Charlestown Township
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The second business meeting for October was held October 16, 2000 at the Great Valley Middle School. Irene W. Ewald, Chairman, Hugh D. Willig, Vice Chairman, Paul J. Hogan, Michael J. Rodgers, Thomas F. Oeste, Esq., Surender S. Kohli, P.E., Ed Theurkauf, Planner, Linda M. Csete, Township Secretary and those on the attached list were present.
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 P.M.
Mrs. Ewald announced that the Board will meet with their Solicitor in executive session on October 17, 2000 at the Township office to discuss legal matters.
Frank Raski, 2115 Coldstream Road, asked the Board to consider a 3-way stop sign at Coldstream and Township Line Roads in order to slow down the high volume, high speed traffic on Coldstream Road. He reported that he observes speeding school buses as well, noting that the Great Valley School District buses observe the speed limit, but buses from the Phoenixville Area School District and Downingtown School District are notorious offenders. He said he allowed the State Police to park in his driveway a day last week who found it necessary to offer speed control in order to protect a Comcast Cable crew working along the road. The Board will request a study from PennDOT as well as joint cooperation from East Pikeland Township, which shares a common border with Charlestown at Township Line Road.
John Martin, President of the Charlestown Historical Society, asked the Board to consider a donation of $2,000-4,000 to the Historical Society to be used for the maintenance of the Rapp House. He said the Society is hoping to have the Rapp House included in the Chester County Day historic house tour next year.
Chrissie Panella was present with a group of girls belonging to the PMYC Cheerleading group, one of the new programs offered by the organization. The girls, age 7-13, performed three cheers for the audience. Ms. Panella said she worked with cheerleaders at the High School for the past two years and is now running the program for the PMYC. She invited residents of Charlestown to attend the field hockey and peewee flag football games sponsored by the organization. Mrs. Ewald said the Board is proud to sponsor the PMYC at Charlestown Park and to have their organization serving the community.
Mrs. Ewald moved to approve the October 2, 2000 minutes with one change, which is to specify the names of Ernie and Marian Pyle when referring to tenants at the Pyle farm. Mr. Rodgers seconded and all were in favor.
Mr. Rodgers moved to issue the Certificate of Appropriateness drafted by Dale Frens for Grace and Richard Mohler, 670 Church Road for the construction of a two-car garage. The application was reviewed and recommended by the HARB at their July 18, 2000 meeting. Mr. Hogan seconded, and Mrs. Ewald called for discussion from the Board and then the public. There being none, she called the vote and all were in favor.
Jane Opie, Court Reporter, took the proceeds. The Board granted an extension to the Myers to December 18, 2000. Mr. Fuscaldo, Esq. agreed to send a letter of extension to this effect.
Jane Opie, Court Reporter, took the proceeds. The record was closed, and Mr. Stoudt agreed to extend the 45-day period in which the Board must render a decision to December 4, 2000, in order to coincide with the Board’s meeting schedule.
Jane Opie, Court Reporter, took the proceeds. The matter was continued to October 30, 2000. Resident Regina Notar stated some concerns about the construction process for the Burch subdivision, also being developed by Al Emma but unrelated to the conditional use application, during the hearing.
Jane Opie, Court Reporter, took the proceeds. The matter was continued to November 20, 2000.
The Secretary provided some details on the guest speaker and topic for the convention. The Board will confirm whether or not they will attend by the October 30, 2000 meeting.
Mrs. Ewald announced that decisions would be rendered for the Toll Bros. Inc. PRD-2 application and for the Altemose Curative Amendment application on October 30, 2000.
Mr. Theurkauf provided some background on the Phase I Improvements planned for Charlestown Park, to include a circumnavigating asphalt path and several smaller loop paths. Gravel will be used for paths along the stream bank, and a spur trail leading to the snack bar is included. The main path is ADA complaint, although some of the smaller paths are not. Mr. Theurkauf referred to his memo dated 10/13/00 in which he suggests leaving the completion date open to 4/16/01 as a more reasonable timeframe than completion by 12/8/00 with penalties imposed past this date. Mr. Connolly agreed, then added that he suggests a starting time of 3/15/01 or later, with a completion date of 4/15/01. The County is expecting the Township to move ahead, and both Mr. Connolly and Mr. Theurkauf agreed that it would be appropriate to put the bid forward this fall with work to take place in the spring. Mr. Connolly added that the County Parks & Rec Department is interested in seeing Charlestown develop a standardized project manual, which can be used for all phases of these improvements. Later improvements will include lighting and electrical service. Mr. Connolly referred to the Charlestown Park map and pointed out that he wants names and designations standardized for the sake of consistency. Another comment Mr. Connolly had on the draft bid document was that a bid document fee of $75.00 is too high. Mrs. Ewald suggested making it $20.00, the same as the road bid package. Mrs. Ewald asked the Board members to provide any additional comments to Mr. Theurkauf before Friday’s pre-bid meeting, at which time the packages will be made available to bidders.
Mr. Hogan thanked Mr. Theurkauf and Mr. Connolly for their work in preparing this draft proposal. Mrs. Ewald thanked Mr. Connolly for his time and creativity over the past ten years, over which time many improvements have been achieved at the Park.
Barrett’s Tree Service received one bid. Mr. Rodgers read the specific item bid prices and noted that he will seek clarification from Mr. Barrett on whether all items included an operator.
No bids were received. Mr. Rodgers moved to extend the bid submission deadline and opening to October 30, 2000 and Mrs. Ewald seconded. Mrs. Ewald called for discussion from the Board and then the public, and there being none, called the vote. All were in favor. Mr. Oeste said there is no need to re-advertise.
Two bids were received as follows:
| Cargill Salt, North Olmstead, Ohio: | $40.83/ton |
| Oceanport Salt, North Olmstead, Ohio: | $33.10/ton |
Mr. Hogan moved to award the bid to Oceanport Salt and Mr. Rodgers seconded. Mrs. Ewald called for discussion from the Board and the Public. There being none, the vote was called and all were in favor.
Mr. Rodgers moved to approve Escrow Release #9 for Lot 17 of the Commons at Great Valley. Mr. Hogan seconded the motion. Mrs. Ewald called for discussion from the Board and then the public, and there being none, called the vote. All were in favor.
The Solicitor was directed to advertise this ordinance for the November 6, 2000 meeting.
Mrs. Ewald asked for the status of the 14 x 40 shed ordered by the Roadmaster and Roads Liaison. Mr. Rodgers said delivery should take place in the next few weeks, and prior to delivery, the ground must be prepared.
Mr. Rodgers proposed that the Board consider taking back Hollow Road from PennDOT under a turn-back program PennDOT has had in place for several years. PennDOT would first bring the road up to township specs, including tree removal, widening, and solving the recurrent water drainage problem. Mrs. Ewald said the Township would incur tremendous expense and liability if it were to take back this road. She said she’d like to see a proposal with specs from PennDOT before discussing it further. Phil Staas, 4 Hana Lane, said improvements to Hollow Road would increase traffic and speeding problems. Loretta Watson, a Charlestown Hunt resident, said all taxpayers pay for every road and are entitled to use them. She said limiting traffic is against the interests of residents at large. Other traffic related issues were touched on briefly, including use of a large speed warning sign, and hiring a part time policeman to control speed.
Steven and Jay Beaver were present to propose a deer management program on township property utilizing a local bow-hunting group. Mrs. Ewald explained that hunting on Township property is against the ordinance. Some general discussion followed but no decisions were made.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 P.M.