Back in October, during a budget hearing for Northampton County Council, the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC) requested $965,500 for next year. That's a problem. Executive Lamont McClure has only set aside $625,000 for the bi-county venture. At last week's budget amendment meeting, Council members John Brown and Lori Vargo Heffner tried to give LVPC an additional $461,375 by taking the money from Grow NorCo future grants. They failed. Five votes are needed to move something forward for consideration on December 4, when the budget is adopted. Only four Council members supported the increase. Two Council members - John Goffredo and Ron Heckman - might have given a fifth or even a sixth vote, but they were absent
LVPC, which serves both Lehigh and NorCo, plans regional land use, transportation, recreation, economic development, storm water management, and environmental impact studies. It reviews about 300 subdivision plans a year, just in Northampton County. Most importantly, it provides technical assistance to smaller local governments that have no planners. But does this justify what is 50% increase in the county contribution next year? Lehigh County thinks so and has already voted to. give LVPC what it wants.
NorCo is a different story.
"Why do we want to give Lehigh Valley Planning Commission all this money?" demanded Council member Ken Kraft. "You heard them when they were here. They have a huge budget surplus."
Council member John Brown supported an increase and said it was part of the agreement we have with our sister county. But in the eyes of Kraft and many others going back to former Council President Wayne Grube, we are treated more like the ugly red-headed step-sister.
Kraft went on a tear. "I didn't tell them to move into a new building. I didn't tell them to incur all this new debt that they did and I don't think our taxpayers should pay for that. And 90% of it was in salaries alone. ... I think they need to figure out how to pay their bills without handouts. I'm a strong No. .... I can't believe we're doing this." ... "It's ludicrous to give this kind of money to them when they said most of it is for salaries. Remember, they are the people who brought you the warehouses all over the county. They told every one of these little municipalities back in Walt Dealtry's days, if you remember, to change their zoning and planning to allow what happened. And then in the future, we're like 'Oh my God, there's warehouses and cars and everything everywhere.' Who gave us that? The LVPC. ... They have a lot of reserves. We should have their reserves."
"For us to be so far off from Lehigh County is concerning to me," responded Council President Lori Vargo Heffner. She also told Kraft that some of the municipalities in his district rely on LVPC for planning.
Council member Jeff Warren, donning his Solomon costume, is willing to cut the baby in half. He is willing to give LVPC some of what it wants, but not all.
In the end, a motion to sweeten the LVPC handout by $461,375 failed in a 4-3 vote. Council members Vargo Heffner, Brown, Jeff Corpora and Tom Giovanni voted Yes. Kraft, Warren and Kelly Keegan voted No.
Expect to see another effort to provide this money to LVPC when the full Council meets on December 4.
37 comments:
Council should take back the 470,000 it gave to the court appointed workers and give it to LVPC. Funny how the numbers are similar.
NORCO is facing a financial crisis - stop the insanity.
Lori - wake up. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is never a good choice
Kraft finally said something intelligent. Most of the money is for salaries. Let LVPC do some cutting and then do some re-thinking after they pledge not to plow in back into their paychecks.
Don’t other non-profits and municipalities compete for those Grow NORCO funds for projects and programs across the county? The idea that LVPC would gobble up those funds for their salaries is an example of truly piggish behavior by LVPC, and out of touch thinking by the council members that supported this move. LVPC truly did build a palace for herself… and it’s a joke to be shaking down both counties like this on the heels of that.
Becky Bradley published a column recently in The Morning Call about how the public must get ready to accept data centers because it's the public who is driving the need for these electricity and water gobbling monsters because we are demanding AI. First of all, I don't want to use AI, I think it's an unproven technology that poses a danger to the public (i.e. self diving cars that crash, therapy that makes depression worse, etc.) and it will harm the economy by destroying jobs. AI is something that billionaires want and, if rich people want something, Becky Bradley's LVPC will approve it no matter the cost to our environment or quality of life.
Ken Kraft is usually the village idiot. But this time he has it right. "Planning" in the Lehigh Valley does not exist. This wasteful and useless commission has done nothing related to "planning." The Lehigh Valley is an unmitigated disaster of overgrowth and horrible infrastructure. Quality of life has declined and former 10-minute trips are now 20-25 minutes and more. The LVPC should be disbanded today. Not another dime. When Kraft is correct, you know there's something wrong with your very existence.
I think Ken Kraft is a bloviating asshole. Having said that, I’m with him on this one, he’s actually right for once!
