Hanover Tp: Mulch Ado Over Nothing

Hanover Township pays an annual $5,000 fee for the use of Bethlehem's Compost Center, which is located at the intersection of Schoenersville Road and Eaton Avenue. In addition to this payment, they haul yard waste and leaves to the facility, and the tonnage of waste supplied helps Bethlehem qualify for DEP grants. For years, Bethlehem has reciprocated by loading Township trucks with mulch at no charge. "We kinda' scratched their back and they scratched ours," explains Public Works Director Vince Milite. But Hanover Township maintenance worker Jeremy Bucko learned on March 18 that Bethlehem now wants $10 for every cubic yard of mulch loaded onto Hanover Township's dump trucks.

Milite told Supervisors at their March 22 meeting that Bethlehem's Recycling Coordinator, Tom Marshall, now wants between $5 and $10 for every cubic yard of mulch loaded into Hanover trucks. Although Hanover Township has its own loading equipment, Marshall refused to authorize the use of Township loaders on City property.

Marshall told Milite that the City must now charge for mulch because the Compost Center is $200,000 in debt. Marshall gratuitously added that Township Manager Jay Finnigan "was wrong" on some information supplied to the Mayor. Finnigan has no idea what Marshall means.

"We help the City out. Now, he's going to have stockpiles of [mulch]," complained Milite. Vice Chair Glenn Walbert suggested that Milite buy whatever is "the best deal" for the Township. He added, "It may not be something you want to put on your front lawn, but it is fairly good mulch."

Township officials stopped short of declaring Bethlehem a no-mulch zone.

In other business, Supervisors acknowledged receipt of a conditional use application for the "Greenway Creative Learning Center" at 52 Highland Avenue, a preschool and daycare that will service families whose parents work in the industrial park. This is a "nature based curriculum" that will include fine arts, yoga and organic gardening for about 30 children under the age of 6. Children will be fed "whole foods in as close to their natural state as possible."

All of this natural activity will occur in a 1,657 sq ft unit in the middle of an industrial park.