This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.
North Annville Township residents expressed concerns to supervisors during the township’s regular March 10 meeting about a PennDOT proposal for traffic alterations at the intersection of Hill Church Road and Thompson Avenue.
Residents in attendance said that the changes will encourage drivers to speed even faster on that roadway once sight lines are improved at that intersection. Another concern is eminent domain proceedings on preserved farmland near the intersection.
Read More: Dangerous intersection in N. Annville Twp. set for safety improvements in 2026
The public comment period for residents to provide comments to PennDOT runs through Friday, March 14.
Information, including bridge plans and an interactive comment form, can be found by visiting the PennDOT District 8 website, PennDOT District 8, clicking “Projects Near You” listed on the left side of the page, then the District 8 Projects, and choosing “Route 4004 (Hill Church Road) Safety Improvements.”
A 40-minute discussion dominated a majority of the meeting.
Supervisors encourage public comment
Township supervisor chairman Clyde Meyer prefaced what became a long discussion by saying supervisors didn’t know much about PennDOT’s proposal because they haven’t spoken directly with PennDOT officials about it.
Last fall, supervisors were offered several options and selected the one open now for public comment. However, they hadn’t seen any conceptual designs when asked to pick a preference. Now, however, they share some of the same concerns as township residents.
“(Supervisor) Adam (Wolfe) has talked with Jon Fitzkee, transportation planner for the county, and he told him the concerns about more speeding once the road is (made to go) straight through. We would say to you to get your comments into PennDOT by this Friday,” Meyer said. “Whatever you don’t like about it, I’d say get your comments into them by the 14th.”
A speedway, not a roadway
Craig George, who lives in the 4500 block of Hill Church Road, said he favors PennDOT’s proposal over the others that were suggested but also believes that plan will lead to the highway being even more of a “speedway” than it already is.
“I refer to Hill Church Road as Hill Church Speedway, and it’s getting faster and faster out there,” George said. “I’m an advocate for straightening it out because there’s lots of accidents there, but that is another subject, of course. I’ve had transmissions land in my driveway because objects in motion stay in motion when the object stops. If I would have been out there or someone in my family would have been out there, someone could have been hurt.”
George said he’s glad to see the state addressing the problem, but he agrees with others that the state’s plan would make the situation worse instead of better.
“Like some people have said, it is going to make the speeds on Hill Church Speedway even faster,” George said. “We need to drop the speed waaaay down. It is lower on Clear Spring Road. It is lower on a lot of roads around us. I think Hill Church should become a notorious speed trap, so that speed goes way, way down, then maybe we could pay for an officer to be out there to do that.”
Resident says project will lead to higher speeds
Hill Church Road resident Dawn Arnold said her existing concerns about speeding will only get worse once PennDOT’s proposed traffic changes are implemented. The posted speed on that nearly 3-mile stretch of highway is 45 mph.
“I feel we need some live enforcement there, I guess it’s a rural area, but with all those houses, children, grandchildren, buses going, it’s just terrible,” she said. “I appreciate the speeding monitor that’s been put up. The good people brake (when they see it) but others see how high they can make it go.”
Cleona Borough Police Chief Jeff Farneski said his options for enforcement are limited since municipal police departments are prohibited by Pennsylvania law from using radar on local highways. North Annville Township contracts with Cleona Borough for police services.
Arnold said she would offer her barn’s driveway to police to use to catch speeding drivers. Farneski said that won’t work due to existing law and the fact the hill near her driveway prohibits adequate sight lines. Farneski noted that municipal police departments must put white lines down on roadways to measure speed between two points, meaning the location of her barn’s driveway in proximity to the hill makes that impossible to accomplish. Additionally, that kind of enforcement also required more manpower than using radar.
Contact your legislators
Farneski encouraged residents to express speeding concerns to elected state officials, state Rep. Russ Diamond and state Sen. Chris Gebhard. He said residents should ask for legislation permitting the use of radar by municipal law enforcement officers.
“If you want to help me, I’ll tell you what to do: contact your representatives, the newspaper is here,” Farneski said. “Your barn, we can’t sit there, in all honesty. Because of the law, because of the restrictions, this commonwealth is the only one that won’t allow local police to use radar. That’s the law. So the equipment we’re forced to use limits our ability to where we can actually sit to monitor speeds.”
