Nittany Valley Water Coalition Looking Ahead

From Kelli Hoover

The Nittany Valley Water Coalition is going to take Penn State at its word that the land we occupied for 127 days to protect it from development will be farmed for winter wheat under a lease agreement, but we will also keep a close eye on the site in case Penn State was lying and we need to remobilize quickly.

It is also possible that Penn State and/or Toll Brothers might terminate the farmer’s lease early, so vigilance is needed.

The timing of this lease agreement is not a coincidence given that the same grower was kicked off this land five years ago by Penn State when the university entered into negotiations with Toll Brothers to purchase the land.

So this 44 acres sat fallow for five years until the goals of the Nittany Valley Water Coalition occupation garnered so much public support that Penn State was feeling the pressure to do the right thing.

We’re going to continue participating in the land swap discussions with Toll Brothers and Penn State. Charles Elliott of Toll Brothers indicated last week that they need a few more weeks to complete their land use design proposal.

And we’re going to take a breather to regroup and reassess for two or three weeks until there’s new information on the farming plan or the land swap.

Time will tell and we will be watching.