In their latest traffic safety enhancement initiative, this time to especially benefit residents of the Bedminster Hunt West housing development, Bedminster supervisors will advertise an ordinance that’d reduce the speed limit on Bucks Road between Bedminster Road and Elephant Road from 35 mph to 25 mph. The action was taken at the supervisors’ Jan. 11 public meeting.
Police Chief Matt Phelan had noted sight line trouble coming out of Kulp Drive onto Bucks Road, while residents of the development had reported significant traffic safety insecurity that is caused by speeding motorists on that road.
The residents have experienced problems driving out of their development, exiting cars on Bucks Road and pulling out of parking spaces there. The ordinance might be on the agenda for final approval at the Feb. 9 supervisors meeting.
At the outset of the Jan. 11 meeting, Phelan presented Chief’s Commendations to officers who provided emergency medical care for two of the township’s youngest residents.
Bedminster Township Police Officer James Zukow and Dublin Borough Sgt. William Kirk were honored for their response to a report last Nov. 30, of a 9-month-old child who had stopped breathing while at the Weis Markets store at the intersection of routes 313 and 113. Zukow arrived first, locating a child “that was not breathing and had turned blue,” and was joined “moments later” by Kirk.
Zukow was reported to have been “able to adjust the child’s head and neck in order to open her airway.” Both officers were credited with “keeping the airway open, while reassuring the parents, and communicating with emergency medical services,” into whose care the child was placed “a few minutes later.” In 2021, Zukow had received another commendation from Phelan, in recognition of his key contribution to a major interagency drug bust.
In another recognition, Phelan noted exceptional service last New Year’s Day by Bedminster Township Police Officer Stephen Pekach, who responded effectively to “a childbirth emergency at a Bedminster residence.” Pekach “guided the mother through a successful childbirth,” and “was able to provide comfort and care to the new parents until the ambulance arrived.”
In summary, Phelan noted that “there are many important roles that our officers fill in Bedminster and Dublin, but one of the most important services an officer can provide to a community member is being that first one there when their child needs emergency care, and (be able to) provide a professional response.”
Supervisors on Jan. 11 also allowed for a two-acre residential subdivision on a 22.5-acre property on Sweetbriar Road that is governed by Act 319, which “provides a preferential assessment, which allows tax relief to property owners who agree not to put in housing developments or commercialize their land.”
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