Vote kills Meadow Lakes SPUD

MEADOW LAKES — Local residents have effectively stopped a planned special use district — or, SPUD — following a raucous meeting Jan. 15.

The Meadow Lakes Community Council voted by a two-thirds majority to rescind a recommendation to the borough planning and zoning commission for the district’s formation, which was previously approved by the same community council at a much more sparsely attended meeting last year. The district had been on track to go before the borough Planning and Zoning commission, but that likely won’t happen as a result of the vote.

Had the Meadow Lakes Special Use District been approved, it would have constituted the 10th such district approved in the borough since 1966, and would have put in place restrictions aimed at maintaining the uniformity of the property. Advocates for the district’s creation have generally suggested the guidelines would help residents retain property values and allow them to prevent intrusions by undesirable businesses.

Among the measures the district would create would be to limit lot size, and confine commercial and industrial development to certain areas, according to provided maps.

Members of the community council have worked with borough officials on the outline for eight years, but with last week’s vote, that work is invalidated, said planning officer Lauren Driscoll.

“It’s a community-driven process, the community decided they didn’t want to go in this direction,” she said.

Opponents, like retired airline pilot Michael Koskovich, generally attacked the district on two fronts. They disagreed with the process used to inform the public about the district’s creation, and they saw the district as an unnecessary government intrusion, according to Koskovich. A petition drive he started eventually collected 763 signatures against the district’s formation, Koskovich said.

He also pointed to large-scale upticks in attendance of community council meetings — from what he said was a handful to almost 200 as the district became more widely known — as proof that the district had broad opposition.

“The community needs a voice,” he said. “That voice is the community council. The voice that was coming from the community council was not truly representative of a cross-section of the community.”

He pointed to community surveys conducted in the area that showed 61 percent of Meadow Lakes residents wanted no changes to the neighborhood at all, while only 3 percent wanted additional zoning laws.

“They’re going with the smallest slice,” he said.

When asked whether he thought residents would support planning regulations designed to maintain the character of the neighborhood, as supporters of the plan said it was designed to do, Koskovich said the clock may have killed the district.

“I’m not completely against zoning,” he said. “Most of us are not. There’s a time and a place for it. There’s a place for commercial and residential and light industry. This was far above and beyond that.”

The district was “Too much for this community at this particular time,” Koskovich added.

He said the failed plan did lead to greater civic engagement, he said.

“I know a lot more folks in this community than I did prior to this whole SPUD issue,” he said. “We’ve had lots and lots of participation.”

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.