Photos: STEM Open Space Festival

STEM supporters enjoyed another beautiful day at Strawbridge Lake Park Sunday, and local photographer Bill Creekmore was on hand to capture images from the day.

Save The Environment of Moorestown (STEM)—which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year—helds its annual STEM Steps Out Open Space Festival on Sunday, bringing out quite a crowd to Strawbridge Lake Park for a day of fishing, farmer's markets, face painting, crafting and canoe rides, among other activities. Local photographer Bill Creekmore was there to capture the festivities and shared them with Patch.  Did you take photos at the festival? Share them with the rest of the community by uploading them here.

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STEM Founders 'Planted the Seeds' for Open Space Activism

Save the Environment of Moorestown will celebrate its 40th anniversary at the annual Open Space Festival Sunday at Strawbridge Lake.

The founders of STEM (Save the Environment of Moorestown) have been trailblazing, literally and figuratively, for 40 years now. STEM president Kathy Huffman reflected on the group’s influence earlier this week, ahead of its annual Open Space Festival Sunday. Huffman said the women who founded STEM “planted the seeds” for Moorestown’s continued interest in open space preservation and laid the groundwork for the creation of later environmental groups and committees, like the Open Space Advisory Committee and Sustainable Moorestown. “The ladies who started this organization are just incredible,” said Huffman, noting the group’s involvement in the preservation of Stokes Hill and other properties over the years. “All of this is a culmination of…

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Letters to the Editor

Letter: With STEM Lawsuit Over, Back to Preserving Open Spaces

Kathy Huffman, president of Save the Environment of Moorestown, says it's time to get back to the business of taking car of Moorestown's open spaces.

To the editor: As the current president of STEM (Save The Environment of Moorestown), I want to thank everyone who spoke up, put signs out, beat the bushes, etc. to help save the Open Space Trust Fund. One thing I would like to make clear is that STEM was never opposed to improving athletic fields. Our children deserve good fields and lighting. They are our most precious resource. They are our future. We were opposed only to the proposed source of funding—the Open Space Fund. That said, I hope we can all get back to continuing to make Moorestown a special place. I do want to publicly thank all the STEM Steering Committee members who were courageous enough to take the initiative to file the lawsuit that helped us accomplish this change of …

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Open Space Lawsuit Dropped, But Questions Linger

Members of STEM withdrew their lawsuit against the township after council voted to bond for improvements to Wesley Bishop rather than use money from the Open Space Trust Fund.

Open space supporters have dropped their lawsuit against the township after council walked back its decision to use the Open Space Trust Fund for field improvements. Elizabeth Endres, a member of STEM (Save The Environment of Moorestown), said the organization contacted attorney Jeffrey Baron last Tuesday—the day after council voted to rescind a resolution to use $1.5 million from the Trust Fund for improvements to Wesley Bishop North—and asked him to withdraw STEM’s lawsuit against the township. On Monday, Mayor John Button confirmed the lawsuit had been withdrawn, saying, “It’s good. We’re moving forward with things that have been outstanding.” Council voted to bond for the Wesley Bishop North project the same night it rescinded the use …

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MotownFan

4:24 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Not getting mine... and neither is Mark Hines   more ›

Wesley Bishop Bonded, But Fate of Open Space Fund Still Unclear

Moorestown council voted unanimously to bond $1.4 million for improvements to Wesley Bishop North, but Mayor John Button left open questions of how it would be paid.

Following last week’s talk of compromise on the Open Space debate, township council voted Monday to bond $1.4 million for the Wesley Bishop North project. But anyone looking for assurances that council won’t use the Open Space Trust Fund to pay for it will have to wait. Council was full of positivity Monday night after approving unanimously—on first reading—a $1.4 million bond for improvements to the park, seemingly clearing the path for progress on the long-stalled project. Prior to the vote, township manager Scott Carew ran down a list of all the major capital projects before the township—Wesley Bishop North, the municipal complex, recreation center improvements, etc.—and their total price tag: roughly $19 million. Over a 20-year bond, …

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‘Maybe We Need to Set an Example’

Two Moorestown council members are seeking a compromise on using Open Space funds for the Wesley Bishop North project, but one member of STEM doesn't like the proposal.

