Stone Hill Village seeks waivers from Annville Twp. on sidewalk placement

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Stone Hill Village President Eugene Martin is hoping to recover the remaining $190,048 of the development’s line of credit to Annville Township despite making changes to townhouse sidewalk and driveways.

At the township’s board of commissioners meeting Aug. 5, Martin and Stone Hill engineer Scott Akens described “minor” changes made to the completed project. 

Township Manager Candie Johnson said Martin and Akens will meet with Annville’s planning commission at 6 p.m. on Mon., Aug. 11 to seek waivers and exceptions on the completed construction. The line of credit provides the township with funding for any changes or reconstruction necessary if the developer diverts from previously approved plans.

The original plans approved by the township required separating the sidewalk for the townhouses from the curb by a three-foot strip “all around,” Akens told the board. Stone Hill instead constructed the sidewalk partially as planned, but then with the sidewalk flush against the curbline in front of the townhouses where the driveway crosses the sidewalk, Akens said.

The approved plans also called for townhouse driveways to be separated by green spaces. Some were paved over and others had landscape stone placed in the “void” areas, Akens said. Stone Hill intends to remove the stone and turn them back into “impervious” areas, he said, and will replace two of seven parking spaces at the development’s common pavilion with river stone and mulch.

“So, we’re asking for the commissioners to more or less approve the location of the sidewalk as it is constructed even though it does deviate slightly from the approved plan,” Akens said. “The functionality of it is all still there, it’s just in a different location. It doesn’t affect the overall amount of green space or anything like that.”

Commission member Anthony Perrotto, who also serves as planning commission chair, said he is “most concerned” about Stone Hill Village’s stormwater runoff.

Also in the meeting, resident Dean Wolfe asked for an update on an Annville Township study submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in July explaining how heavy traffic from state highway 934 onto U.S. Route 422 warrants a left-turn arrow added to the stoplight. Township Manager Candie Johnson, who said she has been working on traffic relief at the intersection “for years” told the board the intersection does not meet PennDot specs for a turning lane arrow, but with the study submitted last month, the township hopes to convince PennDot of the need for a left-turn arrow.

Other business before the commission:

• The board approved by 4-0 voice vote a $3 per quarter increase in waste and recycling fees, to $96. Commission member Nevin Hoover was absent. The increase was made in conjunction with a 4-0 vote on a two-year extension of the township’s trash services agreement and an ordinance that allows the township to set trash fees by resolution.
• The board voted 4-0 to approve light pole banners celebrating Annville-Cleona High School senior football players, as proposed by Mike Ortwein, president of the school’s booster club. The display would celebrate between one and two dozen senior athletes, likely represented by cardboard cutouts of the school’s football helmet with players’ names and numbers, during the high school football season from the end of August through October, he said.
• Matt Woolson of Celebrate Annville asked about the board’s interest in his organization installing banners with the “PA250” logo beginning Jan. 1, 2026, in conjunction with the America250PA program celebrating the nation’s semiquincentennial next year. Woolson also proposed flower baskets for flagpoles throughout the township, and said that like the PA250 banners, Celebrate Annville would pay for the baskets and maintenance costs. Celebrate Annville has received excess funds to pay for the displays from contributions for its annual Christmas decorations, he said.
• The Western Lebanon County Regional Police Department has hired an experienced officer who will bring the department up to its full staff of 16 officers, Chief Andrew Winters told the board.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story mislabeled the waivers and exceptions sought by Stone Hill Village. It misstated the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s position on a turning lane arrow for the intersection of highway 934 onto U.S. Route 422. It incorrectly named the township as responsible for PA250 banners, which would instead be the responsibility of Celebrate Annville, which has proposed the banners.