It will take a geography lesson to understand an ongoing land-use dispute involving Harmony Borough.

On a map, the history-rich community resembles an isoceles triangle with its top pointing northwest. The triangle’s base is Route 68. A sharp bend in the Connoquenessing Creek forms the triangle’s other two sides.

There’s a steep hill on the left side of this triangle. The hill is what forces the creek to turn suddenly around Harmony. Higher ground at the triangle’s southwest corner, nearest the neighboring town of Zelienople, forces the creek’s channel to turn sharply again.

Situated just north of Harmony, across the creek in Jackson Township, is several acres of undeveloped land. The property resembles a shallow bowl. During periods of heavy rain or snow melt, if operates like a levee, holding flood waters until the creek recedes again. The property is just slightly lower in elevation than most of Harmony Borough; consequently, its water-holding capacity has spared Harmony from untold flood damage over the decades.

OK, that’s the geography primer. Now for a civics lesson.

The property’s owner, Creative Real Estate Development Co. of Cranberry Township, also owns a piece of the adjacent hillside. The developer intends to bulldoze away the top of the hill to make way for a major business tenant. Removing the hill would put the tenant, Murphy Tractor & Equipment Co., level with Route 19.

The developer wants to bulldoze the hilltop onto the adjacent low area and then construct housing. The thousands of cubic yards of soil would be used to raise the low spot above the flood plain, making it ready for new housing. It also would help the developer by turning all that unwanted soil from the hilltop into a commodity — free, clean fill dirt and no need to transport by the truckload. Just push it next door.

There’s only one problem — and it’s potentially a major problem. That sharp bend in the creek acts like a funnel during periods of heavy rain. Water rushing downstream from Evans City and beyond gets backed up at the narrows between Harmony and the hilltop across the creek.

That’s rarely a problem now, since the flood plain on the north side of the creek can take untold thousands of gallons of flood water. Many Harmony residents remember the acreage in question was under water in September 2004 after Hurricane Ivan, when flooding caused considerable damage.

But what might happen if that land were to be filled in? What if the creek bank opposite Harmony became higher than Harmony?

That’s the worry of the Preserving Harmony Committee, which was established last month with the support of numerous individuals and organizations fearful that Creative’s fill plan would worsen future flooding.

The committee is inviting the public to a meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Harmony Museum’s Stewart Hall, 218 Mercer St., for a discussion of recent developments involving the proposal to fill in a major part of the flood plain.

Creative Real Estate Development has withdrawn its application for the permit needed to fill in the flood plain site in the face of challenges raised by the state Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers involving wetland, flood way and related issues.

John Ruch, president of Historic Harmony and a cofounder of the new committee, said their has been substantial local opposition for more than a decade to Creative’s proposals that include filling the flood plain.

The Murphy Tractor project is expected to proceed anyway, but it appears that the permit withdrawal means material excavated there will remain on-site. Although Creative has subsequently indicated to officials it might reduce the scope of its planned residential development, community concern remains high because modification of the flood plain would still be required, Ruch says.

In a perfect world, a property owner should have the right to use his land in any way he sees fit, but not if development threatens adjoining property, its value or public safety. That’s why we have zoning regulations. That’s also why we have flood plain regulations.

This is a simplified summary of a complicated dispute. Members of the Preserving Harmony Committee can give a more detailed explanation of their argument, and the residents of Harmony (and Jackson Township) have a duty to be informed about it, since the issue could affect them and their homes and businesses.

By the way, 218 Mercer St. is smack in the middle of the triangle. It should be easy to find if you were paying attention during the geography class.

— T.A.H.