Time to celebrate the fact that we have been together for almost 2 years as the SCCCCO formed all-the-way back in January 2003! In honor of this landmark, we are sponsoring a Two Year Anniversary Raffle. The raffle tickets are being printed and prizes range from ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS* to a pair of FLYERS TICKETS and more. Buying a ticket could land you an extra $1,000.00 in holiday spending money while you support a grass-roots effort that has truly benefited us all.

The tickets are $20 dollars each. Buy a few for yourself or split a few with a neighbor. Take one to the office and have some co-workers chip in. If you are interested in buying a ticket(s), please respond by email with your contact information. If you can help with selling tickets, please let us know as this would be greatly appreciated.

If the raffle is successful, our attorney estimates that it should provide enough funding to get us through the ongoing Zoning Hearing challenge (The SCCCCO listened to our members and became a party in the hearings with the expectation we will raise the monies through an appeal and fundraiser to finance our attorney).

* Assuming we sell 250 tickets, the winning ticket is worth $1,000.00. If we don't sell all of the tickets, the winning ticket is worth 20% of the ticket sales.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

SCCCCO - Two year Anniversary

Recap of the Past Two Years

Yes, the SCCCCO with the community has been fighting unregulating composting for two years! We couldn't have come this far without your help!! Since January 2003 the SCCCCO and its members and supporters have...

Staved off a composter with deep pockets from setting up operations with minimal regulation.....This means we've had two years of clean air and water we otherwise would not if we didn't unite in this manner.
Assisted Lower Oxford Township in drafting and adopting a progressive Composting Zoning Ordinance to protect the safety, welfare and quality of life for its residents and the residents of many surrounding townships. This was a huge endeavor!
Hired and retained a well-respected, Harvard-educated land use attorney who has 20+ experience. She successfully defended our interests in the drafting of the Ordinance Ammendment and Curative Ammendment challenges. In fact, her law firm has successfully represented concerned citizens groups in similar land use battles.
Raised over $45,000 from generous members and residents with over 95% of the proceeds going directly towards independent, non-political, legal representation.
Grown our small initial base of supporters to a few hundred members representing 5 townships/boroughs.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Update: November 14th Hearing - Details

The third night of hearings took place on November 14th in front of crowd of thirty people at the LOT Township building. The plaintiff's sole witness on the night was Dan Grieg, Manager of the Chester County Conservation District.

Tuesday, November 1, 2005

Hearing Canceled tonight

We just received word that tonights hearing has been canceled. Please check the web site for further updates. We will post as soon as we know!

Friday, October 28, 2005

First Hearing transcript available

You can download and read the transcript of the Lower Oxford Township hearing held on October 18, 2005.

Text file PDF

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

LOT Zoning Hearing Board Appeal - 1st Meeting

The Lower Oxford Township Zoning Hearing Board hearing for the Jones/Losito composters began on October 18th. This hearing represented the first of many nights of hearings for the appeal by Jones/Losito to amend the composting zoning amendment passed in 2004 by the LOT Board of Supervisors. I want to thank every resident, member and interested person who attended.....reportedly over 200 people took time out of their schedules to show support for this amendment.

ZHB Solicitor, Sam McMichael opened up the meeting with a number of housekeeping items and then met in executive session with the entire Zoning Hearing Board. In all this took approximately 30 minutes. The hearing was now in the hands of the attorney's for Jones/Losito who had planned on questioning the Lower Oxford Township Board of Supervisors.

Representing the Supervisors was LOT Solicitor, Winifred Sebastian. The SCCCCO obtained party status for the meeting but our legal counsel was not able to represent the organization due to an ongoing recovery from an accident.

The composter's attorneys now began questioning of Supervisor Chairman Art Astle for approximately one hour. Mr. Astle and the other supervisors had been previously deposed by the composter's attorneys, who were now attempting to find disparities between the deposition statements and the direct questioning on the night as it related to the passing of the composting zoning ordinance. Ron Kepler, Supervisor of LOT, was then questioned in the same manner for the last 30 minutes of the hearing.

This is going to be a long set of hearings where all parties, including the SCCCCO, will have the opportunity to question the other party's witnesses. All sides have agreed the Zoning Hearing Board is to assume the composting zoning ordinance was passed in good faith and is valid, and valid on its face. It is up to the composter attorney's to prove the ordinance is invalid or unduly restrictive.

Please make your best effort to attend one or more of the scheduled
hearing dates listed below.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Hearing dates are set, we need
your participation

Lower Oxford Zoning Hearing Board

Tuesday, November 1st
Monday, November 7th
Monday November 14th

All hearings are 6:00 - 9:00 pm at the Lower Oxford Township Building located on 220 Township Road.

If we hear of any changes, we will post here immediately.

Thursday, October 6, 2005

SCCCCO secures representation at LOT ZHB meeting on October 18th.