George suggested adding speed bumps to the highway – a decision that township supervisors cannot make since Hill Church Road is a state-maintained roadway.
There also was a suggestion by residents to place speed humps, which differ from speed bumps, on the roadway. Others advocated the use of four-way stop signs but with the addition of flashing lights along with rumble strips near the intersection as a more affordable alternative to altering the landscape and taking land through eminent domain.
PennDOT told the supervisors last fall that a traffic study showed that four way-stop signs were not a safe option for the intersection.
“Every time I say the word speed bump to anybody, it is like a preconditioned response, ‘Oh, that will cause a wreck. Oh, that will wipe out the transmission on a fire truck,'” said George, who also referenced a Maryland town that warns drivers that a 7-mile stretch through their municipality is being heavily patrolled. “We need to have responsible ways to slow the speed down. I understand what the officer is saying that, for now, we can’t turn the speedway into a speed trap, that’s too bad, at least not now. But I think the people in this room should get behind the idea of slowing the speed down.”
Equal police coverage for all residents
Another resident asked the department to have a greater presence or to put a vacant marked police vehicle to discourage speeding.
Farneski said the township is 17 square miles and his department has to provide police services equally throughout, adding that he gets calls daily for speed enforcement in other areas of the township.
Residents asked the township and Farneski to explore adding other speed notification signs and to provide a quote for an additional part-time officer for traffic enforcement.
The township asked for, and the chief said he would provide, quotes for additional speed monitoring devices that would also calculate vehicle speeds in order to demonstrate to PennDOT speeding frequency and how fast motorists are driving. Farneski said he’d provide a quote at the April meeting to provide a part-time officer for traffic enforcement, a service his department is already providing to Jonestown Borough.
“I have one car, so where do I put it? On Clear Spring or on Route 934, where all the accidents are (happening)? There’s one guy and he can only be in one…,” said Farneski, who didn’t get a chance to finish his comment when a resident interrupted him by asking the chief for a solution to the speedy problem.
On Tuesday afternoon, Farneski was sitting in a marked vehicle near the dangerous intersection. He told LebTown that he had called the company that provides the speed monitoring device to enquire about purchasing additional units and costs to add speed-gathering data to the existing unit and new ones. He stated he had patrolled the road in the morning and in the afternoon. Later in the afternon, a unit was spotted patrolling Hill Church Road about the time students were getting home from school.
During the meeting, Farneski said he sympathizes with the residents, adding that in February, his officers had a high number of stops, saying they “pulled 67 numbers that led to 32 speeding citations and the issuance of four warnings” in North Annville Township.
“I know the guys are out there working, that’s not the issue, but I can not designate an officer to Hill Church Road, it’s not fair to the rest of the township residents,” Farneski told residents.
PennDOT’s response
PennDOT District 8 spokesman David Thompson wrote in an email to LebTown that PennDOT does not have any plans at this time to lower the speed limit on Hill Church Road. He provided additional insight as why that’s the case.
“Any requests for speed limit reduction study must come from municipal officials. However, based on the residents’ observation that vehicles are exceeding the posted 45 MPH speed limit is more of an indication of lack of enforcement, rather than a speed limit that is too high. In these situations, simply installing signs indicating a lower speed limit will have no change in motorist behavior,” he wrote.
He added:
“Please keep in mind that, in conducting a speed study, a significant part in determining the appropriate speed limit for a roadway is based on the safe running speed – that is the speed that most drivers (85%) feel comfortable driving on a certain section of road. This is referred to as the 85th percentile speed. The speed limit of a road is usually set within 5 mph of this speed, and is considered a nationally accepted practice in setting speed limits. This is also consistent with the policy established in Title 67 of the PA Code, Chapter 212. Numerous studies throughout the years have proven that unwarranted/unrealistic posted speed limits do not result in lower vehicle speeds. It simply creates a larger disparity between the actual travel speeds of vehicles, which can be detrimental to safety.“
What about the farmland?