Lots of talk, little action from LVPC. At the end of the day they do very little other than talk about managing the impact of sprawl after the fact. I see little benefit to our cities or rural townships.
As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with McClure and Kraft on this one.
LVPC is a huge waste of money. I don’t think that NorCo is treated unfairly with regards to Lehigh, since LVPC has (up to now) stolen money equally from both counties. If the Lehigh County Commissioners want to increase their idiocy to blow their taxpayer dollars on the LVPC, there is no reason why NorCo should do the same.
When any outside organization is given county tax dollars, part of their presentation should be about how they will wean themselves OFF of county money in the future. They should NEVER become an ongoing and ever-increasing part of the county budget.
That’s the way you build strong organizations that actually have community support. Instead, the routine contributions have only spawned weak, blood-sucking parasites like the LVPC.
Apparently, according to Bernie and Brownstains, Lehigh county sets out budget these days and we should just bow down to them and their funding levels.
I absolutely love how Brown, Goffredo, LVH, Corpora, and Giovanni are crying about money and saying that McClure set the house on fire while using dollar bills as kindling, but are supporting all the raises in the last meeting and giving LVPC another few HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS! Does anyone else see the hypocrisy?!?!?
And how idiotic of you Bernie to use the analogy of King Solomon to Warren and “cutting a baby in half”. You truly are a TROLL!!!!
Is there an explanation from McClure why he didn't fund this agency as requested? Everything I can remember about the Lehigh Valley Joint Planning Commission was positive. The only disagreement I can remember occurred just recently when they moved into their new office space in "Allentown".
If Northampton doesn’t increase the amount to what the LVPC wants, will Lehigh cut its contribution?
According to its webpage, the LVPC was formed in '61 as a bi-county venture "to create a comprehensive plan to guide orderly growth in Lehigh and Northampton counties. Since our creation we have been dedicated to providing the best planning possible to the counties and 62 municipalities in the Lehigh Valley. We maintain a professional staff that is able to provide a wide variety of planning services to municipalities in the region. The Commission is made up of 37 members who are appointed by each county government. They include elected and appointed officials and county citizens. The professional staff is responsible for operating the LVPC on a day-to-day basis."
I disagree that LVPC is responsible for the warehouses and added traffic. What really is responsible for it is poor zoning by local municipalities. LVPC has actually worked to create multi-municipality zoning that enables a municipality to assess impact fees for development in another participating municipality. It has been the canary in the coal mine and has warned us for years about warehouse development and increased truck traffic. I do not agree with their move into a Jaindl monstrosity. I believe some members in the past had conflicts of interest. But that was quite some time ago and I may have been wrong. Overall, I believe they provide a much-needed service, especially for smaller municipalities that rely on them.
I dislike the $1 million ask, but given what they do, I'd pay it or a large portion of it. Failure to do so is a win for rampant overdevelopment. The county is too parochial.
I don't get the complaint about salaries. It is a planning body, not a manufacturer. The work is done as professionals developing materials and information. What's the other option? Paying a third party planning contractor? Wait until you see that cost.
As a senior citizen I don't understand "AI". No one my age is able to explain "AI" to me so I and my friends are scared to all get out over what "AI" is and what it does. Is there a simple explanation somewhere? Please help us to further understand the pros and cons of "AI" and what it means. Thank You.
The fact that the commission has 37 members tells you all you need to know. It doesn’t matter that they probably get no salary other than possibly reimbursement for expenses, e.g, training, etc. Who can receive meaningful guidance from a commission of that size? Throw in the staff size, salaries, and a new office location to give you the perfect “bad example” to teach in any college’s business administration curriculum. Need a second example for your course? Look at the former LV Airport Authority, a group that squandered untold millions of dollars on a lawsuit payment debacle. Both examples instill tremendous faith in joint Lehigh-Northampton County entities.
Final approvals are based on municipal level zoning, and don’t forget the land is owned by Air Products … you can’t blame the messenger. I think many believe there’s an AI bubble, so many of these developments may not even happen.
Bernie. You should go watch what those high salaries do every day and report back to us. Seems like a lot of people who do what exactly? If they blame warehouses on municipalities then what are they doing to help them change zoning as part of their plan? Warehouses are ruining our county. Lost farmland lost quality of life. The warehouses have to stop and northampton should not support this insane increase
Perhaps? in another month after McCluess is out of the picture, the bickering and backstabbing will end and professional behavior return.
