Cinders in the Eye of Hellertown

July 20th , 2006

Some years ago, Mel Brooks, playing the 2000 year old man, was being interviewed by Carl Reiner. Reiner asked whether there were women in the cave back then. Mel said, “We wiz so dumb, we didn't know a woman from a man.” “Who discovered women?” Reiner asked. “Bernie,” Mel said. “He awoke one morning surprised and delighted.. Hey, he said, dere's women here.”

I quote that recording because in the nineteenth century when the Thomas Iron Works began operation in Hellertown , the land seemed endless. A tree down or a stream corrupted seemed of little consequence, especial if money was to be made from new industry. And then, egad, the great, great, etc. grand mothers of Bernie's women who make up the Saucon Creek Watershed discovered environmental problems right here in Hellertown. (Well, that is not quite true. There are men in the organization, but my rule is never screw up a good line if you can find one.)

The Thomas Iron Works, which was situated roughly between the Saucon Creek and the end of the former high school's athletic fields, is long gone. All that remains are a few arches from one of its buildings and heaps of slag, “cinder” in the borough's parlance,. The slag covers 34 acres along the Hellertown side of the creek. Many a local resident remembers fishing and hunting in that area when he or she was young, and to this day the area is a favorite place for walking with or without dogs, horseback riding and fishing .

Most people who live in Hellertown are happy with their community and would like it to remain largely unchanged. But as do many small towns who have lost major industry, money is in scarce supply. Few if any of the local politicians are in favor of raising taxes no matter how necessary that may be to maintain services and spruce the place up. Instead, Mayor Fluck and others bust their butts trying to bring new business to Hellertown as a means of filling the tax coffers. Never to be outdone, the Borough Council has evolved plans of its own: dig out the slag left by Thomas Iron along the creek, sell it for something over a million, and at the same time develop the property for residential and/or business use.

On first glance, the idea seems like a no-brainer. Win-win situation. Slam dunk, etc. Aha, but not so fast. The Saucon Creek Watershed Committee and their many friends—judging by the Save the Cinder Banks signs now appearing almost everywhere in Hellertown (and Lower Saucon )—oppose the idea. They argue that the Borough's plan would destroy the habitat, lead to soil erosion, result in more flooding, kill the fish and generally screw up not only the creek but the last wild space available to Hellertown residents without having to jump in a car.

Even without the Committee, the Borough Council would have problems of its own its own trying to carry out its plan. For example, the Borough acquired the land in question with Project 70 funds, a federal program that helps municipalities acquire land for recreation purposes. Indeed, the recreational needs of Hellertown residents was the Council's stated intent at the time,. Whether it is even legal for Council to do what it proposes to do, given the Project 70 funds, is certainly a matter of doubt. That doubt can be counted on to result in expensive litigation that may prove more expensive to the Council than the matter is worth.

Legal problems aside, the notion that development is necessarily good for Hellertown is also doubtful. The development proposed for Hellertown invariably involves new housing alone or with some commercial enterprises thrown in. Brightly the Council urges that the more new residents there are the more people to share the tax burden of the Borough. But no one really cares what the tax rate is. What everyone cares about is the amount of taxes he or she has to pay to all jurisdictions combined. New residents of child bearing age inevitably bear children. Children inevitably go to school. And the more children there are in school, the more every resident of Hellertown will have to pay school taxes which increase at a much greater rate than new taxes from the Borough would rise if there were no additional kids to educate.

Council could conceivably limit the development only to age restricted communities and commercial enterprises such a stores and (God-forbid) factories. However such development will surely cost a fortune in infrastructure not to mention additional municipal services. Hellertownians will lose, not gain, recreational space and the creek will turn into devil's brew.

Take heart, perhaps there is a solution that would satisfy the Committee folks and the Council. It depends upon whether the slag is really worth anything. The Creek folks think it is of poor quality and therefore of no value. Perhaps they are wrong. What is required is a good estimate from some company actually interested in buying the slag. If it turns out that the slag is really valuable, then the compromise could be that the slag be removed and sold, but the idea of development abandoned. If it turns out that slag is valueless, then the whole deal doesn't work anyhow.

Some will object that even digging up the slag without development will do damage to the area along the creek. A study presented to the Hellertown Council by an engineer whose name I have regrettably forgotten, proved that removing the slag will not only preserve the creek but improve the flood plain by removing impervious material. Moreover, having walked much of the area, I can attest that the slag has no great esthetic value. Fauna and flora that has developed in the area is basically scrub. While removing the slag may do a great deal of damage to that scrub, once the slag is removed the area will eventually return to its pre-Thomas state, the creek will be as it was pre-Thomas, Hellertownians may again enjoy the wilderness, and the Council and the Committee may all dance around and be happy. Thank God for Bernie.