In the old movie "12 Angry Men," a lone juror is the holdout for a not-guilty verdict after the other 11 jurors agree to convict.
East Hempfield Township now finds itself in the same boat, as the lone municipality here that has yet to approve a city-suburban agreement on how the greater Lancaster region should grow.
But now is decision time for the five township supervisors, who meet this evening and are expected to either approve or reject joining 10 other communities here in an agreement to implement a regional comprehensive plan.
While it's not clear how the vote will go, three have expressed reservations.
Supporters on the East Hempfield Board of Supervisors, including Chairman John Bingham, believes the measure is long overdue and gives their township better control over future land plans.
Opponents, such as Supervisor Heidi Wheaton, believe "there are still some serious issues" with the proposal regarding local control and how much growth it would encourage.
The supervisors meet at 7:30 p.m. at the township building in Landisville, and expect to vote on the plan in the latter half of the meeting.
East Hempfield is one of 11 municipalities in the Lancaster Inter-Municipal Committee coverage area that has approved a regional comprehensive plan called "Growing Together."
But the suburban township also is the only one that has yet to approve an agreement to toward implementing the regional plan.
Along with East Hempfield, LIMC members are Lancaster City, the townships of East Lampeter, Lancaster, Manheim, Manor, West Hempfield and West Lampeter, and East Petersburg, Millersville and Mountville boroughs.
Wheaton, in talking to supervisors and others from other communities, said "a number of people have expressed reservations about this ... reservations about the loss of control" over growth and land plans for each community.
But Bingham disagrees.
"A 'no' vote by any of the 11 (municipalities), and the process stops, and that's not good for Lancaster County, in my opinion."
A few people have expressed concerns about the LIMC measure at past meetings, but the measure has been approved easily by the other governing boards.
Bingham feels it's the right plan for the township, while fellow Supervisor Bernard Krutsick also supports it: "They (those with concerns) feel that we would lose control of our own township, and that's not correct ... if anything, this gives us more control.
"I'm also a little disappointed that we haven't voted on this yet," since the supervisors have been dealing with it since early this year, Krutsick added.
Along with Wheaton, the two remaining supervisors, Brett Miller and Doug Brubaker, also have had some of the same concerns as Wheaton about the proposal.
Both men couldn't immediately be reached for comment this morning.
Staff writer David O'Connor can be reached at doconnor@LNPnews.com or 481-6033.
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