At the April meeting of the Antis Township Board of Supervisors, an area conservation organization raised questions concerning a proposed development in Bellemeade. The concern was that the multi-unit Graystone Court II, near the Martin’s grocery store, was a potential threat to several large springs that feed the Little Juniata River. At times, tempers flared and both sides experienced frustrating moments as the permitting procedures took their course. In the end, both sides sat down and did something rare in these litigious times — they worked it out.
The Little Juniata Chapter of the Federation of Fly Fishers started looking at the Jeff Long development and its possible impact on the springs and wetlands in March and representatives were on hand throughout approval process in Antis Township. During the next few meetings, as more information was gathered and Antis Township waited for a ninety day comment period to pass before granting approval for construction, Long sat down with Bill Anderson of the FFF and the two discussed the matter.
“I’m satisfied with the situation,” Long said recently. “We added an extra retention pond, more shade trees and extra curbing to ensure stormwater doesn’t run off into the wetlands.”
Long was referring to the plans for Graystone Court II, which is the follow-up to his popular Tyrone apartments especially designed for senior citizens. The original plans did include retention ponds and were designed to deal with stormater, but the FFF’s concerns prompted him to take some additional steps, at an additional cost, to help protect the springs. One of the springs, almost directly behind the construction site, releases approximately 800,000 gallons of water per minute. That water eventually makes its way into the Little Juniata River.
“We are not opposed to development,” Anderson said. “We just wanted to make sure time had been taken to look at what impact the construction would have on the Little Juniata. In the summer, the flows from those springs accounts for one-third of the flow of the river.”
