Berlin township joins the World Wide Web

LINDA DROLLINGER
Posted 8/21/12

BEACH LAKE, PA — Less than 18 months after they publicly requested it, Berlin citizens have an official township website (www.berlintownship.org). Supervisor Cathy Hunt confirmed at the September …

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Berlin township joins the World Wide Web

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BEACH LAKE, PA — Less than 18 months after they publicly requested it, Berlin citizens have an official township website (www.berlintownship.org). Supervisor Cathy Hunt confirmed at the September 20 Berlin Board of Supervisors meeting that the site has been operational since it went live in August. “It’s up and running, but right now it’s pretty basic,” said Hunt.

During a contentious supervisors’ meeting in March of 2015, Berlin residents came up with a “citizens wish list.” Topping the list was the request for a township website designed to take the mystery out of local government, making it more transparent and user friendly.

The site includes a township calendar with meeting dates/times for all boards and commissions; phone numbers for each of the three supervisors as well as for the tax collector and sewer enforcement officer; community center information; and a brief history of Berlin by township historian Carol Henry Dunn.

The entire project cost taxpayers next to nothing. “A grant from the Upper Delaware Council paid all development costs; the only expense not covered by the grant is an annual domain registration fee of $153,” said Hunt.

At the same meeting, Hunt read aloud an email from Kristi Gittins, government and public affairs liaison for IMG Midstream (IMG), informing supervisors that a new small-scale distributed generation project will soon be built by its subsidiary, Stourbridge Energy, somewhere in Berlin Township.

The message went on to say that “IMG is a privately held company founded with the goal of reinvesting the energy created by local gas production back into the community through electric power generation. By developing and operating small-scale energy centers, IMG is able to harness the energy from local Marcellus gas that would otherwise be exported from the region.”

The sites are planned to occupy four-to-five acres of land, with a physical plant footprint of about one acre. Each site is capable of producing enough electricity to power 10,000 to 15,000 homes, and will be equipped with state-of-the-art emissions and noise mitigation technology. Locating these sites in close proximity to gas production and electrical power stations will minimize infrastructure buildout.

Gittins also said that “the Stourbridge Energy project will sit at the intersection of a PPL electric transmission line and the Tennessee Gas Pipeline... Our team met with planning about a year ago and you may have been part of that discussion. We recently applied for the air permit, so you may be hearing more from the local community or others that follow this process.”

Asked if she had any idea where the project might be located, Hunt said, “It could be anywhere; Berlin has no zoning.”

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