Cornwall council hears concerns over Miners Village development

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

A packed room and high tensions marked Monday’s Cornwall Borough Council meeting, where discussion focused on the future of Miners Village, the hiring of an assistant borough manager, and a proposed independent traffic study.

Miners Village 

Miners Village resident Lauren Shank, as part of an agenda item, presented to council her concerns regarding Cornwall Properties’ development plans for Granite Street. 

The proposed project would place new homes on a parcel of land that Miners Village residents have used for parking and maintained for years, as their homes lack dedicated parking spaces, Shank said.

Although the property has changed ownership several times over the years, it has never been developed. Cornwall Properties purchased the land in 2022 and is now seeking to move forward with residential construction plans. 

Shank raised concerns over the distance they may have to walk if the houses are built, advocating not just for her home but for those neighbors around her. 

“Forcing residents – including families with small children, elderly residents, or anyone managing daily household logistics – to hike 175 feet down an icy, snow-covered street just to be able to access their vehicles is a massive, unnecessary physical liability that this council is being asked by the developer to actively manufacture,” said Shank. 

Council member John Karinch and solicitor Josele Cleary highlighted how this is not a borough council matter, as they do not own the property. 

Cornwall Properties is exploring an option to add parallel parking spots, to have additional parking for current residents.  

Planning & Zoning commission chair Ray Fratini, who argued with attendees at the latest P&Z meeting over this matter, apologized for his actions.

“Ma’am, I do apologize, I really do, because the last thing I want to do is offend anybody in this room because I really do care,” said Fratini.

Assistant borough manager

Although it was the final item on the agenda, the hiring of an assistant borough manager quickly became the most heatedly discussed topic of the evening. The person would also serve as water and sewer director. 

The matter was originally listed under the public portion of the meeting. However, Harris made a motion to move the discussion into executive session, citing it as a personnel matter, which is permitted under state law for closed-door discussions.

“We didn’t have an executive session for hiring two people for highway department, we didn’t have an executive session to hire a part-time police officer, so why would this be any different?” asked council member Thomas Burton. 

At last month’s meeting, council approved the hiring of two part-time police officers during the public portion of the meeting. When asked why Harris sought to move discussion of the assistant borough manager position into executive session, he said because it is an administrative position it carries different weight.

“I don’t know why you would want to go into executive and not ask questions of the candidate who is here tonight and not listen to the members of water and sewer who are here tonight, and have a general open discussion in front of the residents and citizens who showed up tonight,” said council member Julie Bowman. “Why not allow people who vote and pay taxes to understand what’s going on with the water and sewer, and assistant borough manager position?”

Council member Eric Tobias said he wanted to move into an executive session because he wanted legal guidance from Cleary about the questions they can and cannot ask of a candidate in a public setting. 

Before formally moving into executive session council voted 4-3 not to take the water and sewer committee into the session. 

While council met in executive session for nearly an hour, LebTown spoke with Cavi Miller, the candidate recommended for the position by the borough’s water and sewer committee. Members of the committee spent several months interviewing and evaluating candidates before recommending Miller for the role.

“As the job applicant I am frustrated,” said Miller.  “(Council) is supposed to be public servants, there supposed to be working for all of us and I don’t feel like that’s happening with situations like this.”

In the committee’s presentation, they cited Miller as having “unique local knowledge,” as she lives in the borough and understands the community’s concerns and priorities.

Ultimately, council took no action on the matter, however before adjournment citizen Todd Gingrich read comments that Lux allegedly made to Gingrich about Miller. 

“He doesn’t want a women in there, he wants a man who can climb over a pipe and fix it,” said Gingrich, citing one of the alleged comments.

“C’mon, dude, this is a lie, this is a lie and you know it’s a lie,” Lux shouted in response. 

Harris began to bang the gavel, quickly moving council to vote to adjourn.  

Warehouse traffic study

Council has been taking steps toward having an independent traffic study done by a traffic specialist with a focus on Boyd Street and Miners Village. 

“The idea of having the borough do it even though the developer does put in a traffic study is the perspective,” said Bowman. “The point of this traffic study is that it is 100% focused on residents’ concerns rather than evaluating a traffic study that the developer puts forward.” 

While Cornwall Properties has provided the borough with a traffic study done by their traffic engineer, per the borough’s requirements, Bowman highlighted what she saw as inconsistencies throughout the report, such as traffic counts not being conducted over seven consecutive days. 

“You may not be saying it but I’ll say it, it was slanted,” said Burton.  

While the borough’s study will focus first on Boyd Street and Miners Village, council is open to conducting further studies wherever residents have concerns.

“The traffic past our house is horrendous,” said a resident named Linda, who lives along Freeman Drive. “I’m afraid we’re going to have more truck traffic down through, more warehouses, more traffic.”

Council approved up to $15,000 towards the traffic study of Boyd Street and Miners Village and other traffic initiatives, such as additional signage.

In other business, council:

• Heard an update from Brianna Laliberte of Lebanon County’s Department of Emergency Services, who updated council on the federal government’s recent restructuring of FEMA, which now puts more disaster responsibilities on local government. They have not yet received an implementation plan. 
• Tabled taking next steps on installing speed bumps throughout the borough until more research is completed, after hearing residents’ concerns.
• Heard from citizen Tom Overholt, who asked if the borough has received any money yet as a part of the 287(g) agreement or if they have had to assist ICE. Police Chief Brett Hopkins said they recently were asked to assist on a matter, and that once everything is complete the proper reporting will be done, along with reporting any money they receive from the agreement, but they have not yet received any.
• Agreed to explore grant-writing services, with the goal of obtaining more grants for the borough. 
• Unanimously voted Burton and Conrad to serve on the fire and EMS steering committee.
• Tabled a letter of credit reduction on Northgate and Quinn Estates.
• Took no action on the matter of accepting a portion of Iron Valley Drive and Cobalt Alley, as council has not yet received the completed documents from Byler Holdings, to which they said they are still working to review all necessary information with the equitable owners. 
• Approved an extension of the Knoll until Aug. 11.
• Approved an extension of the Boyd Street Warehouse until July 14.

The next borough council meeting will be held Monday, July 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the borough building, 44 Rexmont Road, Lebanon. The meeting is open to the public.