Tobyhanna STR Committee To Meet Wednesday, Public Not Permitted to See Their Draft

Nov 16 2021 5:30 pm

POCONO PINES (Tobyhanna Township) –The ad hoc committee formed by the township to prepare a short-term rental ordinance will hold its first public meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, November 17, at 5 pm to discuss their draft Short Term Rental Ordinance. While they invite the public to submit comments in advance of and during the meeting, the supervisors are refusing to permit the public to see the ordinance on which they are inviting comment.

Earlier this year, the supervisors gave supervisor John Holaran permission to form a committee of individuals selected by him to look into preparing a short-term ordinance and make a recommendation to the supervisors.

The committee did not advertise its meetings, has not published agenda or minutes, and has not invited the public to witness or comment on their deliberations, all in violation of Pennsylvania’s Open Meetings Law (a/k/a the Sunshine Act), according to a leading media law attorney in the state.

Yesterday, the township suddenly published a public notice that the committee would meet at 5 pm tomorrow evening “to discuss the Short Term Rental Ordinance.”

Our formal request under the Right to Know Law for a copy of the committee’s proposed ordinance was denied today by the township. The township has been working on a solution to short term rental issues for over two years. During that period, numerous public meetings were held, and several draft ordinances were produced and revised. Until this year, the draft ordinances had been available to the public for comment and published on the town’s website. 

Recently, the board of supervisors held a secret meeting with the committee to provide their input on the committee draft ordinances.  They have refused to allow the public to see the work of the committee or attend the meetings.

According to the published legal notice, members of the public may attend the meeting in person or online.

Details on how to phone into the meeting or log into the video conference are posted on the Tobyhanna Township website at https://tobyhannatownshippa.gov/ and the front door of the Tobyhanna Township Municipal Building. Interested parties who wish to participate in the meeting via video conferencing should log onto the GotoMeeting website at https://global.gotomeeting.com/ and use the following code to log-in 131-900-717.  Interested parties who wish to participate in the meeting via telephone should call: 1(872) 240-3212, and when prompted input the access code: 131-900-717.  Anyone may submit a comment via e-mail by sending it to acanfield@tobyhannatownshippa.gov.