Seven members of the community were able to attend -- many thanks for that, the meeting was at an inconvenient time and I’ll try to give more advance notice in the future. We asked lots of questions and gained some interesting information:

• Bern Township has so far only approved Phase 1 of the Berks Park 183 project. As the township must also approve all subsequent phases, this provides us with possible leverage should that prove strategically useful. (Mindful of the “legal opinion” letter on the Bern Township website regarding what they supposedly do and do not have the power to disapprove, I have obtained a copy of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code to further investigate for myself the extent to which the township could potentially put the brakes on the project.)
• BCIDA board members said they planned Berks Park 183 around an initial 3-megawatt transmission line buildout that it paid for (and said the upgrades to the Muhlenberg Substation are already complete), and that the Van Reed Transmission Project is not something they asked for and is rather intended to serve the overall needs of that area. But they readily acknowledged the increased development opportunities presented to them by having more power available (heavier industry, refrigeration facilities, etc.).
• The BCIDA board says that the requirement in the Phase 1 plans for underground cables only refers to cables on-site.
• I requested a copy of the EPRI report from which the BCIDA board drew its conclusions, and was told that they will look into making this available to the community. (I was given a board member’s business card and told to follow up with him.)
• I pointed out that the BCIDA is a major Met-Ed customer and that the BCIDA’s mission is supposed to include environmental preservation and service to the community, and asked that they push Met-Ed to support the alternate route proposed and supported by several of my neighbors who were in attendance and who arranged to send that route information to the BCIDA.

While our main opponents are clearly Met-Ed/FirstEnergy and its planning subcontractor, there can be no doubt that the Berks Park 183 project and the decisions it has made on the nature of its desired tenants contribute substantially to the “need” for the Van Reed Transmission Project. How we handle that fact going forward is something to think about carefully.

This line is from the end of this Reading Eagle story from August 5 -- I don’t know how I didn’t notice it until now! It could mean that Met-Ed has abandoned the routes we are objecting to and is now planning to follow the common-sense short route across the river to the Muhlenberg substation. But I for one haven’t received any follow-up notification from Met-Ed that their plans have changed, nor have I heard from anyone else that they have; and furthermore, Met-Ed’s webpage about this project doesn’t appear to have had any updates since the company made its short-notice presentation to the community on July 17th. This will be question number one at the BCIDA meeting tomorrow -- we deserve to be kept better-informed, as currently the very threat of these lines running on or near our properties is a large financial liability that we would be obligated to disclose in the event of a real estate transaction.

Today I picked up an initial batch of ten double-sided yard signs. These are designed to generate public awareness of the issue and get things moving! Unfortunately these are also expensive ($9.95 each at Sir Speedy... I did a black-and-white design to try to save on printing costs, but unfortunately it didn’t help). If anyone is willing to chip in and have more signs made, please let me know... so far I’ve been paying for everything myself. The full-size graphic can be downloaded here.

I received this update from the BCIDA by email; it’s a notice to be printed in the paper announcing a change of date and venue for their next meeting. (Again, this information absolutely should be made available on their website, but isn’t!) Can you can come to this meeting on August 27? The BCIDA is the organization behind the Berks Park 183 project, and we need to make our concerns known directly to them.

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BERKS COUNTY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

AND

BERKS COUNTY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION

Notice of Rescheduled Regular Meetings

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Berks County Industrial Development Authority (BCIDA) and the Berks County Industrial Development Foundation (BCIDF) have rescheduled their August 12, 2019 regular meetings to Tuesday, August 27, 2019.

The BCIDF meeting will commence at 8:30 a.m. followed by the BCIDA meeting at the Berkshire Country Club located at 1637 Bernville Road, Reading, PA 19601. The purpose of the meetings is to conduct the monthly meeting business and such other business as may come before the Authority and the Foundation. The meetings are open to the public; however, most of the BCIDA meeting will be in executive session to consider real estate matters that is not open to the public.

Thomas C. McKeon, AICP, CEcD
Executive Director

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