The Antis Township Board of Supervisors opened last night’s meeting with a public comment session that dominated discussion for over an hour. Bells Lane residents in Antis Township expressed their on-going concerns with the Roarabaugh Subdivision (also known as the Edgewood Estates Subdivision).
Bells Lane residents, who are neighbors of June Roarabaugh’s Edgewood Estates Subdivision, are mainly concerned about the protection of their property, and the water retention system and the time frame of the project has raised eyebrows also.
The contour of the composite of the ground has people very concerned that the storm water run-off won’t be addressed properly. Roarabaugh must have an engineer file a plan showing how it’s all going to be addressed and taken care of. It is something that has to be done.
Board Chairman, Leo Matuszewski, explained, “The way that the ordinance reads is that the property has to front a street and everyone thought that meant a township road, but our attorney at that time said no, that can be construed as to be a street because it’s a private street.”
After clearing up that confusion, preliminary approval was granted to Roarabaugh in 2001 by Antis Township supervisors (nearly two years ago) to begin her subdivision, which meant that Rorabaugh could start putting in the infrastructure, such as grading the roads and the ditching, along with the storm water.
Over that period of time Roarabaugh has been dragging out the project, according to Matuszewski. She has submitted plans for final approval
He continued, “And in that interim, she has offended people on Bells Lane, who are her neighbors, because she has not done things that were proper. She didn’t put in the silt fence, therefore the rocks and such are rolling down onto other people’s property.”
“The people who were here tonight were very concerned that when it is done, that it’s not going to be good,” said Matuszewski. “This township will look very hard and very close to make sure that Mrs. Roarabaugh does meet everything that’s required for the property to be approved as a major subdivision.”
Until Roarabaugh meets those requirements, Edgewood Estates won’t be an official subdivision. Roarabaugh has a five year time limit to complete the requirements, but after that certain amount of time the project is considered ‘dead.’
Matuszewski added, “She has a plan, and at this point she’s attempting to get in compliance with her plan so that we can approve it for subdivision.”
Antis Township Board of Supervisors also discussed the issue of replacing the bridge on River Road in the township. A flood two years ago washed out the present bridge, and the township temporarily put pipe in there to make sure the road was open, along with adding guard rails.
Supervisor Ray Amato stated, “The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said that we have to replace the bridge, so I had Stiffner & MCGraw, our township engineers, come in and they designed a bridge and what it would cost. They came up with a price of $33,000.”
Amato also addressed the Board Supervisors to think about contracting a tree trimmer with a high truck to cut overhanging trees that the township can’t reach because of lacking the proper equipment.
Some of the streets in Antis Township are shadowed completely by trees, which damages the road when it rains because the water doesn’t evaporate as quickly.
Amato also brought up the $27,000 grant the township received for playground equipment for the Community Park. There was an engineering cost of $2,000 that the township was unaware of, and now they need to come up with another $2,000.
Amato asked the Board of Supervisors to donate $1,000 towards this, and will ask the Bellwood Borough to donate the additional $1,000 due to the fact that the playground equipment will be used by everyone in the Bellwood-Antis community.
The Board accepted to donate $1,000 towards the playground equipment, with only Supervisor Ron Gensamer not voting in favor of the donation.
“Hopefully, Bellwood Borough will help out in this quest,” said Amato. “The playground equipment will be great for the community and its kids. All the playground equipment that we have right now is outdated and poor.”
Other issues handled at last evening Antis Township meeting included filling the position of Township Clerk previously held by Tara McCloskey. The Board hired Ginger Patterson for the full time position at $9.50 per hour.
Supervisors also officially scheduled Trick or Treat night for Antis Township on Thursday, October 31, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Bellwood-Antis Halloween Parade is scheduled for October 29.
The Board also approved request from the Bellwood-Antis Council of Churches for approval to use roads in Antis Township for a ‘Crop Walk’ on October 20 from 1 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Antis Township Supervisors announced a ‘Fall Clean Up’ beginning October 14 and running through November 16. Residents can rake leaves to the curb or bag them, and the township will come pick them up.
The schedule for leaf pick up is Monday (Bellmeade and Pinecroft), Wednesday (Tipton), and Friday (Bellwood Area).
More on last evening’s Antis Township Board of Supervisors meeting will appear in Saturday’s edition of The Daily Herald. The Boyer Subdivision and the PA State Legislature’s Act 100 Policy, along with more Antis Township issues discussed at Thursday’s meeting will be highlighted in tomorrow’s edition.
