ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Lower Nazareth Township proposal to modify its Agricultural Security Area by adding 192 acres of farmland passed a staff review by Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s Environment Committee on Tuesday.
The proposal will be further reviewed by a full meeting of the LVPC on Thursday.
The modification proposal was made to include property owned by Paul R. Fehnel and others.
The ASA is a program that lets farmland owners to enroll their properties in an ASA, which then is managed by a municipality.
"The more land added to an ASA the better."
Steve Repasch, chair, LVPC Environment Committee
The program provides special consideration for enrolled properties when it comes to local ordinances that affect farming practices.
Before a municipality can approve an ASA submission, the county planning commission must review it to determine whether the parcels meet the criteria for viable farmland.
In its review, the LVPC noted the parcel borders six additional parcels, creating a total of 318 acres of contiguous ASA land, and that the proposal supports all LVPC plans and policies.
The planning commission also reviews all parcels in the ASA every seven years to ensure that records are current.
Lower Nazareth Township engineer and the zoning and planning administrator reviewed all subdivisions and land developments to ensure compliance with the subdivision and land development ordinance and the zoning ordinance.