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Office building plans approved

Fultz: We tried to make it as safe as possible

REEDSVILLE — The plans for the proposed office building near the Holiday Inn Express in Reedsville were approved during the Brown Township Supervisors meeting, Monday night.

The office building, which will be a driver training building for LandStar Trucking, has been a point of discussion for several weeks between the residents of Carriage House Crossing, the owners of the hotel and the township.

The plans for the building were added, after the original plans for the hotel were already approved, as a building that will bring revenue to the area and the hotel.

On Jan. 11, the township planning commission met to discuss the plans with the engineer, the owners and some residents during a workshop meeting to help make the plans agreeable to everyone.

During that meeting changes were suggested to the engineer, Tom Metz. Some of these included having no trailers at the office building and making sure the turning radius in the parking lot was able to accommodate the tractors.

Metz, who was at the meeting Monday night, said all of the changes that were asked of them were made.

Residents in the neighborhood that is abutting the hotel and office building seemed to be confused as to why the tractor trailers or just tractors were going to be allowed there at all.

“Why must there be tractors have you ever seen a hotel with them there, or with an operation like this,” was a common question asked. Another concern was for the families and kids who play in the neighborhood.

Metz explained that it is a commercial zone and that tractor trailers are going to be going in and out of the area, not just for the office space, but for the other commercial buildings there as well. This includes Elmcroft Nursing Home.

The Chairman of the Supervisors, Jamie Fultz, said the township and engineers have tried to make things as safe as possible. Some of these include having sign stating “no trucks beyond this point” and making the entrance way match up with the intersection already there.

“It is a commercial zone and regardless, the building would need to have deliveries,” he said. “We are trying to keep it as safe as possible.”

After it was approved in a 2 to 1 vote, with newly-elected Supervisor and vice-chairman Kay Hamilton voting no, Metz spoke to the residents.

“It is good to see people stand-up and have a voice,” he said. “We may not always agree and it may not be easy at times, but this is how we work things out.”

He added that as an engineer, he sees the laws and regulations that are required, but hearing the concerns of the residents helps out a lot when designing plans.

During the meeting the supervisors also heard from John Rodgers Jr., the owner of the Dairyland property. Rodgers was there finding out if something could be done to help him and others on that side of state Route 655 get better access to sewage. He said he has not been able to sell the property because of the inadequate access to sewage.

Rodgers said he wanted to see if the township would be able to help him with funding for the project. During the meeting the supervisors said they were looking at applying for a grant which would help secure funding for a project like that. They also asked the director of the MCIDC Plaza to see if they could help make the project more likeable at the state level for the funding.

Also during the meeting:

¯ Reedsville Fire Chief Dan Aumiller said he provided the end of year report for the township, and the only big thing he wanted to mention was the drop in calls from the previous year. He also said to expect the calls number to drop on average at the end of 2018.

¯ Betty Longfield asked if there was anything the township could do to help reduce truck traffic coming through Reedsville, but was told to check with Armagh Township before moving forward.

¯ Approved the minutes from the previous meeting.

¯ Approved the bills.

¯ Approved the part-time roadmaster compensation recommendation to auditors.

¯ Approved the depository accounts change of signatures to reflect the new chairman and vice-chairman.

¯ Approved the 2018-2019 salt contract.

The Brown Township Supervisors meet at 7 p.m. the first and third Monday of each month at the Brown Township building.

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