When: West Earl Township Board of Supervisors meeting, Oct. 12.
What happened: During supervisor’s comments, Supervisor John Stauffer opened a discussion on concerns he had about on-street parking on South Seventh Street in front of the new OddBird Neighborhood Café.
Issue: Stauffer said there are customers going to the OddBird Neighborhood Café pulling their vehicles off the road and parking there. Stauffer said after the meeting he had seen the occurrence during the middle of the day. Township Manager Jenna Reigle described the on-street parking as “insane” as some of the vehicles are parked along the ongoing traffic. Reigle said after the meeting, customers are parking on the street and in the parking lot at Harvest Dental and at Ephrata National Bank and walking across, which is dangerous as there is no crosswalk there.
Location: South Seventh Street sits within Oregon Pike, a major arterial state road. The cafe sits within a building footprint that also includes a retail store on the former site of Roxanne’s Flowers.
Next steps: West Earl Police Chief Eric Higgins said he will assign an officer to examine the parking issues at the OddBird Neighborhood Café this week.
Quotable: “It’s just a dicey traffic situation I think we can avoid,” Stauffer said.
Project contract: Supervisors voted unanimously to allocate $71,834 to have Geo-Technology Associates Inc., of York, perform site inspections of the new township administration building. Supervisor Jennifer Prunoske said Geo-Technology Associates will inspect foundation, stormwater installation and concrete. Reigle confirmed the funding for this expenditure will come from the project budget. The current project budget is $5.29 million.
What’s next: Chair Dave Thornton said there will be a public budget meeting at 6 p.m. Oct. 19. Supervisors will meet next at 7 p.m. Oct. 26. Both meetings will occur at the township building at 157 W. Metzler Road, Brownstown.