After more than a year of factious disagreement over Open Space spending, Councilman Chris Chiacchio believes it’s time to end the squabbling. In a recent letter addressed to Maura Dey, chair of the Open Space Advisory Committee (OSAC), Chiacchio—writing on behalf of himself and Councilwoman Stacey Jordan—signals a willingness to compromise on the use of the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund toward the Wesley Bishop North project. Up until now, Chiacchio and Jordan have staunchly opposed the use of the fund for improvements at Wesley Bishop. They’ve also voted against bonding the project, raising concerns over timing and taxpayer impact. Last month, council voted 3-2—with Chiacchio and Jordan dissenting—…

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Moorestown Liquor License Hearing Postponed

Attorneys were supposed to argue the case before Superior Court Judge Ronald Bookbinder today, but the hearing was moved to next week.

A hearing on East Gate Square's liquor license lawsuit against the township originally scheduled for this afternoon has been moved to 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21. East Gate sued the township earlier this year, arguing its restricton of the issuance of liquor licenses to the Moorestown Mall was unlawful. Attorneys were set to argue the case in front of Superior Court Judge Ronald Bookbinder today, but the hearing was moved while both sides seek more information. In other Moorestown legal news, attorneys involved in STEM's (Save The Environment of Moorestown) lawsuit against the township over the use of Open Space funds are scheduled to hold another conference call with Bookbinder sometime tomorrow (Thursday), according to attorney Donald …

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UPDATED: Compromise on Open Space Debate?

A letter from Moorestown council members Chris Chiacchio and Stacey Jordan to the Open Space Advisory Committee may signal a turn in the conversation on Open Space spending.

UPDATE: Check out the attached PDF for the full text of the letter from council members Chris Chiaccio and Stacey Jordan to the Open Space Advisory Committee. ___________________ In a letter to the Open Space Advisory Committee (OSAC), Councilman Chris Chiacchio and Councilwoman Stacey Jordan seem to signal the potential for a compromise in the ongoing, increasingly contentious debate over how to spend the Open Space Trust Fund. Chiacchio and Jordan have long opposed the use of the Trust Fund for the Wesley Bishop North project. But they struck a different tone in a recent letter to OSAC chair Maura Dey. Dey, reached for comment Tuesday night following an OSAC meeting, paraphrased the council members’ letter, stating, “(They) didn’t think …

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HomeBrew

11:32 am on Sunday, August 19, 2012

Ed: Glad we agree. Let's keep it up. Just so we're on the same page, I should label anyone who calls this proposal a "compromise" a "liar," right?   more ›

Council Delays Decision on Spending Open Space Dollars

As it awaits the final result of a lawsuit filed by STEM, Moorestown council isn't taking any chances with the use of the Open Space Trust Fund.

Pending the result of STEM’s lawsuit, council Monday night delayed a decision on whether to use money from the Open Space Trust Fund to pay for new lighting at two township parks. Council was set to approve the expenditure of up to $455,000 from the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund to install new lights at Jeff Young and Maple Dawson parks. Several lights were removed late last year after they were deemed unsafe. However, with the matter of how the township is allowed to spend money from the Trust Fund still unsettled, township attorney Thomas Coleman advised council to wait. Superior Court Judge Ronald Bookbinder denied last week an injunction filed by STEM (Save the Environment of Moorestown) to keep …

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Judge Denies Open Space Injunction

However, STEM's challenge to the township's Open Space spending is still unsettled.

A judge ruled Friday that STEM (Save the Environment of Moorestown) couldn’t immediately stop the township from using the Open Space Trust Fund to pay for athletic field improvements, but the question of whether council is ultimately in the right is far from settled. Superior Court Judge Ronald Bookbinder wasn’t sufficiently convinced in the strength of STEM’s case to grant the injunction—intended to block the township’s use of the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund for improvements to Wesley Bishop North—filed by attorney Jeffrey Baron. Even with the favorable ruling, Moorestown likely won't move ahead immediately on the project in case the town loses the larger case. Bookbinder did not throw out STEM's …

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G. Williams

1:38 am on Monday, August 6, 2012

Ed, If you listened carefully to what Baron, the attorney representing MSOS/STEM said, the ethics board never took the full case on the charge against Councilman Testa. Bill Kearns, the boards attorney, cited what he determined was a similiar case where the charge was dropped. Maybe that set a precedent for them since it ended there. However, the case was refiled with the AG's office, and there …   more ›