The SCCCCO has retained Vivian Narehood of Gibbel, Kraybill & Hess to represent every resident and community member at the Oct 18 LOT ZHB hearing. By gaining party status at this hearing our legal counsel will serve as an independent voice for the hundreds of families that have joined together in this cause to protect our community from an industrial composter who insists on operating with minimal local regulations.

Importantly, we have had some successes in our battle but it is far from over and there is much work to be done to prevent the composter's plan from moving forward. We have retained counsel under the assumption that our members and neighbors will continue to contribute to the legal bills. At the moment, we do not have sufficient funds to pay for the projected costs of the Zoning Hearing Board meeting. Our block captains and volunteers are continuing to go door-to-door in as many neighborhoods as possible to inform residents of the issues and ask for financial support. Your contributions and participation at the meeting will show the composter and local officials that this community passionately care about healthy, clean and responsibly planned growth of our community.

Friday September 30, 2005

Important development:

We need your participation on Tuesday October 18th at 7pm.

Lower Oxford Township Building - By attending this Zoning Board Hearing, you will be sending a message that residents and families stand behind the progressive composting ordinance currently in place.

The composter is challenging the composting zoning ordinance we all helped pass in March of 2004. On October 18th (Tuesday), the composter will go before the Lower Oxford Zoning Hearing Board and attempt to strike down key elements of the composting zoning ordinance. If the composter is successful in striking down the meat of this ordinance they will most likely plan to move in and start operations ASAP. Once the composter starts up their operations they will try to do away with all the conditions on the claim that they are really an "agricultural" use and entitled to maximum freedom to access agricultural protections. At this point residents will have nothing but the DEP between your neighborhood and a composter who will foul the air, water and land.

Please don't make the mistake of thinking someone else will take care of this! You can help by attending the Zoning Hearing Board Meeting on October 18th @ 7:00 p.m. The meeting will take place at the Lower Oxford Township Building located on 220 Township Road (610-932-8150). By attending this hearing, you will be sending a message to the Zoning Hearing Board that residents and families stand behind the progressive composting ordinance that strikes a balance between agricultural and residential interests. The SCCCCO would have liked to gain "party" status at the hearing in order to present the case for upholding all facets of the ordinance. In order for our neighborhoods to have an experienced attorney representing our best interests we will need ALL residents and members to step up and contribute in a big way over the next 3 weeks. This composter continues with a strategy of outspending and outlasting the will of local residents. You and your family's ability to spend quality time in your yard, at picnics etc...will be in jeopardy if the composter has their way next month.

Friday, August 19, 2005

A letter from SCCCCO president Joseph Markowski

SCCCCO Files Appeal

The SCCCCO has taken legal step of filing a land use appeal of LOT township's granting deemed approval of the composter's preliminary land development plan. The appeal was filed on August 2, 2005. We have taken this action in accord with what the board considers to be most prudent legally. By filing this appeal the SCCCCO has preserved our objections to Lower Oxford Township giving "deemed approval" to a final land development plan based on Losito/Jones' claim that they are entitled to approval of a final plan which is not better than the preliminary. You can download a copy to read.

We believe the case law does run in our favor, however, in every one of those cases, someone challenged the "deemed approval" for the reasons that the plan did not conform to the Zoning Ordinance. That was a strong point in favor of the opponent of the "deemed approval" in the case law.

If we did not file an appeal, the SCCCCO would not be on record as opposing the approval of the preliminary plan. Losito/Jones' attorneys could then attempt to make the case that LOT granted deemed approval and the SCCCCO did not oppose, therefore, Losito/Jones are now entitled to approval of the final land development plan. By filing the appeal, we stop that arguement.

Funding the Apeal

On behalf of the SCCCCO, I want to thank everyone who contributed towards our appeal in July. We have requested that our legal counsel keep the costs of the appeal to a minimum. For those of you who where planning on making a donation but did not, please consider making a donation now as our ability to finance this appeal depends on it.

The SCCCCO Board continues to do as much legwork as possible in order to keep the appeal low budget. We are always hesitant to incur more costs, but we are of the opinion that our ability to win this battle would be at risk otherwise. Many people have asked about legal fees and we are responding with a plan to create a log on the website which will list the various legal work that has and will be conducted.

Events

Looking ahead to the fall we have a few events in the works. The SCCCCO and Samara's Hoagie Shop (3rd Street, Oxford Borough) have collaborated and plan to host an SCCCCO carwash in the month of September (Exact date TBD). A Fall Raffle will be coming for those of you who like great odds.

How to get Involved

There are many ways for residents and members to get involved. One such way is attend your Township's Board of Supervisors monthly meetings. Large turnouts seem to alter the tone and scope of the meetings. You local representatives need to feel the presence of their constituents. (Dates are listed to the right.)

SCCCCO board members go to almost every Board of Supervisor meeting and Planning Commission meeting. The SCCCCO and public turn out played a large part in the Township's decision to pass a new ordinance and protect residents with up-to-date regulations.

