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New Hope Borough Council update: West Bridge Street to be repaved, new zoning appointments

borough council new hopeWest Bridge Street (Route 179) will be repaved by PennDOT in June, confirmed New Hope Borough Council President Claire Shaw at the group’s monthly meeting Tuesday night.

Public Works had reportedly cajoled the state agency into repairing the heavily cratered stretch from Main Street to Sugan Road.

Also under consideration at the Borough Council meeting were licensing and other agreements with Parkmobile, whose service allows enrolled drivers to pay for parking from their mobile phones for a fee. Those contracts, along with authorization of Borough Solicitor T.J. Walsh to “prepare and advertise an ordinance amending the vehicles and traffic section of the borough traffic code”  were both passed and move the Parkmobile system closer to reality.
 
Council also approved the appointment of Karen Grossman to the Zoning Hearing Board, and Joel Roberts was appointed as an alternate member.
 
Also authorized was a special event permit for the annual New Hope Auto Show Aug. 8 and 9 at New Hope-Solebury High School, and a special event permit for the associated road rally on July 26.
 
Requests by Boss Events for a special event permit for the “Run Now, Wine Later” Run scheduled for Sept. 19, and to “waive the borough’s standard course for runs and to temporarily close certain state and borough roads” for the event were granted with two dissenting votes. One of those was Council President Shaw, who said, “I want to protect my residents.”
 
A request by the Free Library of New Hope and Solebury to waive all borough zoning and construction permit fees, along with procedural requirements of the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, for the initial phase of the library’s Keystone grant was also approved.
 
Finally, Borough Council voted to stay neutral with regard to a Zoning Hearing Board appeal by Gateway to New Hope LLC, in which variances were requested to convert a two­‐family attached residential unit to an office at 306-08 S. Main St. The office would provide administrative space for leveling the historic Odette’s tavern and constructing a boutique conference center in its place.

A variance would be needed for demolishing the house located at 306-08, which while said not to be “historic,” is located in the borough’s Historic District. Remarked Council Member Geri Delevich, “Another tear-down?”
 
Additional variances would be needed to accommodate off-road parking for administrative staff, and to permit another 315 square feet of construction without going through a “full flood study.”
 
Borough Council will next meet on Tuesday, May 26.

About the author

Charlie Sahner

“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy." - Einstein

8 Comments

  • This really isn’t a giant issue Mel. The roads need to be fixed, they’re being fixed. If you have enough time on your hands to march back and forth in front of a school holding a sign saying you don’t like PennDOT then I’d suggest you go for it – the spirit of protest is a great thing. In past years I’ve taken part in a few marches in NYC myself, albeit over slightly bigger issues than potholes.

    But, to each his own – spending time fighting with PennDOT to fix potholes slightly quicker and more smoothly than they already are is just not something most people would prioritize over careers, family time, vacations, etc. These are potholes (that, as a reminder, they ARE fixing) – not the draft, WMD’s, corporate bailouts, police shootings, etc – they’re potholes.

    • “Head-on” crashes are possible at any rate of speed, but arguably less so during the time when school buses are active. That is, when school lanes are active in the mornings and afternoons and the legal speed limit is in effect (and enforced and adhered to). Refreshing to see Bridge Street will actually be repaired. Now it’s only a matter of time before the idiots start flying through school zones once the potholes are gone. Yes, they were bothersome, but if anything, they slowed some people down.

  • Unless a person is nearly blind, he would see that the quality of work exhibited by Penndot in repairing previous potholes over the years is far from acceptable- lumpy and bumpy.Is it the materials being used and/or the pressure on the workers to move quickly? In any event there must be a pecking order with repair of roads in front of schools and hospitals getting the top priority.
    But like I said, if the school community- parents, kids teachers and administration stood in front of the school on Bridge St. with signs protesting, the roads would be paved sooner.That’s being proactive which is the opposite of William G’s philosophy of being inactive.

  • Mel, the last snowfall was only about four weeks ago. I’m sure you realize they almost never repave in the winter. Now that winter is over the state is going to repave it. By PennDOT/state government standards this is about as fast as it gets, and credit is due to Public Works for handling it with the state.

    I’m not sure what the problem is here except you wanting to find more things to blame on the school district no matter how outlandish.

    By the way – I have a kid that takes the bus. I still don’t blame the Superintendent of schools for the condition of state highways any more than I blame the Mayor for rainy days.

    The way EVERY negative thing that happens in a 20 mile radius is spun to somehow be the fault of New Hope-Solebury school administration or students is just beyond strange.

  • William G seems to be missing the point which I am sure most people recognize. When an agency fails to do its job in a timely manner which is the case here with PennDot, one has to become proactive and speak out about it.
    The question is what would William G do if the road in front of his home were in the same condition, for the same length of time, as the road in front of the school district? Would he stay silent or grab a camcorder especially if he has kids who come home by a school bus?

  • Mel, your ability to pin every problem in history on the NHHSD board and Superintendent is becoming a parody of itself at this point.

    Contrary to whatever rumor you may have heard, the poor condition of state highways are not the fault of the NHHSD, nor are the repair of state highways part of their jobs.

    At this point we may as well blame Superintendent Boccuti for the cancellation of Friday fireworks and the decline of the shad population in the Delaware.

  • At a public meeting on April 8th held at the New Hope Solebury Auditorium, I brought up the issue of the dangerous conditions of Bridge Street. I suggested to the Supt, Raymond Boccuti, that if he wants quick action, then video tape the school buses coming onto Bridge St. with traffic coming from the opposite direction riding over the double yellow line trying to avoid the potholes on the one hand, while increasing the possibility of a head on crash on the other hand.Then put the video on You Tube and send it to Alphabet City- ABC, CBS, NBC. If the Supt. Does that,Bridge St. would be repaired properly within a week. But it take guts to do the right thing.

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