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North Annville Township supervisors unanimously approved two ordinances Monday that will impact traffic on Clear Spring Road.
One of those two ordinances may influence a pending decision by Lebanon County Commissioners concerning construction of a roundabout at the intersection of Clear Spring Road and state Route 934.
Read More: Fate of Route 934 roundabout project planned for N. Annville Twp. is uncertain
The one vote limits trailers on Clear Spring Road to a maximum length of 43 feet, provides for the placement of appropriate signs indicating such restriction, and provides for a penalty for any party who violates those terms.
During their regular meeting and following the vote, supervisors approved paying among other invoices one for $1,700.70 for signs on Clear Spring Road. On Tuesday, board secretary Adam Wolfe told LebTown five no large truck and 12 new speed limit signs were part of the expenditure. He added a number of those new signs were installed the next day along Clear Spring Road.
Prior to voting on the ordinances, supervisors held a public hearing to gather feedback.
While no comments were made concerning lowering the speed limit, some of the 50-plus attendees who packed the meeting room at Water Works Fire Company offered an array of opinions or asked questions about the trailer-size ordinance.
When a resident asked how the ordinance would impact local businesses, board chairman Clyde Meyer said there is a provision for local businesses that have no other highway options to apply for an exemption.
Wolfe noted he had talked with local officials at a nearby quarry about the ordinances, and board vice chairman Aaron Miller said most of the trailers that use Clear Spring Road are not longer than 43 feet.
Asked if a company needs separate exemptions for every trailer over the limit in its possession, officials said only one exemption permit is needed per company. It was not stated during the meeting how much an exemption may cost or if it must be renewed.
Another attendee asked if the state may appeal the trailer size ordinance, if approved, and how the township would respond in that situation. Township solicitor Paul Bametzreider said there was certainly a possibility that the state could file an appeal on the approved ordinance.
“An appeal is always a possibility,” he said. “The supervisors will have to take the matter under consideration and do whatever they feel is in the best interest of the township in general, so there could be an appeal and we will have to see what happens.”
Meyer noted that the Clear Spring Traffic Corridor Study, which was conducted in November 2023 and whose recommendations were the basis for the ordinances, revealed that trailers larger than 43 feet were off-tracking – exceeding the size of the travel lane – by 3 feet.
Another resident asked if the township would be open to accepting funding if a company or the county were to provide money for altering and maintaining Clear Spring Road so that larger trailers could use it.
“That’s something that would be up to the board,” said Bametzreider. “There would be a lot of steps and a lot of hoops to get to that point. The state can’t come in and shut it down. The township was required to do a traffic study in accordance with the Motor Vehicle Code, which was done and that’s why the township is considering this ordinance.”
After the meeting, Wolfe told LebTown that the 2-mile-long Clear Spring Road is problematic in the wintertime due to its hills and curves, adding trucks with longer trailers are unable to navigate it in wintery conditions.
Annville Township manager Candie Johnson, who attended the meeting, noted that neither her municipality’s nor North Annville Township officials were consulted when decisions were being made to construct warehouses in South Annville Township. (The construction of numerous warehouses along U.S. Route 422 and across from Clear Spring Road contributed to the decision to do a traffic study on that roadway.)
“There was no traffic study done for us where we’ve been inundated with big trucks and now it just seems like by doing this that you’re going to push all of those 53 footers and 50 footers into town,” said Johnson. “We’re concerned about that.”
Johnson noted Annville conducted a corridor study of Route 934 in 2021, adding the corner of routes 422 and 934 is “going to get worse.”
“And it is worse,” added Johnson. “Traffic’s backed up at the turn, I mean, I go home that way, I am there every day. Traffic trying to make those turns and now you’re going to push those trucks down into the town center – and, I mean, Annville, we have a concern with that.”
Johnson also wanted to know who was going to enforce the ordinances, adding she believes that is a question most audience members would like to have answered.
“Unless someone is out there 24/7 to enforce it, you don’t have a police force 24/7. … Unless you sit someone on that road 24/7 is my question and my big concern is what impact this is going to have on our town,” she stated.
Miller said the second question was the easiest one to answer since the township has a police chief who will enforce it.
Cleona Borough has a contract with North Annville Township to provide police services, with Chief Jeffrey Farneski stating they provide coverage until 3 a.m. for the township and “constantly” on Clear Spring Road.
We will enforce it on Clear Spring,” said Farneski, adding officers wrote 20 citations the previous weekend on that roadway. “We’re out there all the time on Clear Spring.”
