IN 2009, Supervisors acquired a 32-lot on Urban Road from the Urban-Shook families AND HAVE AN OPTION TO BUY AN 138-ACRE UNDEVELOPED ADJACENT PARCEL, WHICH SUPERVISORS WANT TO  DEDICATE AS A PUBLIC RECREATION FACILITY AND GREEN AREA. FOR THE DEAL TO GO THROUGH, THE TOWNSHIP NEEDS TO SECURE A COUNTY OPEN-SPACE GRANT AND STATE GRANTS. THE 32-ACRE LOT WOULD GIVE TOWNSHIP SUPERVISORS A DRAMATIC OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE THE  TOWNSHIP MONEY. Supervisors plan to USE AN EXISTING large BUILDING, FORMERLY A riding  arena TO RELOCATE FROM THE OUTMODED AND DETERIORATING TOWNSHIP ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLEX AT TOWNSHIP ROAD.  SUPERVISORS HAD PREVIOUSLY PLANNED TO RAZE AND REBUILD A NEW COMPLEX AT THAT SITE. SUCH A PROJECT WOULD HAVE COST AT LEAST $1.6-million.  RENOVATING THE ARENA WOULD ALLOW MOVING THE ENTIRE TOWNSHIP ADMININSTARTIVE  COMPLEX. COST SAVINGS ACCCRUE FROM THE TOWNSHIP USING THEIR ROAD CREW AND TOWNSHIP STAFF TO DO SOME OF THE SITE WORK, SEPTIC FACILITIES, AND ROAD WORK BETWEEN URBAN ROAD  AND THE ARENA. aND, THE TOWNSHIP COULD THEN LEASE OR SELL THE CURRENT PROPERTY. the  arena is shown in the photo below.  IN AUGUST 2010, SUPERVISORS GOT WORD THAT PIKE COUNTY APPROVED A SUBMISSION BY THE  TOWNSHIP FOR A $288,130 COUNTY SCENIC RURAL CHARACTER PRESERVATION GRANT. THIS MOVES THE TOWNSHIP ONE STEP CLOSER TO REALIZING SUPERVISORS' VISION OF A LARGE MULTI-PURPOSE  RECREATIONAL FACILTY.

Why do we need to relocate the Lackawaxen Township Building/Road Maintenance Garage building? 

Experts and our staff tell us it is too expensive to repair our current aging building on Township  Road. 
This building has served us well, but it is a converted chicken coop. The building is almost 50 years old. 
It is in severe disrepair. It is very costly to operate in today's energy environment. Oil prices are rising. 
Oil prices determine the cost of electricity. As third world countries are already planning to put on the |
road 200 million new vehicles. That means those countries will need oil to make gasoline. That will create
more demand for oil. That demand will put enormous pressure to raise the price of electricity. Electricity
rates historically follows oil prices. 
Continuing to operate in a poorly insulated, energy inefficient building would have disastrous financial 
consequences to our taxpayers and us down the road, if we don’t take action now. So, our building on 
Township Road is not the right place for our long-term need to provide more services in a growing 
township. The Township Road building is inadequate for today and even more inadequate for our future space needs. 
Lackawaxen is one of the fastest growing townships in Pennsylvania. In the 1960s, we had no sewage 
permit law, no zoning ordinance, and no building code to administer. The township population has grown 
over seven fold since the 1960s. This has vastly increased our need for sewage, zoning, building code,
administrative services, computerized services, and record keeping. Also, as we face more federal and state 
regulations and mandates, we must vastly increases our record keeping and administrative follow ups. 
We must provide adequate space for administrative/maintenance operations. 

We must responsibly plan for the future. We must  address our growing population of property owners and their permit needs. 

