As you all know, I am passionate about preserving historical property and doing what is right for our community. For my issue brief, I will discuss the development of Hempt Farms in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and how the public needs to address this as a safety issue for our community’s children. Hempt Farms lies across the bustling Carlisle Pike from a major school campus, and its beautiful farmland gives the eyes a break from all of the car dealerships lining the Carlisle Pike. The family farm has also been a staple for Cumberland Valley residents, and it even gave the high school its nickname: Cow Valley. Disappointingly, the Silver Spring township approved the development of the Hempt Property which includes 25 acres allotted for a technology business park, 102 acres designated for residential use, and an area designated for heavy industrial use. It is unacceptable that the township agreed on this development plan and is allowing a developer to bring in more traffic to a spot already susceptible to many accidents each year. As the Cumberland Valley School District has many parents wondering about their children’s future due to newly announced plans to install a 9th-grade academy next year, parents need to consider the effects of this development plan and protest against it; also, our community should not settle for a developer adding more traffic, especially the increase of semi-trucks, in an area heavily populated with teen drivers.
This development plan was intentionally created by HSS Investors Inc. and the Silver Spring Township Board of Supervisors after the Township demanded HSS Investors revise their initial development plan. Both institutions are deliberately regarding monetary value on a higher scale than the safety and life quality of Cumberland County residents. Furthermore, the Silver Spring Township Supervisors accepted this plan after being bribed by the development of a new municipal building and township greenspace by HSS Investors. This corporation threatened Silver Spring Township with a potential lawsuit in order for their development plan to be passed. It is shameful that a large corporation threatened a small township to get what they want at the expense of the residents’ safety.
In my issue brief, I am most likely to use capacity builders and potentially mandates. By using capacity builders, I will be able to educate not only Silver Spring residents of this development plan but 4 out of 5 of the township’s supervisors and potentially the investment group, as well. Educating the public about this manner will perhaps produce the best outcome because if the group faces public conflict they could potentially stop or improve their development plans. On the other hand, the public overall has little authority regarding the laws and policies currently in place that the township and courts do. Therefore, proposing a mandate that land cannot be developed for industrial use may help ease the traffic near Hemp Road. Also, the public could attempt to get the investors and township supervisors on board with enacting a preservation easement on the Hempt Property, as there is one on McCormick Farms.
If you want to glance over the proposed development plan in its entirety, click here.
I love that this topic is super personal and super narrow. Most other people will do their issue brief about something huge like climate change or food waste (which isn’t a bad thing), but it’s nice to see a local issue being tackled. In fact, if this is done well, which I have faith that it will, you could probably implement it and send it to local governments and policy makers. I think you might be best focusing on mandate rather than capacity builders, but that’s because this seems like an issue that is inevitable unless a change is made to the plans already in place. It’s not like food waste or pollution where it can be reversed by education, it can only truly be reversed by a policy change. However, that is just a suggestion, and capacity building is never a bad option because it doesn’t really have downsides.
Thanks for the feedback! I think I will definitely consider mandates over capacity builders; however, I’d like to further educate the public on this matter, because the township and large corporation will not change anything unless there is a public outcry against the plans. It also seems like not many residents in this particular area are fully aware of the plans to begin with.
What a great topic to focus on for your issue brief! The idea is local, not national or global, which will help you create a concise and direct issue brief. Your background knowledge on this topic also shines through this post, which will only strengthen your issue brief. As I was reading your post and the previous comments, I also think that you should focus on capacity builders and mandates equally, or primarily focus on the mandates. The capacity builders are a great way to educate the public and rally support for the opposing side; however, this issue appears to be far along and capacity builders may not be enough to achieve the change that you desire to accomplish. But, this is only a suggestion because I am not as knowledgeable about this topic as you are! Great job and I’m excited to see where this goes!
Thank you for the tips! I do plan on focusing on both capacity builders and mandates with a little more emphasis on mandates, but of course, that may change as the project goes on and new information is revealed.
As others said previously, I love how personal and relevant to you this topic is. It will be so cool to look into as you can gather conrete evidence and make an impact to those close to you. You even included the development plan which amazes me. I definitely agree that educating others is only the first step to this proposal. Once you can get enough awareness on this issue (your issue brief will definitely do that sa well), you can look into mandating that the change you want takes place. I am not entirely familiar with how that works, but I am sure having many supporters backing you up can never hurt when wanting to make a change! Overall, very cool idea and I am excited to see your plans!
Thank you for your feedback! I’m not very sure about how to incorporate the mandate aspect of policy instruments in my brief yet, but I’ll find out more once I do further research. I completely agree with you that having supporters never hurts when trying to make a change happen!