Health & Fitness
Support Hamilton Crossings
Lower Macungie township Needs commercial development. We must not miss this great opportunity due to ideology.
This coming Wednesday the Lehigh County Commissioners will have a major decision to make. They will vote to approve or reject the Hamilton Crossings TIF plan in Lower Macungie Township. This is a critical issue for our area and it is important for people to focus on the facts:
- The area being proposed for the project requires a high degree of remediation due to acid mine wash, utility upgrades, transportation improvements and drainage work.
- The Lower Macungie Planning Commission years ago believed this property would never be developed due to all of the problems.
- The present taxes being paid on the property would not be effected by the TIF.
- The developers are asking that a % of the increased tax revenue be used to help fund the project.
- Originally the developers wanted 60% of the increased tax revenue. The TIF reprsentatives from the three governing entities brought that down to a 50-50 split.
- If approved the project will bring in close to $600,000 for the school district for the first 20 years and close to $1.4 million after that.
- Lehigh County would bring in nearly $135,000 per year over the 20 year period.
- The project would include a Costco which is known for its good product choices and excellent treatment of employees.
- The East Penn School board approved the plan with a super majority vote of 6-2 with one abstention. The Board of Commissioners will most likely also approve the TIF with a super majority or perhaps a unanimous vote.
Those opposed to the project argue that the developer should simply pay for all of the costs. The truth of the matter is that if the TIF is rejected they will walk away and simply focus on their next project elsewhere. In other words, our loss will most likely be to the advantage of a community elsewhere perhaps in a different state. While people may want to believe that rejecting this plan will somehow teach developers a lesson, in truth nothing good would come from such a decision. We will have missed a chance to create jobs and lower or over-reliance on local property taxes.