Candidates for Bradford County commissioner don't support county-wide zoning

Don't expect the new board of Bradford County commissioners to rush to adopt county-wide zoning after it takes office in January.

In recent interviews, four of the five candidates for Bradford County commissioner said they were opposed to county-wide zoning in Bradford County, while the fifth candidate, Sharon Lowery, said she would only consider county-wide zoning if most of the township supervisors in the county were in favor of it.

County-wide zoning involves a lot of administrative work, which will require that the county hire additional staff, said Bradford County Commissioner Mark Smith, who is running for re-election and who opposes county-wide zoning.

For example, the planning department of Lycoming County, which has county-wide zoning, "has over 20 employees, I believe," Smith said. By contrast, the planning department of Bradford County, which doesn't have county-wide zoning, has only four employees, he said.

"The cost (of having county-wide zoning) is extremely prohibitive, and we'd probably actually have to raise taxes to do it," said Smith, a Democrat.

Smith said that, in light of developments in the gas industry, additional communities should look at adopting zoning, but he said those municipalities need to make a decision on their own on whether to be zoned. He said he doesn't want to take away the local control that municipalities have over whether to be zoned or not.

Currently 13 municipalities in Bradford County have zoning, and most of those zoned municipalities are boroughs, according to Bradford County Planning Director Ray Stolinas.

If the Bradford County commissioners adopted county-wide zoning, the 13 municipalities would retain the zoning they have now, he said. Adopting county-wide zoning would involve zoning all of the currently unzoned land in the county, or at least part of it, Stolinas said.

In most counties that have county-wide zoning, all of the land in the county is zoned, he said. But counties could choose to adopt county-wide zoning where only certain sections of the county are zoned, such as an area around an airport or a major travel route along which a lot of development is expected, he said.

The issue of county-wide zoning was discussed at a Bradford County commissioners' meeting last month, after Sayre resident Shellie Northrop said she was upset that, in the midst of a gas boom, most of the county lacks zoning.

At the commissioners' meeting, Northrop had said she was concerned about gas facilities being located where they don't belong, such as a compressor station next to a school or a gas well next to a walking trail.

In response, Stolinas said that, in an unzoned municipality, there would not be restrictions on where a compressor station could be located. By contrast, in a zoned municipality, its zoning ordinance will dictate where facilities, such as pipe yards used by the gas industry and gas compressor stations, can be located, Stolinas said in an interview. The ordinance will dictate in which zoning districts they are permitted to be built.

Stolinas said he would prefer to see individual municipalities adopt their own zoning, rather than having county-wide zoning, because the officials of a municipality know their community better than county officials do.

Currently, Ulster and Standing Stone townships are investigating whether to adopt zoning in their townships.

Candidates' views

Gene Osmun, a Democratic candidate for Bradford County commissioner, said: "As a former zoning officer and a former municipal official ... I believe strongly in zoning. It's a tool that's been around a long time ... It can be a strong protector of property values."

Osmun said that all municipalities in Bradford County should look at whether they need to adopt zoning. "It's probably needed more in some (municipalities) than others," he added.

"The need doesn't usually become apparent until something comes in to threaten folks," he said.

Osmun said he would prefer to see individual municipalities decide on their own whether to adopt zoning, rather than have county-wide zoning. "I would have a reservation about county commissioners and (county) officials mandating zoning. I think local jurisdictions should be responsible for making those decisions on their own," he said.

Daryl Miller, a Republican candidate for Bradford County commissioner, also said that individual municipalities need to make a decision on their own over whether they want to have zoning.

"I don't think the county should be telling them (individual municipalities)" that they should have zoning, Miller said.

Likewise, Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko said municipalities need to decide on their whether to have their own zoning, and that the county should not dictate whether a municipality is zoned.

"I'm not going to stick my nose where it doesn't belong because I don't know what's best on an individual township-by-township basis," said McLinko, who is running for re-election. "Every township is different. Referring to county-wide zoning, McLinko said: "Bigger government is not better government."

Lowery said that it may make sense to zone additional areas of the county.

"I just talked to an Ulster Township supervisor," Lowery said. "From what he was telling me, they've had about six different businesses come in, and he said the rumor out there is 'Go to Ulster Township, because there is no zoning here.' And I can foresee that being a problem, and I think the municipalities need to take care of that, and do what they need to do to protect their areas."

However, Lowery said that any push to adopt county-wide zoning needs to come from the individual townships. As a county commissioner, "I wouldn't want to step on toes and say (to local municipalities), 'We are going to take all that zoning out of your hands, and do it on a county level.'"

However, if the most of the township supervisors in the county wanted county-wide zoning, "that's certainly something I'd be willing to look at," Lowery said.

Stolinas also said that under state law, several municipalities that have developed a joint comprehensive plan together can also adopt regional zoning among themselves. An advantage of regional zoning is that a particular type of development does not have to be allowed within each municipality but can be can be allowed in the municipality where it is most appropriate, Stolinas said.

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or e-mail: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com.