With a boost from ongoing cooperation from PennDOT, responding to requests from the Tinicum Township Police Department, residents may be seeing relief from tractor trailer-related traffic problems.
In his monthly report at the Sept. 3 public board of supervisors meeting, Police Chief Matthew Phelan announced that at Tinicum’s request, just “a couple of months ago,” PennDOT has posted a tractor-trailer-length restriction on Dark Hollow Road in Bedminster.
“This will hopefully lessen the frequency of trucks getting stuck on the Golden Pheasant Bridge,” Phelan said. He added PennDOT is now considering several other initiatives from his department, toward further relief from traffic flow interruptions and delays.
Also at the Sept. 3 meeting, supervisors conducted a comprehensive discussion among themselves, Zoning Officer and Township Planner Tracy Tackett, and members of the township planning commission, regarding drafts of amendments to the township’s Critical Recharge Zoning Ordinance and the Site Capacity Ordinance. Five of the six commission members were in attendance.
The effort on the critical recharge regulation is related to maintaining the need for adequate recharge of the aquifer (groundwater) that serves as the township water supply, while satisfying challenges from individual property owners calling for relief from too much restriction on impervious surface requirements. Modifying the impervious surface percentage requirement, by making it a function of acreage, is one way a solution is being pursued, while keeping the intent of restrictions on new, larger developments intact.
After discussing the draft amendment to the Site Capacity Ordinance, again featuring impervious surface considerations, supervisors opted to send it to the township and county planning commissions for further review, before approving it for advertising. The next township planning commission meeting, where one or both matters are likely to be on the agenda, is 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24, in the township building on Municipal Road.
An ordinance proposing rules and regulations for the new Tinicum Community Park, off Route 611 in Ottsville, near Cooper Mechanical, was approved for advertising.
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