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Lehigh quarry fight meetings violate Sunshine Act, expert says

Mar, 12 2010

(Pa) -- In the midst of a fight over plans to expand a quarry, Richmond Township supervisors are holding a series of closed-door meetings with the parties involved.

While the township says the meetings are legal, a Sunshine Act expert says they're not.

The township is embroiled in a three-year battle over Lehigh Cement Co.'s plan to expand its quarry along Eagle Road. A zoning hearing on the matter has lasted for multiple sessions and is not yet complete.

On Monday, Richmond supervisors announced that they would be holding a series of private meetings about the quarry. They said they planned to meet with neighboring municipalities, Lehigh Cement officials and members of the East Penn Valley citizens group, which is opposed to the expansion.

"We don't know what's going on," John H. Keiser, a member of the citizens group said Wednesday. "We were shocked by it."

Keiser said Richmond officials did not disclose exactly what the meetings were going to be about.

The supervisors met with representatives from Maxatawny and Maidencreek townships Wednesday, and they were scheduled to meet with the citizens group Thursday. A meeting with Lehigh Cement was set for this morning.

Richmond Solicitor Christopher J. Hartman said he could not divulge what was being discussed at the meetings other than to say that they deal with litigation about the quarry.

"At this point, these are executive session meetings, and I'm not going to describe the content," he said Thursday.

Hartman said that a zoning hearing constitutes active litigation, which allows the township to hold private meetings to discuss it.

But Melissa B. Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, disagreed.

Melewsky said a zoning hearing board, as a quasi-judicial body, can deliberate privately during an executive session.

Or, the supervisors would be allowed to consult in private with their own attorney regarding ongoing or threatened litigation.

Neither of those appears to be the case with the Richmond Township meetings, she said.

The East Penn Valley citizens group has expressed opposition to the quarry expansion during the zoning sessions, and, until recently, the township had agreed.

After Ronald L. Kurtz was elected supervisors chairman last fall, the township's tone changed. Kurtz has questioned fighting the quarry.

In January, Richmond decided to put a 60-day moratorium on all quarry-related matters, including the zoning hearing.