In answering her first question, Miller said both ordinances are about safety.
“What the traffic study has shown is that it is a safety – that trucks at 53 feet cannot travel Clear Spring Road safely,” said Miller. “But the state has looked at the intersection in Annville at 934 and 422 and has said that’s a safe intersection. That would be a question for the state then.”
It was further clarified by Miller that Cleona Borough PD does provide 24/7 coverage when it is requested by North Annville Township.
Johnson said she was told earlier in the day that if the township passed that ordinance, then a proposed roundabout at the intersection of Route 934 and Clear Spring Road will not be constructed. Johnson did not reveal who had provided her with that information.
LebTown had reported on Aug. 8 that County Commissioners were told by DHL company officials – the owner of a South Annville Township warehouse – that they would provide $1.1 million in unencumbered funds and a $3 million Pennsylvania Department of Transportation grant to the county if they would be willing to build the roundabout.
However, County Commissioner Robert Phillips told LebTown that, if an ordinance limiting trailer size on Clear Spring Road was passed, he questioned the need for a roundabout.
County transportation official Jon Fitzkee noted during a July 17 workshop between commissioners and DHL officials that the intersection of Route 934 and Clear Spring Road is hazardous.
“It’s already an unsafe location that we’ve identified,” Fitzkee told commissioners on July 17. “If that $4 million goes away, we’re going to have to find some way to fund that within the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) program at some point in the future.”
Miller replied to Johnson that the township would not only like to see PennDOT address that intersection but also the speed limit of traffic coming through the town of Bellegrove, also calling the latter “an issue.”
Miller added that both Annville and North Annville townships are impacted by the warehouses.
“We’ve got the same issue that Annville does,” said Miller. “We’re going to be paying a penalty for that development in South Annville (Township) with the truck traffic coming through.”
Another resident commented that truck drivers talk to each other and once the signs are placed on Clear Spring Road, they’ll avoid it. (Another attendee later stated skepticism that truckers will obey the new ordinances.)
LebTown had previously reported, based on conversations at prior township meetings, that traffic signs highlighting the new trailer size ordinance can’t be placed on either Route 422 or 934 until the township demonstrates to PennDOT a need for them.
A man wearing a volunteer firefighter T-shirt asked supervisors if they knew how difficult it is to navigate Route 422 in a fire vehicle, adding that it is hard to turn onto Route 934 south given the traffic congestion that already exists.
The traffic study revealed that Clear Spring Road is expected to have about 1,916 vehicles, of which about 650 are trucks, use that roadway once all three warehouses in South Annville Township are fully operational.
Meyer responded by saying they should tear down the bank at the intersection of routes 422 and 934 with Johnson responding that it is for sale for $750,000.
Two residents spoke in favor of both ordinances, with one noting that sight distances on some spots of Clear Spring Road are less than the 300 feet needed for a tractor-trailer traveling 40 mph to come to a stop – adding these are safety, not political, issues.
Supervisors were asked why they weren’t involved with discussions about the warehouses. Meyer said they weren’t informed until the decision was “a done deal.”
That prompted an attendee to say the township was “given the shaft” and that the township should give it right back to the warehouses. Another person said DHL only considered a roundabout and involved North Annville officials as an afterthought.
After the ordinances were passed, Bametzreider said he’s been invited to a workshop of the county commissioners in September to discuss the roundabout project.
“As was highlighted at the last meeting, there has been some movement to have the County Commissioners take over the administration of the roundabout project on state Route 934,” said Bametzreider. “I had a conversation with (county administrator) Jamie Wolgemuth and the county solicitor about what that would entail. It is being considered by the commissioners. They have not made a decision. It is my understanding that it will be on the agenda for a commissioner’s workshop meeting in September.”
Township resident Ron Weber enquired whether that meeting is open to the public, which it is, and asked if commissioners are discussing the roundabout or other alternatives.
“Or has there been a root-cause analysis that’s been done that could indicate that a less expensive solution, like impeding into it and shaving down that hill to improve sight distance might improve the safety of that intersection for a lot less?” asked Weber. “You could probably take the access money and fix Palmyra/Bellegrove intersection for a lot less than what they’re talking about that it is going to cost.”
Bametzreider said he’s not had that particular conversation with county officials.
“Their concerns are where that discussion is with DHL and whether or not they would be interested in taking the project. That’s it,” he replied.
In an email response to LebTown, Wolgemuth wrote that “he doesn’t have a workshop scheduled on the roundabout proposal, for now.”
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