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The Treasure Lake Borough initiative can be taken to a higher court.
At Monday's Sandy Township Supervisors meeting, Manager Dick Castonguay said the township received a court order pertaining to legal language in a recent ruling by Clearfield County President Judge Fredric Ammerman.
Castonguay said the order amended a Sept. 29 ruling that did not include language that would allow the township to appeal to the state-level Commonwealth Court.
Castonguay said an Oct. 26 order added two paragraphs to the original ruling to permit the township to appeal.
He stressed that the order simply allows the township to submit documentation on the Treasure Lake Borough situation to the Commonwealth Court. It does not mean the court will agree to hear the township's appeal.
Clearfield County President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman's order will also stay action to appoint a five-member committee comprised of two residents of Sandy Township (not of Treasure Lake), two Treasure Lake residents and one Clearfield County resident not living in either area to serve as chairman.
The committee would report on the proposed borough's ability to provide adequate and reasonable support services, the potential for residential and economic growth and the financial and tax effect on the borough and Sandy Township.
After receiving findings of fact and recommendations from the committee, a hearing would be held on the incorporation, certify a question for vote by Treasure Lake voters only and, if and when an election is held, enter a final decree granting or denying the petition.
This committee will not be appointed until the Commonwealth Court decides if and when it will hear the appeal.
According to previously published Courier-Express articles, the Treasure Lake Property Owners Association has been discussing becoming a borough for several years.
A hearing was held in January and another was held in May.
Concerns about Treasure Lake being a private borough arose after it was discovered that many who signed the petition were told the community would remain private.
Another issue involves the number of signatures on the petition. Testimony in May revealed that if the deeded property owners are included in the number of freeholders, the total number of resident freeholders increases from 2,044 to 10,625. The 1,205 signatures gathered would, in that case, represent only 11 percent of the signatures needed.
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Reported by Kimberly Finnigan, staff writer, E-mail: kfinnigan@thecourierexpress.com