Sincerely,

Joseph Markowski, President
Southern Chester County Concerned Citizens Organization

Friday, July 15, 2005

Composter Has Struck,
Help is Needed

I hope you are all enjoying the summer. An important development occurred this week in regards to the composter's status with local officials. I wanted to let everyone know what occurred and what this means for the hundreds of families in the area before you read this story in the newspapers over the next few days.

Lower Oxford Township held a regular supervisors meeting on July 13th. During the meeting it was disclosed by the Zoning Officer that she did not follow procedure in mailing out a certified letter to the composter's attorney asking for an "extension" of time for the Township to respond to their preliminary land development plan. Since the time the preliminary plan was filed, last April or May of 2004, the composter has consistently granted the extension (or else the Township would just deny the plan). This was being done, presumably because of the ongoing lawsuits. This type of correspondence is necessary because the PA Municipal Planning Code requires that the Township does not grant or deny a plan within a certain period, then the plan is "deemed approved." As a result of this "error", The township voted to approve the composter's preliminary land development plan that night. The Board was advised by their solicitor to approve the plan as being "Deemed Approved", since the Township did not act on the plan within the required period. Therefore, on Wednesday the LOT Supervisors voted to APPROVE the composter's preliminary land development plan.

These are the same local officials who have spent approximately $80,000 of local residents monies defending against the composter's lawsuits in the courts. Not to mention the thousands of dollars that the SCCCCO has spent through your contributions.

They have now allowed the composter a procedural victory and have given them "one foot in the door"! This is the very reason the SCCCCO is a party in the legal proceedings and is fighting to protect our neighborhoods. We have never been comfortable with our local officials stance in this matter as they wanted to let the composter unregulated in the first place and have consistently complained about the legal costs over the last year. This Faux Pa has certainly bolstered the composter's will to continue to fight the township and local residents for their "right" to operate with outdated and minimal regulations.

What does this mean for us?

The composter has certainly raised the stakes with this unexpected victory. Their attorney will certainly argue in court that Wednesday's approval of their preliminary land plan gives them the right to operate under the old ordinance. Unfortunately, this whole issue is being decided in the courts as the composter choose, from the beginning, to file expensive lawsuits in an effort to outspend and outlast local residents. We believe and hope this is not the case. We will most likely have to appeal Wednesday's approval by August 12th based on the feedback we received from our legal counsel. This is going to add to the financial burden in keeping up the fight. Our bills are substantial as our attorney continues to work laying the out the case and recently representing the SCCCCO at argument on the appeals May.

The time to help is now!

Due to the potential severity of Wednesday's setback, the SCCCO is delaying the next raffle and asking for immediate donations from all members and interested parties. The composter seems to be willing to try to outspend the Township and us, the SCCCCO. This is the reality we face.

We are all enjoying our families outside this summer and look forward to this every year. We also take for granted that our water supply is stable and safe. And I know everyone is aware of the tremendous investment we have all made in our homes over the years. This will all be in jeopardy unless we collectively contribute to this cause. Please donate generously. Many residents I spoke to have expressed that a few hundred dollars is not too much to ask for in order to maintain the great quality of life we currently enjoy.

Please send donations to:

SCCCCO
P.O.Box 87
Lincoln University, PA 19352

You may also donate here on the web site or email us @ info@scccco.org and a board member will respond promptly.

The SCCCCO is actively raising funds to help pay the fees associated with the current hearings.

Do you want to see this in your neighborhood?

This map shows how close these piles of 'stink' might be located to your home.

These are pictures of the Composters current facilities in West Grove, PA.

Become a member today!

Your membership will strengthen the voice of the SCCCCO. For all persons who have already given the SCCCCO your contact information, we still need you to fill out a membership form so you can become an official member.

Important Dates

All residents needed!

Lower Oxford Zoning Hearing Board

Wednesday December 7th

All hearings are 6:00 - 9:00 pm at the
Lower Oxford Township Building
located on 220 Township Road

Also

Lower Oxford Township Board of Supervisors hold their regular monthly meeting the 2nd Wednesday of each month @ 7:00 PM.

Oct 12, 2005
Nov 9, 2005
Dec 14, 2005

Top

SCCCCO - Southern Chester County Concerned Citizens Organization

info@scccco.org

P.O. Box 87
Lincoln University, PA 19352

Our mission is the continual and persistent pursuit of protecting the health and safety of all citizens of Southern Chester County from any business undertaking or activity of commerce that will have adverse impacts, be that of land, water or air.

Recent Updates

Next Hearing is Wednesday, Dec. 7th from 6-9 p.m. !

Hearing for November 30th is canceled.

Two Year Anniversary Raffle

Raffle - Win $1,000 or Flyers tickets or more

Raffle tickets are $20 each for tickets email info@scccco.org