Green Light

A four-way stop sign is expected to be installed at Main and South Mont Valla avenues in early August, said Tim Young, an engineer with the City of Hagerstown. City Council members informally approved the request from the Community Estates homeowners association in the West End, but must vote formally on the signs July 28, Young said. Homeowners asked for stop signs because parked vehicles near the intersection prevent drivers pulling into the intersection from having a good view of oncoming cars, according to a memo from Young to City Administrator Bruce Zimmerman.

Planning Commission gets green light to hire director By SARAH MULLIN martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The Berkeley County Planning Commission has a budget surplus of $97,000, so the Berkeley County Commission gave permission to begin the process of hiring a director. The Planning Commission director will oversee the planning commission staff, and assist in the update of the county's comprehensive plan. Rather than hire an outside firm to revise the comprehensive plan, which contains regulations regarding water, sewer, road, land use, and industrial and historic issues, the planning director should be able to update it themselves, Commissioner Robert Burkhart said.

HAGERSTOWN - More than 800 acres recently annexed into Boonsboro edged closer to development Tuesday as the Washington County Commissioners approved the town's request for "express approval" to rezone them. The catch is that the total development will be limited to 1,640 new sewer service taps, and building permits will only be issued if the developments comply with the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. Boonsboro is under a state consent order to build a new water treatment plant by 2010 to comply with discharge permit requirements by the Maryland Department of the Environment.

charlestown@herald-mail.com Jefferson County planners Tuesday night gave the go-ahead for a 225-home subdivision in the county's rural zone, but not before more than an hour of debate about whether the subdivision should include a school site, a shuttle bus for commuters and whether land should be reserved for widening Flowing Springs Road. Because the Forest View subdivision along Flowing Springs Road will be built in the rural zone, developers of the project had to obtain special permission - known as a conditional use permit - to build the subdivision.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- Plans to reconfigure Waynesboro's Center Square have been approved, voted down, redesigned and approved again over the past 14 years, but Pennsylvania state Sen. Terry Punt said Thursday the contract was recently signed and "nothing will stop it. " The $3.2 million project will reconfigure the square and replace and synchronize traffic signals at six intersections in the borough, said Punt, who will retire at the end of the...

The West Virginia Lottery Commission voted unanimously Thursday to allow Charles Town Races to install an additional 1,500 slot machines in its gaming room, bringing the total number of machines at the track to 3,500. The Lottery Commission also approved a pilot project under which West Virginia tracks can increase the amount of payout on some slot machines from a maximum of 92 percent to a maximum of 95 percent. The payout increase is an attempt to stave off future gambling competition from neighboring Maryland and Pennsylvania, racing officials said.

The Blue Devils won't have to play on substandard fields much longer. At a Greencastle-Antrim School Board meeting Thursday, the middle school cafeteria was packed to almost overflowing as taxpayers awaited the board's vote on whether to move forward with spending more than $2 million on the district's athletic complex. By a vote of 6-1, the board voted to award the $2.2 million stadium improvement project bid to David Martin Excavating of Chambersburg, Pa., for the sitework, field and track, and Monacacy Valley Electric of Littlestown, Pa., for the electrical work to replace the lights at the stadium.

The Berkeley County Roundhouse Authority board on Wednesday authorized its chairman to negotiate a proposed lease with the West Virginia National Guard, which is interested in using a historic railroad maintenance shop complex in Martinsburg. Authority Chairman Clarence E. “CEM” Martin III told board members that the National Guard is interested in leasing the Frog & Switch and Bridge & Machine shop buildings that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad built after the Civil War. Community use of the cast-iron frame roundhouse at the property would be maintained, Martin said.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Menno Haven Inc. received approval from the Franklin County Industrial Development Authority Monday to proceed with issuing up to $30 million in bonds for an expansion of its Northfield campus that includes a 53-unit apartment building and a community center. The 11-member board unanimously approved Menno Haven's proposal to issue the bonds, which still has to be approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, said David Sciamanna, treasurer for the FCIDA.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Members of the City Property Committee are moving forward with plans to turn Viking Way into a two-way street, reconfigure a back street that leads to Martinsburg Mall and Wal-Mart and alleviate congestion at a busy intersection. Committee members Roger Lewis, Donald Anderson, Christopher Baker and Max Parkinson met Monday afternoon at City Hall to discuss the projects. Viking Way, which is set to be renamed Van Wyk Way, is now a one-way street.