(2/11) The Hamiltonban Township Board of Supervisors voted unanimously at their February 5 meeting to adopt an "official township map" as part of an ordinance to provide for recreation and open space.

Board Chairman Robert Gordon stated he was told by the county Office of Planning and Development that the production of the map and its accompanying ordinance was the first such completed, municipal effort in Adams County.

"It was quite an effort," Gordon said.

The primary purpose of the map is "to provide for the recreational and open space needs of the community, and to facilitate the subdivision of land and the retention of open space."

The map explicitly identifies existing public lands, conserved lands, and recreation resources, and "proposed rights-of-way for recreation trails, greenways, and other lands

identified for public use."

Board vice chairman Coleen Reamer said the map was prepared by four students of Shippensburg College under the guidance of geography and earth science Professor George Pomeroy. Pomeroy also serves as the director of Shippensburg University’s Center of Land Use.

The initial proposal to produce an official township map was made in 2008 when the township was approached by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources would like to have Hamiltonban Township create an official map to include greenways and recreation areas as part of the state agency’s South Mountain Conservation Landscape Initiative.

In 2011 the supervisors approached Shippensburg University to assist in preparing a map. The university allocated four students to "work out a trail system and determine how we could connect our green spaces" in order to generate a map as part of the students’ class project.

The project entailed little expense beyond administrative costs, since the students worked on the map as part of a course project, and planner Robert Thaeler, county Office of Planning and Development, worked on the ordinance as part of their existing contract with the township, Reamer stated.

The township Planning Commission also reviewed and approved the final product.

Reamer said one of the next steps to be taken regarding the map package is to approach Fairfield Borough to see if they would adopt a similar map to ensure connectivity between trails and possible historic areas.