Group remains after gas accord
Published: November 8, 2009
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share thisHONESDALE - Even though a lease agreement has been reached with Hess Corp. for natural gas drilling, the Northern Wayne Property Owners Alliance is not resting.
Instead, the nonprofit organization is focusing on providing information to members and supporting community causes.
"We want to improve the quality of life for people in the community any way we can," alliance founder Marian Schweighofer said. "We're not just a negotiating group, we're an ongoing entity."
The alliance has supported community organizations through volunteerism and fundraising, including making repairs to Northern Wayne Community Library, and funding heating for the Damascus Community Hall.
The organization's bylaws instruct members to identify worthy community service projects and to support local charitable causes.
The alliance's approach is unique among landowner groups, according to Dave Messersmith, of the Penn State Cooperative Extension in Honesdale.
"Most other groups have not organized to that level," Mr. Messersmith said. "The property owners alliance has really done a good job of educating landowners above and beyond what other groups have done."
Other landowner groups in the state have become inactive after coming to an agreement with a natural gas company, he said.
Although the alliance coalesced around natural gas drilling in the past few years, its origins are rooted in an effort by northern Wayne landowners 30 years ago to stop the U.S. government from condemning land along the Delaware River as part of the Tocks Island Dam project, Mrs. Schweighofer said.
"Groups of people jointed together and started to become a property owners group," Mrs. Schweighofer added, noting landowners are now working to develop services in northern Wayne County. That may include developing parks, basketball courts and an art center.
A program distributed last month during a celebration by Hess and the alliance of the natural gas lease agreements encouraged people to donate to local organizations.
Contact the writer: jmrozinski@timesshamrock.com
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