November 14 – The Chambersburg Borough Council will meet tonight at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers, 100 South Second Street, where one topic of conversation will be the Rail Trail snow removal.
Allen Coffman, borough council president, joined First News this morning to preview the meeting.
In terms of the Rail Trail, snow removal would involve more expense. The trail is about a mile long and was opened in 2005.
Coffman said, “At the time it was established and opened up to the public, it was never figured at that time it would be plowed. As a matter of fact, the solicitor we had at that time said no, we shouldn’t do it. It increases your liability by doing that.”
So since 2005, the Rail Trail has never been plowed.
It’s up for discussion tonight.
Pat Ryan of NewsTalk 103.7FM pointed out, “It’s hard enough making ends meet. We’re going to be seeing an increase in your millage anyway here in Chambersburg and to open up a liability on that. Why open that can of worms right now, especially financially where we are right now?”
Coffman said, “The argument on the other side, quite frankly, is somebody says well you have a budget that’s over $100 million. What’s X number of dollars extra on this by clearing the Rail Trail? Well, I don’t know. Are we going to have a snow storm every week? Are we going to have one a month? Or are we going to have none? We don’t know that and in a year that we’ve watched inflation eat us alive and fuel costs go up like crazy, I don’t know that we need to add that.”
Also tonight, the name of a new police officer will be revealed.
Coffman explained, “We were trying to get a couple officers to replace a couple people who were retiring in 2023. So that’s really what it’s about. It’s not expanding the force. It’s keeping it at the level that it is.”
The Planning and Zoning Commission meeting will also be reviewed, where discussion of a nuisance ordinance and properties at TB Woods and the former Moose Club occurred.
A housing development will be created behind TB Woods which would be a combination of single home residences and duplexes.
The Moose Club property has a new owner who is asking for rezoning of 2.8 acres of the property to fit in with the business he’d like to bring to the area.
The nuisance ordinance discussed things that aggravate the general public, mostly with noise.
Coffman said, “I’m hoping that this discussion, although it will come from Planning and Zoning, they’ve only first seen it just this past meeting, so they haven’t even talked about it at any length yet.”
The Christmas tree will be put on the square and should be up soon.
NewsTalk 103.7FM will have a recording of tonight’s meeting up here: https://newstalk1037fm.com/heardon/
To see tonight’s Chambersburg Borough Council agenda, click here: http://www.borough.chambersburg.pa.us/pdf/Public%20Edition%2011142022%20Regular%20Public%20Meeting%20Agenda.pdf
