IN ATTENDANCE: Bill Schenck, Chairman
George Dvoryak, Vice Chairman
ALSO IN
ATTENDANCE: John Holman, Township Manager
Charles Rausch, Solicitor
Jim Baugh, Community Development Director
Dennis Crabill, Environmental Engineer
John Luciani, Civil Engineer
Dori Bowders, Manager of Administrative Operations Betty Speicher, Director of Human Resources
Mark Hodgkinson, Director of Wastewater Treatment Plant
Dave Eshbach, Police Chief
Bob McCoy, YAUFR Chief
Jean Abreght, Stenographer
1. CALL TO ORDER A. Opening Ceremony
BISHOP Don Bishop called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. He reported that Messrs. Schenck and Dvoryak were unable to be present. He led the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. ANNOUNCEMENT OF EXECUTIVE SESSIONS
BISHOP Mr. Bishop announced that no Executive Sessions were held since the last public meeting, and none were scheduled for this date.
3. COMMUNICATION FROM CITIZENS
FERNANDEZ Mr. Dave Fernandez, 1843 Wallace Street, addressed the issue of the canine force. He hoped the Supervisors would vote in favor of the force. He provided a petition in favor with 120 names and intended to get more, which he gave to the board. HOLLAND Stephanie Holland, 405 Cortleigh Drive, spoke with regard to the speed and
traffic issues in Haines Acres. She thanked the Springettsbury Police Department
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for their assistance and being out in force in the neighborhood. She added that there is great support for permanent assistance in traffic calming. She provided the board with additional letters of support and the petition she had created with signatures she had obtained.
Some discussion took place with regard to a standard petition that could be provided for residents on the website; however, it would necessarily have to be generic depending upon the matter involved.
GRIESS Bob Griess, 410 Meridian Lane, spoke on the traffic issues on Kingston Road. He had brought up the problem of speeding on Kingston Road on other occasions but had not seen anything happen. He cited several dangerous situations that he had observed. He stated that something had to be done.
MCCARTHY Joe McCarthy, 2640 Kingston Road, echoed Mr. Griess’s comments and
requested 4-way stop signs at Sundale and Cortleigh. He cited several situations he had observed with speeding and traffic violations.
RAUSCH Solicitor Rausch responded that first, it would be necessary to do a traffic study for support of a 4-way stop sign. He added that a 4-way stop sign normally must meet certain criteria in anticipation of a traffic signal. He added that 4-way stop signs are not recommended as an implementation for speed control.
BISHOP Mr. Bishop stated that the study is requested and done by the county and then the request goes to the Commonwealth. He added that other studies of a similar nature had gone through the process and been denied.
RAUSCH Solicitor Rausch indicated that sometimes the state takes the position that if the speed limit is 25 and everybody is going 35, the speed limit should be 35. That is the logic that the speed limit should be what the traffic and the roads can ideally safely bear.
MCCARTHYMr. McCarthy responded that, along with all the studies, a group of people have all indicated the same thing. He asked whether the people who live in the area have any input at all.
RAUSCH Solicitor Rausch responded that by itself, no, it’s all in the numbers and counts. MCCARTHY Mr. McCarthy noted that having the police monitor the traffic does well for the
day they are there. He suggested parking a police car on Kingston with a dummy in it. That might slow them down for one day.
HOLLAND Ms. Holland responded to Solicitor Rausch’s comment regarding raising the speed limit. She noted there are 2 churches and 2 schools and a playground and raising a speed limit there would be absolutely absurd and made no sense to her.
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RAUSCH Solicitor Rausch noted that there had been situations where that was exactly what had taken place.
HOLLAND Ms. Holland responded that that won’t happen in her neighborhood because she won’t let it and she thought the board would agree that it would be absurd in that area.
WOO Karen Woo, 3220 Forrest Lane, spoke about the traffic and speeding problems. Her residence is very close to the intersection of Cortleigh and Forrest Lane. She cited situations that she had observed in her neighborhood and noted the fear of the residents’ safety. She also mentioned the potential widening on Prospect Road, which will increase the traffic cutting through her neighborhood. She requested a speed bump both going up and down the hill.
GRIESS Mr. Griess commented that his son lives in Brandon, Florida where there are over 1,000 homes in the complex where he lives. In one month they put 4-way stop signs at every intersection, in addition to speed humps on every street similar to those on Vernon.
BISHOP Mr. Bishop noted that there are two big differences. One is that there is no snow in Florida, and secondly, Springettsbury Township is a creation of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As such, the township has to do things in accordance with the Commonwealth rules.
