(2/23) Carroll Valley is celebrating its golden jubilee and the borough council is eager to celebrate.
At their February meeting, council indicated its desire to form a committee that will be tasked with determining how the anniversary will be marked. Mayor Ron Harris said a group of citizens has been informally meeting and ideas are abundant.
Carroll Valley was formed in 1974 by citizens of the Charnita development who were deceived by a nefarious developer.
In the late 1960s, Liberty Township supervisors gave Charles Rist permission to buy and subdivide land. Rist divided hundreds of acres into thousands of lots.
A group comprised of citizens from Liberty and Hamiltonban townships and Fairfield Borough sued the supervisors for approving the plan. They claimed that improving the vacant lots would require sewage and road construction costs that the municipalities could not afford. Charnita agreed, and posted bonds that it claimed were sufficient to adequately provide a sewer system and roads.
In March 1974, Judge Cliton Weidner ruled the bonds Charnita posted were inadequate. Also, the plans did not meet code requirements for sewage disposal or road construction. Charnita was to cease developing the lands.
Charnita was in ruins. It went bankrupt. The Carroll Valley Citizens Association successfully incorporated the Charnita land into Carroll Valley Borough. John Steeves was elected Carroll Valley’s first mayor.
Borough Manager Dave Hazlett, who will soon mark his 20th anniversary with Carroll Valley, credited the borough’s founders for using their expertise to overcome a trying situation.
"I am sure our founding fathers and mothers would be tickled pink to know this little thing they started out back then has made it 50 years. It was touch or go for them at the time," Hazlett said.
Hazlett noted the borough has also experienced challenges during his tenure, but he is excited for the future.
The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development recently awarded the borough a $212,000 Greenways, Trails, and Recreation Program grant to construct a 4,750 trail. The council also appointed a nine-person committee to recommend plans for a 50-acre borough-owned lot along Route 16.
Next month, the council will formally appoint the celebration committee. Members indicated they will likely already appoint citizens who have been working with the mayor. He invited others to share their thoughts. "If you have ideas, that’s great. But you also have to have an idea on how we get it done," Harris said.
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