easement that has been put forth in Kennett Township.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat may be so, fortunately the IRS did not discover it,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cIn this case it is over 60 days; it is not a proper appraisal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t lose track of the fact that we\u2019re not voting on the conservation easement,\u201d Elling said. \u201cWe\u2019re only voting on an agreement to prepare the easement. If in the preparation of the easement they come across many of the things you have identified here, they will be addressed.\u00a0 If they\u2019re not addressed properly my motion is clear, and that is the motion to accept this agreement, to purchase the conservation rights is contingent upon\u2014and I cannot express it any further\u2014everything that you have mentioned will be vetted and taken care of to out\u2014that is the board of supervisors\u2014satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The debate continued with the supervisors unable to reach a consensus to either pass or table the motion. Stevens and Elling deliberated over the accuracy of the appraisal numbers; Stevens alleging they were inflated and inaccurate, Elling attesting that they were neither misleading nor illegal. Elling then restated his motion to approve the preparation of the easement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a problem with this Michael,\u201d Hammaker said, and the meeting was once again thrust into public debate, with an abundance of questions from residents regarding Elling\u2019s lone initialing of documents.<\/p>\n

Stevens took issue with Elling seemingly committing the township to expense without public input \u2014 or that of his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn regards to the charges to North American Land Trust, Mike has already committed this board and this township to paying a sum of money, it has not come before this board, it has not come into a public meeting,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cWe are committed to paying $20,000 plus $10,000 for the preparation of the paperwork involved. So that\u2019s something that was done, and if this deal came apart \u2014 and I sincerely hope that it does not \u2014 we would still be committed for time and materials expended by North American Land Trust to get us to the point where it would come apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elling defended his actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me explain why I initialed that original agreement with North American Land Trust,\u201d Elling responded. \u201cThey were on tenterhooks wondering where this thing was going. I gave them some confidence by doing that, but I said to them that it would not be valid until it was vetted in a public meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to a citizen\u2019s question, Elling stated that the Township owed no money to NALT until the deal was finalized by the Board.<\/p>\n

When all was said and done the supervisors agreed to table the vote on the easement until next month\u2019s BOS meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stevens asks that Elling recuse himself from vote; questions continue about procedure By P.J. D\u2019Annunzio, Staff Writer, UnionvilleTimes.com KENNETT \u2014 At first, it seemed to be just another run of the mill vote. However, when Supervisor Scudder Stevens asked that Board of Supervisors Chairman Michael Elling exclude himself from the proceedings due to alleged procedural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[317],"tags":[1185,25,57],"class_list":["post-8591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-region","tag-easement","tag-kennett","tag-township-supervisors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}