GRIESS Mr. Griess questioned the traffic signage at East Market Street and Haines Road. He noted a yield sign on green to make a left turn, but there is none at Eastern and Haines Road. In addition there was one at Walmart. He asked for an explanation. BISHOP Mr. Bishop responded that it was another good illustration where those are both
state roads.
GRIESS Mr. Griess noted that they’re state roads but asked whether the township had tried to change it.
BOWMAN Mr. Bowman mentioned that it had to do with the width of the road which dictates where there can’t be a yield on green.
ESHBACH Chief Eshbach responded that road width and sight visibility are things PennDOT takes into consideration.
GRIESS Mr. Griess indicated that his point is to continue to try. He added that PennDOT is not as swift as people like to think.
ESHBACH Chief Eshbach stated they are not very swift at all.
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GRIESS Mr. Griess added a comment concerning the traffic circle on Eastern Boulevard. He noted a chunk of cement out of the circle and indicated that the residents hate it. He couldn’t see how a fire truck could go through.
BISHOP Mr. Bishop provided commentary in order to keep things in perspective. The circle and the speed bumps on Vernon were an experiment that the township did in traffic calming as a result of the people that were complaining just like these complaints. There were residents who wanted something done about traffic and speed in that area. Research was done in traffic calming, and with the approval of 70% of the residents, some funds were spent for the installation. Some period of time passed and the residents in the neighborhood came back and said it made matters worse with a request to remove the speed bumps. That was the last experiment. The matter before the board now is to figure out what was learned from that and what it means for the future.
HOLLAND Ms. Holland noted that the speed humps were not the Watts speed bumps. Those can be driven over doing 25, 30 miles per hour. She had three examples of those and will provide them to the board.
RAUSCH Solicitor Rausch indicated that one of the problems with the Vernon Street humps was that the motorists were still racing to get through the light at Market Street, and they were going airborne, which created additional noise issues so that is a consideration for the neighbors to keep in mind that it may or may not slow the traffic down.
BISHOP Mr. Bishop stated that there are answers for the board to look for and that is the plan. The traffic counts are being done in the neighborhood to determine the volume of traffic, and following that they will discuss some things with the engineer and the manager to determine what options are available both physical and legal. The residents can be assured that they will not only be looking for a solution that pertains to Kingston and Cortleigh, but also looking at the whole township and what other problem areas there are.
RAUSCH Solicitor Rausch asked when the Market Street/Mt. Zion project will get underway.
HOLMAN Mr. Holman responded that the contract for Market Street and Mt. Zion was awarded and they are beginning to move utilities and the project will continue through the summer of 2011. Market Street is being widened from Locust to Market and Mt. Zion and the township had contributed funds to widen Market and Mt. Zion itself in the intersection to improve traffic flow and provide for a safer intersection.
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RAUSCH Solicitor Rausch noted that he wanted those in the neighborhood to know that during the time the intersection is under construction, people are going to be cutting through the neighborhood to get to Edgewood.
4. ENGINEERING REPORTS
A. Environmental Engineer – Buchart Horn, Inc.
CRABILL Mr. Crabill had provided his written monthly report to which he had no changes. He provided some updated photographs of the BNR project.
LANDIS Ms. Landis asked about the Eberts Lane project. She noted a comment in his report that the changes to the bridge design had not been completed. She asked for clarification.
CRABILL Mr. Crabill responded that the Eberts Lane Bridge is not being drastically changed and the township facilities are not being affected at the Eberts Lane Bridge. They’re moving forward with that project. The Sherman Street bridge design is not complete. Mr. Crabill reported that they have been in contact with PennDOT’s engineer. There was a set of plans, which were reviewed and moved through all the processes for altering the sanitary facilities, and then it was put out as a design build, thus making it necessary to be redone. The contractor wanted to change the design of the bridge, which would have affected township facilities more. That was brought to their attention and they supposedly were scaling it back. Confirmation of that has yet to be received. He noted that on Eberts Lane the paving gets close to township facilities on the township side of Eberts Lane close to one manhole cover. They are watching to make sure there are no grade adjustments and to make sure that it is done correctly.
LANDIS Ms. Landis thanked him for the clarification.
BISHOP Mr. Bishop asked whether everything was moving ahead with the big project. CRABILL Mr. Crabill responded that everything is moving forward. He called attention to
the photographs, which indicate daily changes. He noted that there are a lot of crews on site.
B. Civil Engineer – First Capital Engineering, Inc.
LUCIANI Mr. Luciani responded to a question about the cost of some of the traffic improvement and specifically the circle on Eastern Boulevard that was added. The contractor that built the project in the area of the Ohev Shalom Temple paid for all those improvements. It was negotiated through a Developer’s Agreement with some needed waivers and it was done to mitigate concerns that residents had regarding traffic volume there. The physical improvement was done by
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