A group of residents who live on or near Hendricks Road attended the Upper Hanover Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, October 11, to speak out against the proposed closure of the road for laying of sewer and water pipe to serve the Glenwood Chase development.

            Developer Bill Briegel, of Keystone Custom Homes, and Bob Stewartz, of Barwis Construction, gave a presentation about the need to close the road, after which followed a lengthy discussion of the "means and methods" of the contractor.

            The plan to develop the property where the new development will be built has existed since the 1990s. The current developer purchased the approved plans.

            Briegel said that they needed to close the road because of its narrowness and to get the work done more quickly. He also noted that the rock they may encounter when excavating and the weather could be factors. He proposed a 90-day closure, which was met with concern from the residents and the supervisors. Stewartz stated that the work would require "every bit of 90 days."

            Supervisor Stefan Laessig commented, "I think 90 days is a lot of pain."

            "It's not really acceptable to someone who lives on that road," stated one of the residents.

            The residents were most concerned about access for emergency vehicles and school buses. The inability to use Hendricks Road would add 15 to 20 minutes to students' rides.

            After many comments by the residents and other audience members about equipment and possible other solutions, solicitor Joseph Bresnan said, "We do not control the means and methods, the contractor does."

            "Every plan hurts someone," he added. "This is solely a public safety issue." The road must be closed during the day because of the size of the equipment and the narrowness of the road.

            Finally, the supervisors approved a motion to allow the road to be closed for 60 days, between the hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and reopened from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. Supervisor Tim Woodward voted no.

            In other roads news, residents of the Kraussdale, Wasser, and Warner School roads neighborhoods attended the meeting to discuss the ongoing tractor-trailer traffic traveling on their roads en route to Blommer Chocolate. The truckers' GPS takes them through the area, often resulting in them getting stuck and causing damage to residents' properties.

            One resident stated that she had called the trucking companies she could identify and was able to get them to stop coming through the neighborhood, but the independent truckers continue to create a dangerous situation, which could add up to the eventual destruction of the roads and the bridge in the area.

            Township manager Ann Klepfer said that she would call Blommer and ask them to direct the truckers not to use those roads.