Manheim Township Must Find A Better Way To Manage Its
Commercial Development.

Are you as concerned as I am about our local open spaces being filled with small shopping centers and mini-groceries?  We need to find a better way to manage our suburban growth.  Our roads cannot handle the traffic that these places are generating.  We must revisit our Township Plan and Zoning Ordinance to make sure that common sense is used before we allow developers to come into our residential areas and change our landscape.  Driving north on the Oregon Pike the landscape has changed dramatically.  Landis Valley Farm Museum, a Pennsylvania State Museum, (and a Manheim Township treasure) is dwarfed by traffic congestion and commercial development.

We have a few farms in the southern portion of Manheim Township which are in danger of being developed when farmers can no longer justify farming them.  This did not happen overnight.  But we can reverse some of these trends and still retain some of the charm of our beautiful township.

Manheim Township has a wonderful heritage.  Part of the original land grant from William Penn’s ‘Holy Experiment’, Manheim Township boasted some of the most productive farm land in Pennsylvania.  Most of this is gone now, except for a few farms still hanging on.  After World War II, the township became a desirable place to live and raise families, being close to the industry that the City of Lancaster offered.  Grandview Heights, where I make my home, was in itself an experiment – a planned residential development with wide tree-lined avenues.  This is historic in itself.

If I am elected your Township Commissioner, I will try to hold the line on this development which threatens our future.  I also will try to find a better way of collecting revenue, rather than raising taxes.  We can accommodate new ideas while preserving our environment.  We cannot allow greed to overwhelm the wellbeing of our township.  We can overcome problems and pursue the opportunities that make sense for us and our neighbors.

I want to try to retain our heritage here in Manheim Township, so we don’t compromise the residential neighborhoods we have come to love and cherish.

Janet E. Spleen

Candidate for Manheim Township Commissioner

Janet Spleen

Manheim Township
Commissioner

Twenty years experience in
Municipal Government

Pennsylvania Democratic
Committee member

City Clerk, City of Lancaster

Secretary of the Rocky Springs Carousel Association