County Council Reverses Preservation Vote

Last month, -- with one member absent -- to spend $260,000 on conservation easements to help preserve 130 acres in Upper Mount Bethel Township.

That absent member? Councilman Ron Angle, who returned to council Thursday night unhappy with what had transpired. He said the county needs to focus on preserving farmlands rather than wetlands, which he argued can't be built upon anyway.

Angle introduced a motion -- which passed by a 6-1 vote -- which halts last month's action until two more independent appraisals of the preserved land can be done.

Angle had actually volunteered to pay for the appraisals himself, but Councilwoman Ann McHale suggested an alternative: let the property owners pay for it themselves.

The owners in question are the Kirkridge Retreat & Study Center, which has 108 acres, and a Bangor resident named David Broad, who had planned to sell his Upper Mount Bethel property to the Nature Conservancy.

The conservancy had told council last month that the land serves a larger purpose, that its "wetlands, swamps and watersheds clean and filter our water."

The total cost of the easements is actually more than $260,000, which only represents the county's share. The conservancy has requested $326,750 from the state, and Upper Mount Bethel is contributing $66,350.