Lower Towamensing Township supervisors discussed legal matters and ordinances at the meeting this week.

Township solicitor James Nanovic told the board of supervisors that the municipality is automatically considered a party in the appeals concerning zoning issues filed in June in the Carbon County Court of Common Pleas.The Appalachian Trail Conservancy filed an appeal on June 26 seeking to be recognized as a party with standing.The Lower Towamensing Zoning Board voted in favor of variances to allow for a slightly larger lot for the hotel; smaller front, rear and side setbacks; and an 85-foot tall hotel. The zoning allows for buildings to be 50 feet tall.One corner of the hotel would be 12 feet from the easement that permits the trail to run through the resort's property. The trail is about another 400 feet into the woods.The conservancy members want the hotel to be built farther from the trail.The Lower Towamensing Township Zoning Hearing Board denied the organization standing at a hearing in April.The hearing concerned variances sought by Blue Mountain Resort about setbacks, building height and other matters related to its plans for the Vista Lodge hotel and condominium.The zoning hearing board granted six of the seven variances and the special exception. They denied the request by the resort to be granted relief from providing additional parking for the hotel. Blue Mountain filed its appeal on June 27 with the Common Pleas court concerning the parking issue.Nanovic told the supervisors they could decide to opt out of the appeals or file a Notice of Intervention with the court. Basically, this means that the municipality will receive copies of all filings, court orders, testimony and the court decision, he said.The downside is there is a small fee to file, Nanovic said."Any other down sides?" asked Supervisor Ron Walbert.Nanovic said no and they don't have to give any testimony. He recommended that the supervisors file the notice. They voted to do so.Anonymous complaintsThe supervisors also discussed the problem of letters being sent in anonymously, but without information about the location of the problem."It's hard to find out exactly what and where the complaint is," Walbert said. "How do you contact them?"Zoning officer Duane Dellecker said he finds it hard to properly investigate a complaint when he hasn't been given an address for it."I know a lot of places that won't deal with a letter if there isn't a signature," Nanovic said.He told Dellecker to hold onto the anonymous letters and place them in a file, but don't act on them until someone files a signed complaint with specific information.People don't need to be concerned that if they give their name in a complaint that others will find out it was them, he said."I will not release names of people who file a complaint," Dellecker said.In other business, Dellecker told the supervisors there are ordinances calling for certain officer positions to handle the issue, but there is no one assigned to the position.He recommended reassigning these duties to officers that are appointed. For instance, one ordinance puts enforcement of holding tanks under the health officer, but there isn't one. He suggests putting this responsibility under the sewer enforcement officer."We should give Mr. Dellecker a little more teeth to deal with this," Walbert said."I don't have any objections to doing this," Nanovic said. "It's when - before or after the codification?"The township is going to be reviewing it's ordinances soon.After further discussion, Chairman Brent Green said, "Code and building would be the most important right now, because we haven't had a file for a holding tank in a while."He made a motion that Sean Corey be appointed as the health officer with Duane Dellecker as the alternate, and Dellecker be appointed as the code and building enforcement officer with Corey as the alternate. It was passed.