Council votes to close 2nd Street for 2 years

March 22, 2007|by JENNIFER FITCH

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - The Waynesboro Borough Council agreed Wednesday to close the block of East Second Street in front of Waynesboro Area Senior High School during the building's two-year construction project.

Signs and detours could be established within three weeks, Borough Engineer Kevin Grubbs said.

School and municipal officials recommended the closure between Virginia Avenue and Enterprise Avenue to allow school buses a blocked-off loading zone. School traffic will still be permitted to access the road.

The borough's solicitor is reviewing a right-of-way agreement that would extend Third Street to the school property.

Although the council voted unanimously to close East Second Street, the proposal's timing frustrated some councilmen.

"It seems we're doing the planning for the school board. They should've planned for this ahead of time," Councilman Craig Newcomer said.

In other business, the council approved a 120,000-square-foot new facility for Otterbein Church. The church, athletic fields, pavilions and about 1,200 parking spaces are planned on 48 acres off Welty Road.

After a presentation by representatives of Dennis Black Engineering of Chambersburg, Pa., the council opted to proceed with aerial photography and mapping of approximately 30 percent of the borough.

The council, borough staff and contracted engineers from Dennis Black Engineering have been investigating the efficiency of the borough's storm water system. The system has caused flooding in homes and yards, primarily in the area of Maple Street and Cemetery Avenue.

"The system is basically undersized," Grubbs said.

Aerial photography will show the contours of the land and inlets to the storm water system, said Lee Zeger of Dennis Black Engineering.

The photographs will be plugged into a computerized drafting system, updating maps from the 1980s.

As a cost-cutting move, the council decided that while the entire borough will be photographed, only the portion affected by the faulty storm water system will be entered into the computers. That change reduced the proposal from $70,000 to about $25,000.

The plane will fly over the borough before April to avoid spring foliage.

Zeger encouraged the aerial work, saying that it should stay current for more than 25 years since little land remains available for development in the landlocked municipality.

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