Administering all the regulations has necessitated a significant increase in our staffing and record keeping. 
Also, new record keeping laws mandate more intensive local record keeping. Our annual budget growth is 
just one indication of the complexity of our work. We are doing the work that is equivalent to a sizeable
private-industry company. We do the work with a small, but dedicated and efficient staff. These are aided 
by expert technical advisors.
Also, as our population grew, we have experienced much larger meeting attendance needs. We have 
greater need for public meeting room space. This promotes and allows us interaction with our citizens.
Our citizens and property owners have made it clear that our current space is inadequate. 
The economic reality is that it is more cost effective to expand and consolidate our administrative complex
now than to delay action. We may face greater inflation, greater world-wide recession, or other world 
economic or political challenges. Such challenges might make it more expensive to to do anything major
project. 
Experts say that there is no immediate end in sight of fuel cost increases. Prudent planning requires us to 
take action now. Fortunately, we found and acquired the Urban Road lot for $500,000. Since the lot has 
several buildings, we don't have to build a new $1.6 million complex at the Township Road site, 
which was our original plan. We can sell or lease the existing building on Township Road to a third party,
further reducing our outlay of funds. 

Here are more detailed reasons on why we need new quarters:

• Our roof leaks badly and needs replacement. Our building and garage have severely deteriorated. Maintenance costs are high and we expect will get much higher each year.

• Our building is not insulated for year-round use. Our furnace is a dinosaur, converted from an old coal stove. Our heating bills are rising out of control as fuel costs spiral upwards. We spent more than 40 percent more in 2008 on fuel than in 2007. If we don’t do something soon, those costs could increase every year.

• We have outgrown our garage and maintenance area. Our Dept of Public Works prides itself on keeping roads clear in winter.

• We have more road miles to maintain than any other Pike township. We now can’t house all our vehicles in the garage. Parking and working on vehicles outside is an eyesore to neighbors. It also shortens the life our vehicles. We must shelter our trucks from the weather when not in use to extend their useful life.

• Our crews need a proper place to work to maintain the equipment to assure that our residents and business people can get to and from work in any weather. Our men have to work in very cramped quarters inside. They are working more outside than ever before, but they can’t work outside in mid-winter or rainy weather. Therefore, we now have to outsource some of the work, which is costly and takes longer. These working conditions are not fair to our road crew, hamper efficiency, and is not cost effective.

To improve service to our constituents, business owners, community developments, emergency service providers, and property owners, the new interior space design for the two buildings needs to meet the following needs:

• Adequate supply and document storage areas.

• Efficient work and meeting areas.

• Room for vehicle maintenance.

• Large enough for community meetings and community events, with kitchen facilities.

• Enough bays to allow efficient storage and dispatch of vehicles.

• Community shelter provision and emergency management command center.

• User friendly, practical, and attractive.

We expect our new quarters on Urban Road  to meet the following needs:

• Allow convenient public and staff access, handicapped access, and adequate parking.

• Better integrate office, work, and community areas.

• Be easily identifiable as a township, government, and public community facility. Gives a visual identify that expresses our community and rural values.

• Provide an affordable, cost-effective facility that should be easy to operate and maintain in the future. 

We have set aside reserve money over the years in a rainy day fund that we can now tap so we would not have to ask for a tax increase to fund acquiring the land, the buildings, and renovating the arena complex.

We believe that the land acquisition and relocation is an even better investment than building a new complex. The bonus with this 32-acre land acquisition is that the Urban-Shook families offered us an option to buy an adjacent 149-acre property.  We exercised that option for one year, with a potential one-year extension while we seek state and county grant funds to offset the cost of acquiring a 148-acre lot. That lot is an investment in our future and consistent with our Lackawaxen Comprehensive Plan. The lot would be dedicated as a green space and park for public use. That means that developers would not be able to put residences on that property and therefore that lot should never add to your school tax. 

The land acquisitions are consistent to our long-term Comprehensive Plan Update completed in 2009. That document, which our planners are developed with much community input, define how our community would look over the next 20 years or more. We thank community groups, such as the COLT group, which represents many major developments in our township for supporting our efforts to find adequate space for our future needs.