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Print Edition Highlights - March 16 , 2023
Kristen Stagg
After extensive public discussion at their March 13 board meeting, Carroll Township supervisors unanimously disapproved providing a letter of support to South Mountain Trolley Greenway for their grant application through the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).
Prior to the decision, supporters and opponents to the trail spoke to the board. Based on the lengthy discussion at the March 6 meeting, chairman Tom Kelly limited each person’s comments to three minutes.
Carlisle resident and Cumberland Valley Rails to Trails representative David Maher kicked off the public comment by correcting a statement made at last week’s work session. He said the easement request that a Coover Park neighbor was asked to sign was for an easement 400 feet long, not 400 feet wide as reported. He also referenced the packet of information provided to the supervisors in response to their question on March 6.
Maher said the only property owners affected by the proposed walking path are the Rodeway Inn, Village Shops and Jaycees. He said the former two signed in support of the proposed trail, while the Jaycees are meeting to discuss it but have given their verbal assent. Maher also said that “more in-depth engineering and design” would be required if the trail were to cross properties not currently in support of the trail.
Coover Court resident H. Sam McKinney said that his property adjoins Coover Park. A former Jaycee, he ran Logan Park for 12 years. He said when he started that walking path, a lot of people didn’t like it. A Dillsburg Borough resident who opposed Logan Park’s walking path recently apologized to him, saying, “I was wrong.”
McKinney said he supports what the Trolley Greenway is trying to do, “but not that there’s no information.” He suggested everyone sit down “calmly and intelligently” to discuss it. “Over time, things can change, we can work together.”
Wellsville resident Ronald Grim, Jr., current president of the Jaycees, said when he joined the organization two years ago, he “heard wonderful stories” about what Coover Park used to be. Current members expressed their desire to make a walking trail what he described as “a safe community space.” He said Friends of the Trolley Greenway helped clean the park on their own time and at their own expense. Grim said the Jaycees support the Trolley Greenway, and he urged individuals to contact him at his phone number listed on the Jaycees’ Facebook page.
Wray Bassett, a homeowner on Old Mill Road where the proposed walking trail would lie, said his concern is that the Trolley Greenway “plans change and pictures vary. Are we talking just Coover Park or the railroad bed?” Bassett said his concern is that he “doesn’t know where [the trail] is going,” and considers his vote a “no.”
Franklin Township resident John Gartside called himself a longtime township resident and a “rooster.” He said he’s helped sell Christmas trees and clean up at Coover Park and recently has been involved with the Trolley Greenway. “It’s my understanding that the trail will not take land by eminent domain,” he said, “If farmers along Williams Grove Road don’t agree to allowing the trail to cross their properties, the Greenway will never happen.” Gartside said his focus is on rejuvenating Coover Park.
Lynes Road resident Judy Bailey, co-chair of the Greenway, said she invites anyone to join the group. “The [proposed] trail has value as an open space as warehouses come in. She also stated, “As a 501 (c) [sic], we don’t have the authority for eminent domain.”
Ore Bank Road resident Ken Farner asked if anyone has conducted a study on the crime that accompanies walking trails. He knows of a family who experienced a fatal tragedy because of a walking path.
Maher said, “A lot of studies have been done over the last several decades, ever since there have been trails to study.” He says studies show that trails are crime neutral. He offered that people using a well-maintained trail tend to “police it for suspicious activity.” And walking trails that experience crime typically cross areas that are already crime-ridden.
Grim, who said he’s also a realtor, said that by keeping trails active, it brings in “more good people, which means there are less bad people,” citing the illegal hunting and squatting that currently occurs behind Coover Park.
Luke Macke, who lives across from Haar’s Drive-In, said he’s gone on the Logan Park path numerous times, asking, “Can anyone give me the negatives on this [proposed walking trail]?” He added that while he would be against any eminent domain action, he often feels unsafe running along Logan Road and worries about his 10-year-old daughter’s safety in their own neighborhood. He concluded, “There’s crime everywhere. Are you saying there’s no crime with this trail?” Maher responded, “I meant trails don’t encourage more crime.”
Gary Reihart, Ore Bank Road resident, handed out copies of the Coover Park deed to supervisors. He complained, “There’s so much confusion around this project.” He also clarified that the trail easement Maher previously cited as being 400 feet long actually states “400 feet wide,” citing it as one of many errors with the document.
For the rest of the story see the March 9, 2023 edition.
Mary Lou Bytof
After a brief discussion, the Dillsburg Borough Council Tuesday evening directed Borough Manager Lauren Kaufman to sent a letter of support for the Cumberland Valley Rails-to-Trails Council’s most recent grant request to help them fund a design and engineering study for a trail connector between Coover Park and Mountain Road, including potential improvements to Dogwood Run Creek crossing within the park.
Addressed to the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the March 15 letter notes that the borough officials are aware that the Cumberland Valley Rails-to-Trails Council is preparing a Community Conservation Partnership Program application for the design and engineering study of a proposed segment of the South Mountain Trolley Greenway eventually to connect downtown Dillsburg to Coover Park located across U.S. Route 15.
“As part of the design work would be within the surrounding municipality of Carroll Township, we are understanding of the possibility of this proposed future trail connection and its positive impacts on our community’s quality of life,” the letter read.
However, the council stopped short of allowing the connection of the borough to the park when they voted to omit the inclusion of permitting a crossing across U.S. Route 15 at Mountain Road into Harrisburg Street in the borough, as proposed in the sample letter three Rails-to-Trails representatives presented to the council.
“We are not in support of crossing Route 15,” Council President Matt Fawber insisted. “We already had a couple of people get hit crossing Route 15 at Sheetz,” he added.
For the rest of the story see the March 16, 2023 edition.
Kristen Stagg
At the Mar. 14 conditional use hearing, supervisors unanimously moved to deny the continuance request made by the attorney for Crossroads Commercial Development, LLC, regarding Northern Business Park Phase 2 Lot #2.
The Mar. 14 hearing had been continued from Feb. 7, when the conditional use hearing first began. At that time, Phase 1 was the subject of a conditional use hearing, but was withdrawn on Mar. 2, the day that hearing was to have continued.
Approximately four dozen members of the public attended the meeting in the Carroll Township municipal building, including individuals sworn in to give testimony as objectors because of their proximity to the proposed warehouse.
Charles Courtney, the attorney for Crossroads, sent a letter on Mar. 13 requesting a continuance of the hearing. Courtney’s colleague, Helen Gemmill, told the board on Mar. 14 that Crossroads wanted to wait until “sometime between May 15 and June 15” to continue the hearing, because the township is planning an interchange on U.S. Rt. 15. Gemmill said her client “could be at cross-purposes” with that plan. “We think, overall, it will be best for Crossroads and for the Township as well [to wait].”
After a brief recess for the supervisors present (Brent Sailhamer was absent) to confer with township’s solicitor Michael Pykosh, the board returned to the meeting. Supervisor Kelly Wall made the motion to deny the continuance, and supervisor Kelley Moyer-Schwille seconded. Supervisors Dave Bush and Tom Kelly joined in the unanimous vote.
For the next several hours, William Aiello, principal owner of Crossroads, answered questions from Gemmill, Township staff, sworn objectors, and supervisors. Much of it centered on safety at the proposed warehouse, increased tractor-trailer traffic going through Dillsburg Borough, violations of the idling ordinance, what would happen to truck drivers who timed out, how lessors would be held accountable for abiding by conditions the township might set, and what would happen with future property owners.
For the rest of the story see the March 16, 2023 edition.
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