While everyone agrees the intersection is dangerous and needs to be addressed, opinions vary on the best way to improve it. Jim Hoffman, whose farmland is preserved, said PennDOT’s proposal would cut a swath through his land and potentially greatly alter his ability to grow crops on it.
He told LebTown after the meeting that while the proposal would require 1.5 acres of farmland, he feels an unknown amount of additional land will be taken out of production once the highway near his property is elevated to 10.5 feet, which he said is stated in PennDOT’s current proposal.
Hoffman noted the Lebanon County Conservation District told him swales would be required to handle water runoff from the evaluated roadway. That area near the highway retains moisture and raising the road will, in his opinion, exacerbate the problem.
Read More: PennDOT plan would require eminent domain on preserved farmland
Revised fire truck apparatus plan
In other discussion, supervisors received an updated apparatus replacement plan for the township’s fire company following revisions to the one presented in February.
Mark Sallada, deputy chief of North Annville Fire Company, said the new plan keeps more water in the township and cuts projected apparatus replacement costs. The original plan would have seen a decrease in 3,000 gallons of water and cost more money to implement.
“We got the plan that we’re only going to lose 1,000 gallons of water, and we got the plan where we don’t need to purchase two $1.2 million dollar trucks,” Sallada said. “We did that by a little give and take, and basically, we’ll keep good fire service in station two (Union Water Works).”
One truck at Union Water Works will get an engine replaced at “a fraction of the cost” of a new vehicle. Instead of purchasing a new truck at $1.2 million, fire company officials will replace the vehicle’s engine for $475,000.
He noted that keeping the engine will financially benefit homeowners who live in the part of the township that’s serviced from that station. On Jan 1, Union Water Works and Bellgrove fire companies merged into one unit as North Annville Fire Company, but both companies maintain their respective stations.
Sallada said individual cost savings are realized for residents because keeping the engine ensures their homeowners insurance doesn’t spike.
“It’ll keep what we call our ISO ratings for anybody who lives on this side of the township. Your insurance rates won’t go up. If we pull an engine out of this station, we have an ISO rate that we have to meet,” Sallada said. “And what will happen is through some quick calculations and contacting insurance companies, you can see probably about 50 to 60 percent of the spike in your insurance. So overall, this is actually cheaper versus taking all those residents and spiking and bringing your insurance up.”
Sallada asked the supervisors to make a decision on the purchase of one new truck for $1.2 million by their April meeting. A decision, he said, is needed sooner than later because they are already a year late in replacing a vehicle.
“We’re on year 26 for trucks that we’re supposed to replace at year 25. So we’re already a year behind. The $1.2 million dollar truck is a 31 (month) build time, or 32 months. Expected to be in service in three years in 36 months. We’ve got training to do with it after it comes in. So we have to get the stuff ordered, end of May, beginning of May, somewhere in that time frame.”
There’s another reason in getting an urgent decision.
“We also fall under these new emissions, and if we don’t get the current Cummins motor that they offer and we wait till like July, August where the new emissions kicks into effect, it takes the $1.2 million dollar fire truck and it instantly adds about $200,000 to it just for the motor,” added Sallada.
He asked supervisors to release the $200,000 towards the purchase of a new vehicle, adding $100,000 was earmarked each of the past two years for this expected upgrade. He noted those funds are in addition to other monies that are designated for each department for gear replacement.
In other business, supervisors voted unanimously to:
- Approve the Feb. 10 meeting minutes and Feb. 10 treasurer’s report.
- Participate in the state’s 2025-26 state road salt contract by purchasing 350 tons through the commonwealth’s program. The price per ton has not yet been announced by state officials.
- Read and pay monthly bills. Supervisors also agreed to make a $5,000 donation for 2025 to the Lebanon County Conservation District for the farmland preservation program.
- Announce the Lebanon County tire collection day on April 30 at the Lebanon Expo Center. Registration to participate is Monday, April 14. More information can be found here.
- Read a thank-you letter from Annville Free Library for the township’s $8,000 donation for 2025 and the third of three $5,000 payments over the past three years for a capital fund project at the library.
North Annville Township supervisors meet the second Monday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the Union Water Works social hall, 2875 Water Works Way, Annville.
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