Figuring largely in the Lake Township Supervisor’s agenda for their short Tuesday evening meeting was an update for citizens on the Subdivision Land Development Ordinance, which the planning commission had been looking to modernize for some time. The original ordinance was crafted in 1995, and the proposed changes look to be directed at improving the appearance and environmental friendliness of Lake Township.

“The old ordinance is good, we wrote a strong law,” said Chairman Peters. “There were basically only three areas where it needed to be spruced up.”

The first was a change in terminology which reflected the evolution in political priorities in the last decade. What was once known as a ‘cluster development,’ or a group of houses built close together to preserve their natural surroundings as much as possible, is now known as a ‘conservation development.’

“We also want to change the way we regulate business frontages,” said Peters. “The way we were doing it before, we had all the parking in front of businesses like a strip mall. We want to put some green areas between the parking and the road, as well as move some of the parking to the back of businesses to alleviate congestion.”

The last amendment will address townhomes, or multi-family dwellings, by specifying the number of parking spaces they can have and adding requirements for maintaining the outward appearance.

“We want to complete the ordinance by the end of summer,” said Secretary Bermelin. “That’s kind of an arbitrary date, but there’s a lot of requirements to fulfill before we vote on it. We have to advertise (the ordinance), and put on a public hearing. We’re going to take our time; we don’t want to rush.”

Honesdale EMS Tabled

For the second time in as many months, Chairman Peters has decided to table the request made by the Honesdale EMS for a donation to help offset the costs of the emergency services they provide.

“There are 28 municipalities in Wayne County,” said Chairman Peters, “and we want to see what they do. We want to know what the consensus is as far as funding the different EMS’s goes, because of course half of our jurisdiction is covered by services offered by Damascus EMS.”

The state, Peters added, has also gotten involved in the issue, passing legislation that requires fire and ambulance companies to discuss their needs with their local municipalities, but provides no benchmarks on funding.

“It’s tough to know what state officials are thinking, when they think at all,” Peters said. “These are expensive services, and the fundraising abilities of the organizations can vary wildly, depending on things like weather.”

The township is already contributing to local fire companies, as well as the fire insurance fund.

“These are all highly skilled people. Volunteers are getting harder and harder to find, and the requirements for volunteering are harder and harder to fulfill...we’ll keep the citizens abreast of developments.”

Other Business

• The John Deere tractor the township purchased is being held in storage until all the parts for the mower attachment arrive. The tractor will then be assembled, and the supervisors hope to see it in service for June 1.

• The township is now accepting fluorescent light bulbs on its normally scheduled recycling days. The supervisors ask that citizens bring in their unbroken light bulbs so they can be disposed of safely without releasing their contained mercury into landfills. As per a citizen’s request at the last meeting, the supervisors also looked into a recycling program for electronic equipment, and discovered that citizens wishing to recycle computer and other electronic equipment can do so at Staple’s stores for a nominal fee.

The Lake Township Supervisors meet on the first Tuesday of every month at the Supervisor’s Building on Route 196.