It's long passed due that the smaller local municipalities and school districts be absorbed into their larger entities. Taxpayer savings all around!
watch the original terminator and you will see what AI is
AI was something that was supposed to help you (especially in your golden years). Instead it is a computer infection that steals your identity and infects your computer. You can't do anything without "AI" knowing where you are and what you are doing. It is spyware. It is capable of cleaning out your bank account. It is a virus meant to hurt you as a senior citizen.
Now this is something that LVPC should get behind and encourage. Also merge these tiny police departments and get some real departments to run them. And lets not forget all these volunteer fire departments that can't find volunteers any longer, merge them and make them Paid Professionals similar to bethlehem and easton departments
With the political people we have running the show you have no chance .
Lamont never attempted to cultivate a county program, he disliked the way Lehigh county always got more of the financing than Northampton county and openly spoke of the inequities between the two counties. This county always seemed to get the dirty end of the stick.
This is the worst idea ever! Have you noticed that the largest municipalities spend the most taxpayer money?
And good luck merging police departments. Merged departments will certainly concentrate their efforts where the crime is - Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. Good luck getting any timely response if you live outside of those areas.
Most people living outside the Valley’s cities have done so for a reason. Why would they want to pay for the same corruption and waste that they’re trying to avoid?
Northampton County should cut ALL payments to the LVPC. The LVPC is a total waste employing a large group of parasites and mutants who could never survive is the real work world. LVPC is nothing more than a group of goons who are really stooges for Lehigh County since that is where these bottom feeders direct the incoming highway funds. I just went grocery shopping and just paid my rent now I have to worry that I have enough money and these "people" have the gall to ask for more money for salaries.What gall !!!
The Home Rule experiment has worked in Lehigh County but not in Northampton County. McClure showed how easily it can be perverted. Tine for a study and then maybe go back to real commissioners with no Executive ruler.
SO.....Because Donald "the asshole" Trump has proven what a lousy president can do to our Country, we should go back to having a king or dictator run the good ole USA. Get real. If you had a County Council that enforces their role of responsibility given to them by the Charter, McScrewball would only be the Administrator he should be ,and County Council the powerhouse they are supposed to be.
Where's Billy Givens when we need him? He was a frickin' Nostradamus regarding this wasteful and dangerous commission.
I’m also someone who normally disagrees with Kraft, but he’s right. I’ve heard exactly the same comments from Becky Bradley in meetings before - that they have more money than they need, and that payments can be delayed to them because they’re not hurting. They don’t do their basic job well (supporting planning in the two counties) but instead spend oodles f money on “pie in the sky” planning that has no realistic chance of ever having any tangible impact (e.g. carbon footprint studies). In our small municipality, they oppose every project that the community wants, and support projects that no one wants. They’re not very useful as a group, and should just be disbanded and started over.
1:18 — as someone who has served on the commission in the past you really don’t know what you’re talking about in the least. Disband & start over? A very un-serious comment from someone who probably just has some kind of a personal grudge. The planning commission has always been very professional & committed to its work… former and current commission members, leadership and staff.
1:18, Actually, I would expect the LVPC to plan for everything, and that includes our environment. Have you ever visited the website? Do yourself a favor and check it out. It is a treasure trove of pure data about the LV. I do not agree with them on every decision, but I dislike the tendency NorCo has always had that it is always being shortchanged. Yes, LC ends up with more transportation dollars but only bc it is a bigger county with more roads. I doubt very much that NorCo could do its own planning, which is why Lamont McClure has never submitted a proposal to do just that.
It has a large number of members but they are usually absent. Most of the work is done by a smaller exec committee and staff.
I would note that Ken Kraft is one of the commissioners. The meeting minutes from January thru November show he was absent from every meeting. https://lvpc.org/
I have an idea. This broadside that you just launched here against Ken Kraft was spoon fed to you by former Morning Call reporter Matt Assad. Assad prided himself on flaying public officials when he was a reporter.It is my opinion, that he’d often let his own opinion seep into his coverage and would often omit critical facts that supplied key context. That’s almost like lying to your readers. Anyway, Matt is is a PR hack at the LVPC now. Matt is feeding at the public trough. Ken Kraft should propose Matt’s wasteful position be cut at LVPC. See. Just saved you 100 grand.
It's not a broadside. It is just a fact, and I derived it by looking at meeting minutes, not talking to Assad. I have some friends who are reporters but never developed a relationship with him. A 32-member commission is unwieldy, and I decided to look at the minutes to see how many show. Lots of absences. To me, that is no big deal unless they are also absent from the municipality they serve.
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