CLEARFIELD – Residents of Chevy Lane in Lawrence Township spoke to the township supervisors last night at the regular meeting about maintenance of their roadway.
The lane, which is actually an alleyway, has potholes and other damage, and there are five homes serviced by the 177-foot long lane.
Supervisor Bill Lawhead said a couple years ago, he placed some chipping in order to prevent sliding onto Turnpike, but in general, the township has not been doing any maintenance because it is not an official township alleyway, only a “paper” one.
About 15 years ago, the residents chipped in to have the lane paved, and all but one have since moved and new families live there now.
Solicitor Jim Naddeo referred to the township’s policy of not maintaining alleys in the township that do not receive liquid fuels, and the supervisors, which included Lawhead and Randy Powell, added as far as they were aware, it was never made a public road. Secretary Barbara Shaffner added that it is not on the liquid fuels list.
“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to say no,” Lawhead said to the residents who were able to come to the meeting. Naddeo added that if the residents wanted to spend the money, they could have the alley brought up to the state Department of Transportation’s specifications for liquid fuels, and then approach the township about adopting it.
Lawhead noted that the township will be having work done on Turnpike next year, and the residents could talk with the contractor and see about work being done on Chevy Lane while the contractor is in the area.
The supervisors also opened bids for the Flegal Road bridge project. Three bids were submitted and the low bid came from BCS Construction Inc. for $77,195. Naddeo reviewed the bids and said everything was in order. The supervisors then awarded the project to BCS pending engineer approval.
Engineer Chris Dutrow from Stiffler, McGraw and Associates reported that the smoke testing in the Village Road area showed nothing major. There are some missing caps and so on, and he suggested the work could be done by Diehl Contracting, which will be doing some work to complete items for the Phase III project in the area anyhow.
Police Chief Mark Brooks reported that the department is in the midst of the third and final phase of an aggressive driving grant from PennDOT, which ends at the end of this month. He said PennDOT is pleased with the participation of departments in the program and he will have final numbers in September.
Also, the police department has completed firearms qualifications for 2016.
Brooks reported they had a community service event on July 16 at the Snappy’s grand re-opening. He said they presented information to teens and young adults about safety and to older adults about identity theft and Internet scams, as well as the currently popular IRS phone scam. He said the department appreciates working with the community and also thanked the Fair & Park Board for asking the department to participate in the annual Fireman’s Parade.
Code Enforcement Officer Debra Finkbeiner reported there will be two conditional use hearings coming up. The first is for timbering and will be held at 6:50 p.m. Aug. 16. The second will be Sept. 20, also at 6:50 p.m. regarding storage buildings on Clearfield-Shawville Highway.
A Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance application for Davita Healthcare was submitted by Tim Greenland to renovate the structure for a dialysis unit, which was approved by the supervisors.
The air conditioning in the meeting room, which is also used as an office for Code Enforcement and the Roadmaster, has quit working and a quote for replacement of the unit was reviewed by the supervisors.
Shaffner said she was told it was “at cost” when Powell reviewed the quote and stated it was high. She also noted that the quote could include the condenser, etc., and Powell said this would make the quote more accurate. He will contact the company and determine what work is being done before the supervisors approve the work.
Wilson Fisher of Fisher Engineering presented a plan from Burger King to install a stormwater drainage box in the restaurant parking lot, which will drain into the nearby PennDOT system.
PennDOT requires a highway occupancy permit for the work and also requires the township to apply for the permit. Naddeo drafted an agreement with the property owners, stating that the township will make the application, but that the property owner will own and maintain the system.
An executive session for possible threatened litigation was held at the end of the meeting with no action taken.