Upper Macungie Township Opposition to Draft Map
To: The Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission From: Andrew V. Schantz, Esq., Solicitor for Upper Macungie Township, on behalf of the Upper Macungie Township Board of Supervisors Date: January 14, 2022 Subject: Testimony in opposition of adoption/passage of the PA House of Representatives District Map proposed by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission Please be advised that I serve as Solicitor for the Township of Upper Macungie, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania and its Board of Supervisors. In that capacity and at the direction of the Board of Supervisors, I am hereby submitting testimony on behalf of Upper Macungie Township in opposition of adoption/passage of the PA House of Representatives District Map proposed by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission. By way of background, it is submitted that, currently, the entirety of the Township is included in a single district providing uniformity, cohesiveness, and consistency for its residents. The Preliminary Reapportionment Plan for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives approved by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission includes a new map which, if passed, will unnecessarily split Upper Macungie Township into two districts. It is further submitted that dividing the Township into more than one district would be unnecessarily disruptive and fail to preserve this cohesive–and clearly identified–community of interest. In support of the Township identifying itself as a clearly identified community of interest, the Township offers the following statistics: • Upper Macungie Township experienced the fourth largest increase in population among all municipalities in the Commonwealth over the past ten years (behind only the cities of Philadelphia, Allentown, and Reading), and that growth is forecast to continue into the near future. • Upper Macungie Township has a varied and unique mixture of transportation, economic, and land use (agricultural, residential, commercial, logistics, and manufacturing uses) needs, concerns and issues which require a singular, unified ideology and representation. Specifics of these unique characteristics include: o Major roadway and traffic infrastructure including highways and interstates along with local interchanges. (I-78; U.S. Route 22; PA Route 222; PA Route 222 By-Pass; PA Route 100 and a local I-476 Turnpike Interchange); and o Farmland (with three wineries); and o Manufacturing (including, but not limited to Boston Beer, Bimbo Bakeries, Ocean Spray, Coca-Cola, Keurig Dr. Pepper, ATAS International, Sunopta, Fuling Plastic USA); and o Logistics (including, but not limited to Amazon, Wakefern Foods, Uline, Fedex, Bridgestone, Nestle USA, Niagara Bottling, Nestle Waters, Home Depot); and o Commercial (including several large office buildings and 13 hotels, plus one planned); and o Technology (including, but not limited to Infinera, Avago Technologies, Liquid Interactive, Cisco Systems); and o Home to the global headquarters of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., a Fortune 500 company; and o A strong workforce which increases the population of the township during the daytime to an estimated 45,000, providing a substantial state and local tax base; and o Residential blend of single family detached, single family attached, and multi-family housing; and o Extensive parks and recreation network including a planned $20 million community center. The Township maintains that the proposed map change dividing the Township into more than one district would be unnecessarily disruptive and fail to preserve this cohesive–and clearly identified–community of interest. Moreover, dividing the Township into more than one district would unnecessarily be to the detriment of the residents of Upper Macungie Township. Examples of the perceived harm are the planned $20 million dollar community center and the foreseeable need for township wide traffic infrastructure improvements. Both of these examples would be harmed if state funding/grants were necessary, and the Township’s Representative had interests divided among various municipalities. Therefore, the Township perceives that the new preliminary PA House of Representatives District Map proposed by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission would unnecessarily reduce the ability of the Upper Macungie Township community to be represented by one voice on matters of local interest. Let the testimony reflect that the Pennsylvania Constitution specifically provides that, “unless absolutely necessary, no county, city, incorporated town, borough, township or ward shall be divided” in creating a legislative district. From a Township perspective, based on the population and location of its community, the makeup and drawing of this preliminary PA House of Representatives District Map is unnecessary and, therefore, unconstitutional. The Township respectfully requests documentation be provided in writing which proves that such a division is “absolutely necessary.” In light of the facts and concerns set forth herein, Upper Macungie Township strongly opposes the adoption/passage of the PA House of Representatives District Map proposed by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission proposed therein. Moreover, Upper Macungie Township hereby submits a request that those voting on the passage of the aforesaid map vote “nay” in opposition.