6 Land Swap 9 Plan Affects Preserved Acres ANDY FASNACHT AND JENNIFER TODD Special To Lancaster Farming Editor’s note: This story origi nally appeared in a slightly differ ent form in the Aug. 27 issue of Ephrata Review newspaper. EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.) The Ephrata Area School District was still presenting its case for an ag preserve land swap before the Lancaster Board of Commission ers as The Ephrata Review went to press. The hearing began at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday morning in Room 502 of the Lancaster County Courthouse. By 10:15 a.m., the district was stUl making its pre sentation and building its case for why it needs to have the land swap approved for a secondary access road to the proposed new Lincoln Elementary School. “We are chomping at the bit to go out today and bid this proj ect,” Roger Brubaker, business manager for the school district, said at the hearing Wednesday morning. Brubaker then went into detail on the history of the project and the reasons the dis trict was compelled to take this direction. Brubaker explained to the commissioners why time is crucial for this project which ad ministrators say is already one year behind schedule. “The Ephrata Area School District has an urgency,” Bru baker said, alluding to the num ber of housing developments going up around the Lincoln area. PACER Self-Priming Centril Features: • Self-priming to 20 feet • Total heads to 120 feet • Capabilities to 200 U.S. GPM • Built in check valve • Equipped with 11/2” or 2” femal threaded connections, NPT Full Line Of Hose And Couplings • 3 H.P ‘S’ Series • 554 H.P. ‘S’ Series 11/2” Or 2” Ports With Briggs Inetk Reg. *281.30 2 " Port * Reg. *351.20 SPECIAL SPECIAL $ 219.80 $ 269.85 *•«’*«? J?"**" • *S* Series Pedestal 8 Series S Series Pump only With Honda Engine, 2” Ports With Briggs Industrial Inetk 15t „ of 2 „ Reg. *558.00 2 ” Port. R „. >IMOO SPECIAL ,439 8 ° SPECIAL ejm age hmm SPECIAL 470.75 $ 384 65 M 41.75 With Cage $538.65 VWWIWW Teejet Sprayer Nozzles and Accessories PAUL B. ZIMMERMAN, INC. FW3 50 Woodcorner Rd., Lilitz, PA 17543 [—hours 77T Up 1 Mile West of Ephrata | (717)738-7350 sat 7400 • HARDWARE • FARM SUPPLIES • CUSTOM MANUFACTURING • CRANE SERVICE Recognizing that representa tives from not only the school board, but also Ephrata Borough and Ephrata Township were in attendance, school district attor ney Ken Nottumo commented on the partnerships of the project. “This is evidence of a commu nitywide planning process,” Not tumo expressed to commission ers. Lancaster County Planning Commission’s Ronald Bailey took the commissioners through their process in giving approval to the land swap earlier this year. “We are here today trying to find a solution to a very difficult situation,” Bailey said. The land swap is crucial in that it gives the school district the area it needs to run a direct sec ondary access from Meadow Val ley Road to the proposed new $lB.l million, 850-student Lin coln Elementary School within the 78 acres adjacent to the cur rent middle school property. Both Ephrata Township and Borough recommended Meadow Valley as a secondary access after other alternatives were nixed for a host of reasons. South Market Street was actually the district’s first choice for secondary access but was knocked out because of safety and traffic concerns. However, the district thought it had the clearance it needed for Meadow Valley way back in Oc tober of 2002 when the Agricul tural Preservation Board by a vote of 3-1 agreed to the swap of We Also Stock A Complete Line Of: Oyjuro Pumps and Accessories receiving two parcels of pre served farm land in exchange for taking one out. Later it was re vealed to them that neither the county or state preservation boards had jurisdiction over the easement on the affected land on the David Z. Lauver farm but in fact it would be the commission ers who would determine the fate of the parcel. And while Ephrata School Board President Dr. William Funk said Monday that Wednes day’s hearing did make him a little nervous, Superintendent Gerald Rosati said the key is for all the information and history to be brought out that morning. “I’m not worried,” Rosati said. “I feel that when the facts come out and when the commissioners ask their questions that get clar ification on what this district has done to show that we exhausted all of the questions we’ve been asked by the (leaders) of the townships and boroughs. We’ve partnered with engineers of the township and borough and we are coming up with the safest and probably the least negative option for that road. “We hope to get the support of the commissioners we have the