Mount Gretna Borough Council discusses parking ban on Route 117

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Mount Gretna Borough Council discussed banning parking on State Route 117 at the June 9 meeting, citing safety concerns.

No action was taken, but council members and borough staff said they will speak with various people to try to move forward with the regulation.

Solicitor Keith Kilgore said he looked into the guidelines, and the borough would have to get a full engineering study to justify the decision. This could cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000.

They would also need to go through the ordinance process. This would include drafting the ordinance, advertising it, holding a public hearing, and then final approval. The solicitor and advertising fees would add more costs to the project.

Council members noted a difference between the north side of the road and the south side. The south side is more dangerous, several said, because there is less road available to park on. However, if someone parks on the north side, they have to get out of their vehicle on the road and cross the street.

“It’s clearly a hazard,” council member Allan Feldman said. “It’s clearly dangerous, and I think that a traffic study seems kind of naive in this scenario to do that.”

Feldman said he will contact local politicians to try to get extra influence and see if there are any other ways to stop parking.

“Whether we pass it or not is another question, but we should be able to talk about it in a reasonable way, and we can’t talk about it until we know if we can actually do that,” he said.

Kilgore said if they decide to pursue a halt on parking on Route 117, it likely wouldn’t take place this year.

In other business, council: 

• Said they will confirm an ordinance relating to trash collection in the borough and then discuss starting to enforce the existing guidelines at the next meeting. Feldman said he got a complaint about several properties around the borough leaving trash cans out for too long after collection.
• Voted to deny the 425 Yale Ave. short-term rental waitlist application. Council member Robert Eynon said they did not provide all of the required information within 90 days, and the borough heard they might be doing unpermitted renovations. He said property owners can reapply in the future.

Mount Gretna Borough Council will meet next at 6 p.m. on July 14 at the firehall on Boulevard Street.