The World Series of Poker has come to Richland Township. We're down to the final hand, and Supervisors Rick Orloff and Steve Tamburri have called fellow Supervisor Mike Zowniriw's bluff.
At the September 13 board meeting, Zowniriw charged that a 2003 amendment to a four-year old section of the zoning code, allowing mid-rise age-restricted housing along Morgan's Creek, was passed improperly by Richland's professional staff, including the supervisors, before Z took office. He called it "illegal spot zoning".
Do you really stand behind the charges you have made, Mike? Read on...
Township Solicitor Linc Treadwell explained that the appeal period for such questions expired long ago, with no one offering a challenge. Treadwell had made the same explanation in April when Z first brought up the issue. Zowniriw's latest antics prompted the highly-respected attorney for the developer of a proposed age-restricted community to call for Z to remove himself from the decision-making process based on obvious bias.
For over a year, Zowniriw and his RCA followers have made numerous accusations about the other supervisors, and former supervisor Pat Keller, whom Z defeated last November. Residents have been left to decide who is right, usually with little accurate information on which to base those conclusions. But the poker players are about to change that.
In order to assure current, and future, residents that Richland does follow proper zoning procedures, Orloff and Tamburri have taken the unprecedented step of suggesting the hiring of an independent "special counsel" to determine if the zoning ordinance was, in fact, passed legally.
This type of review is beyond unusual. The game is over once the appeal period is past in every municipality that is not named Richland Township, PA. No special counsel, no outside opinions, no what-ifs to satisfy a small but vocal band of dissidents. But those other cities and townships don't have Z and the RCA.
And in an even stranger development, Zowniriw insisted on meeting privately with the special counsel to "present his evidence". Kind of like the private letter he wrote to the judge in the YMCA matter. Public disclosure seems to worry him.
Richland has turned to Thomas Wenger of the Harrisburg firm of Wix, Wenger & Weidner, counsel for the Pennsylvania State Association of Townships. A highly respected and impartial attorney with 38 years of experience.
Wenger advises the nonpartisan organization that represents 1456 townships, and over 10,000 elected officials, before state and federal legislative bodies. He lectures and writes on municipal law, and is one of a very small group of lawyers admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court.
But it is important to understand that Mr. Wenger is not a judge. He has no power to actually change our code, even if he does conclude that proper procedure was not followed. In fact, no one can overturn the approvals already granted, since the appeal period is gone with the wind. This whole adventure is really about the future credibility of our supervisors.
Fact is, Zowniriw has painted himself into a corner. He and his followers have long delighted in hurling barbs and innuendo at others, knowing that there was no one to publicly determine the truth of their statements. But now there will be . Z did agree to the hiring of Wenger, but, frankly, he had no choice. A refusal would have been seen as "I'm wrong".
Do you really stand behind the charges you have made, Mike? Read on...
Z, and the RCA website, claim that the ordinance in question was passed to benefit one landowner. Therefore, they say, it is "illegal spot zoning". What Wenger will find, and report, is that there were actually 26 tracts, and at least 20 owners. The location was chosen logically, the proper notices sent, and proper hearings held.
The Planning Commission, Township Engineer, Solicitor, and Supervisors all approved. No one filed an appeal, including Mike Zowniriw and his RCA "experts". The Bucks County Planning Commission even used it as a model for the proposal they drafted for Quakertown Borough's age-restricted housing, which will actually be in Richland.
Mr. Wenger's report will be presented at a public meeting. And the township staff had better be prepared with large forks and knives, because someone(s) named Supervisor will be eating serious crow.
If W concludes that Z is right, all three supervisors could vote to modify or repeal the code section, as necessary. Mike will be due an apology, and greater respect than he has earned up to now. I will be the first to offer both.
But if the report says that Zoniriw is wrong, again , he must seriously consider resigning from his position. Any credibility he might now have will be gone. He will have unfairly and inaccurately accused his fellow supervisors, and all of Richland's professionals, of an illegal act. He will no longer have the respect necessary to make the leadership decisions required of him.
Less than a year into his term, he has been censured by a judge, criticized in all three local newspapers, and created one embarrassment after another with his shenanigans. Making an untrue criminal charge against his own township would be the last straw.
And if Z is wrong, again , don't look for any big recruiting drives by his RCA mob, which has provided him with so much misinformation.
So what is a World Series of Poker without the high stakes? Do you really stand behind the charges you have made, Mike? Let's put everything in the pot:
Michael Zowniriw, I am calling you out. Here's the wager...
If Special Counsel Thomas Wenger concludes that the ordinance was not passed legally, I will apologize in writing, and never again publish a negative word about you. If the conclusion is that the change was legal, you resign immediately and forever as Richland Supervisor.
Do you really stand behind the charges you have made, Mike? Are you still in the game? Time to ante up. Hold 'em or fold 'em.
All of Richland is waiting for your answer.