support of all other agencies up to this point, even the farm pre serve. We will follow the condi tions they give us.” Either way, both Dr. Funk and Rosati said Monday the district is committed to the project. The district already has a ten • Sprayer Hose • Ball Valves • Nylon Fittings • Poly Tanks Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 6, 2003-A37 tative agreement in place that would allow the school to obtain the Lauver land in ag preserve by acquiring another parcel from the Nelson and Miriam Nolt farm and combining it with land the district already owns to make the swap. Once they had the land swap approval, the district was able to apply for a conditional use from Ephrata Township to construct the school, which they received. Administrators told The Eph rata Review back in October that the direct access onto Meadow Valley would not only be more cost effective, but safer. Indirect access would have involved two roads (Hammon being one) and the relocation of several athletic fields at the middle school com plex. ‘lt’s not only money, but the time to recoup our fields for the community,” Superintendent Ro sati said last fall. “I truly believe that when the preserve people saw that this was a community operation (with the fields) if we had to move all those fields up to our new property it would take even more (land). Weekly Dairy Market Outlook (Continued from Page Al 6) 11l price is expected to be $13.80 per CWT, a rise of about $2 per CWT from the month before. Also, the August Class I price has already been announced it rose $1.20 per CWT from the month before. Thus the bottom line price on the August milk check will show significant improvement. Producers will receive this check on or about September IS, 2003. For more information on how your milk check is calculated, see the Penn State bulletin “Under standing Your Milk Check.” You can find this online at http:// pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/ ua34l.pdf. Or you can order this publication by calling the Penn State Publications Distribution Center. The telephone number is (814) 865-6713. The fax number is (814) IMffVPf !;i 863-5560. Ask for publi- {Jj cation number UA34I Grain & Hay Farmers g 1 Apply Lime Now! || Beat the Spring and Fall Rain g Summer Discounts Effective Now g High Mag or High Cal n Zimmerman Lime & Fertilizer | 717/733-7674 g eeKaeseessess=sss9seS'SS=sssasssi3 peering a big rise in the advanced price were very disappointed. But the advanced price is simply the lower of the Class 111 or IV price from the previous month. Recall that the July Class IV price didn’t rise very much. Thus the advanced payment is a poor pre dictor of future milk prices. What really counts is the final payment on your milk check (sorry, I know this is an obvious statement). This is the sum of the component values on your milk check plus the PPD. There may be slight delays in the PPD rela tive to the cash market, but it will eventually catch up. For example, the August Class Incorporated CONSIDERING EXPANDING YOUR FARM OPERATION? Team Ag’s Engineers and Nutrient Management Planners will give you the professional support you need for your expansion, regarding CAPO, Nutrient Management and local permits. Call us today for an estimate. TeamAg, Inc. 901 Dawn Avenue, Ephrata, PA 17522 717/721-6795 * Site Surveys * Grant Writing * Site Engineering and Manure Systems Design * Nutrient Management Planning * Precision Agriculture * CAPO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) Permits * Natural Resources Management * Crop Management/Scouting/Soil Testing www.TeamAglnc.com Email: TeamAg@TeamAglnc.com “We think it is much safer and it is short,” said President Dr. Funk, also last fall. School officials said Monday at the regular board meeting that the project is about one year be hind schedule. The district had hoped to break ground on the project this fall in hopes that the 18- to 24-month construction pe riod would conclude before the arrival of students from several new housing developments at an already full Lincoln Elementary on Apple Street. Resident Bob Good came for ward Monday night to ask sever al questions regarding the land swap, including the costs that are involved in the land swap which involves purchasing an addition al 2.6 acres. Business Manager Roger Bru baker indicated that the purchase price for the land would be ap proximately $25,000 per acre. The total cost of the elementary school project is estimated to be approximately $23,782,708 (less anticipated interest, the total would be $20,665,000). sAbamAg Lancaster Farming's Classified Ads Get Results!
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