Bang!!!
The race is on. The first shot has been fired. The gauntlet has been dropped. The first candidate has been announced for Richland Supervisor. Only 274 more shopping days until the general election!
If you don't yet know about Craig Staats, you certainly will in the coming months. He felt so strongly about his candidacy that he went public earlier than any hopeful for this office in memory. And, he did so despite knowing that certain citizens in Richland have occasionally offered polite public criticism here and there. Both sides will surely have their opportunities before the May 17 primary.
Staats' resume appears to have all of the necessary credentials. Chairman of the Preservation Board, elected unanimously three times. The driving force behind bringing the township's inventory of protected land to over 900 acres. Three years on the Planning Commission. Worked with the Heritage Conservancy to protect the Quakertown Swamp.
Lifetime Bucks resident. Family man. Past president of the Sweetbriar Homeowners Association. Successful businessman who understands budgets and economics. Youth sports coach. Everything you would hope for in a community leader. In fact, Staats is so respected that, in January, he was nominated for re-appointment to the Planning Commission by former critic supervisor Mike Zowniriw!
It takes guts to stand up this early, but Staats' decision already makes winners of township voters. Two years ago, one candidate joined the race late, and residents didn't really learn enough about him. We have since discovered that if he had been Pinocchio, he could have pole-vaulted with his nose.
Richland needs real world solutions, from someone who understands the real world. Running a township is a business, a multi-million dollar business, and your money is at stake. It would be madness to elect a second supervisor who does not understand these complexities, and who doesn't have experience in making important decisions that affect many people. We've been there recently, and done that. We now need better, before it's too late.
Staats says he wants everyone to have the time, and opportunity, to hear and understand his vision for the future of Richland. The man has clearly done his homework. His positions include a truly innovative approach to the hot-button issue of slowing development. The Staats Plan. And he has done it by working together with the township's Water Authority.
Supervisors in Richland have taken a beating in recent years from citizens who blamed them for allowing development in a previously rural township. But this blame was misplaced, because tens of thousands of towns across the country have encountered the same problem: Land use laws are written heavily in favor of developers, and courts have staunchly backed them up.
Zoning has been useful in keeping the industrial plants away from the houses, but not in stopping either. And, municipalities have spent millions of tax dollars in losing battles, because, according to Staats, they were fighting the wrong battle .
What developers need most is land, and the law pretty much gives it to them. But they also need water. And sewers. And, as Staats points out, there are no laws requiring a town to give those to them. In fact, township water authorities can create a water district to complement the public sewer area, and limit where municipal lines would be available. And, outside that district, the lines would not be available.
When Richland's Planning Commission created the Comprehensive Zoning Plan in the mid-1990's, it foolishly did not work with the Water Authority, and take either the water or sewer systems into consideration. This forced the supervisors to have to deal with numerous piecemeal extensions and waivers. Richland engineers are currently working to coordinate the sewer plan with the Comprehensive. Under The Staats Plan, the new water district would be drawn with the same boundaries.
This would not stop development completely, but it would greatly decrease density, since every house outside the designated area would need it's own well and septic tank, or private community systems, both very expensive items. Yards would have to be bigger to accommodate them, and maintenance is higher. Result: Richland would no longer be desirable as a high-density target for the builders. And, the real beauty is, this time the law is on the township's side!
The just-announced moratorium on new public sewer connections will last between one and three years. Richland needs to use that time to prepare for the day when there will again be capacity for more homes. According to Richland Water Authority Executive Director Tim Arnold, The Staats Plan has "excellent possibilities for any town looking beyond zoning for a new way to control development".
Staats' other positions should also resonate well in this area. He opposes Act 72, which would foolishly tie school funding to problematic gambling income (great for casinos, terrible for education). He favored the repeal of Richland's Ordinance 209, which allowed too much development in the Age Qualified district. He supports the new YMCA as a recreation center for all of Richland, at no taxpayer cost, with an adjacent park free and open to everyone.
He opposes risking township money to build an ill-conceived golf course. And he strongly urges the Preservation Board to continue its dedication to protecting open space, and linking those areas with trails.
No doubt there will be a challenger or two for Mr. Staats, but the bar in this election has already been set quite high from day one, with positive ideas for the township. We will see if the next candidate(s) will follow Staats' lead and keep the campaign positive. 274 shopping days to go, but it looks like we got our present early this year.