HIGH IS WRONG – THE NEW CROSSINGS PLAN WILL NOT RESULT IN FEWER CARS
High’s administrators have said that the new (2011) plan for the Crossings at Conestoga Creek will result in less traffic on area roadways. They offered no proof.
The truth is that High’s new plan will result in about the same number of weekday vehicular trips – 4,000 vehicles – as was estimated in the old (2008) plan. Approximately half of these vehicles, or 2,000, can be expected to enter/exit by way of Harrisburg Pike and half of the vehicles, or 2,000, can be expected to enter/exit by way of Farmingdale road.
In fact, the new Crossings plan has a full entrance onto Farmingdale Road – a narrow, winding, two-lane road with a minimum-width (9-ft.) lane in each direction, NO SHOULDERS and a Norfolk Southern railroad crossing at its mid-point
Farmingdale Road is classified by PennDOT as a local road, serving a residential area, in contrast with a collector road that carries traffic between major arteries
It was reported that the solicitor for East Hempfield has said, “It’s not a matter of inconvenience having so many cars on Farmingdale Road – IT’S A MATTER OF DANGER!” High’s answer is that they have an agreement with East Hempfield Township to pay East Hempfield “to fix the problem”! However, this agreement was with the old (2008) Crossings plan; it is no longer valid now that there is a new (2011) plan on the table. The process has to be started all over again.
Dave O’Connor, Lancaster Newspaper reporter, published High’s new plan in a July 21, 2011 story that appeared in Lancaster Newspapers. According to Mr. O’Connor’s story, there will be 260 apartments (1, 2 and 3 bedroom) – so there will be at least 260 cars going out in the morning and back in at night for a total of 520 trips on Harrisburg Pike or Farmingdale Road. Since many couples (or families) have two cars, that number could be greater than this.
Mr. O’Connor reported that there will be a 75,000 – 90,000 sq. ft. hotel. A nearby hotel, Hilton Garden Inn, located near the Rt. 72 and Rt. 283 interchange, is approximately 30,000 sq. ft., according to a spokesperson for the hotel. This hotel advertises that it has 156 rooms. High’s hotel will be 2 ½ – 3 times as large. As such, it can be expected to have 390 to 468 rooms. Figuring on less than 100% capacity, a conservative estimate would be 350 guests arriving and leaving daily for a total of 700 trips on Harrisburg Pike or Farmingdale road..
Mr. O’Connor also reported that retail space will total about 210,000 sq. ft., with 20 or more stores, including restaurants. If each store or restaurant has an average of 70 customers each weekday (a conservative number), that adds up to 1400 customers and close to 1400 cars that will enter and leave for a total of 2800 trips on Harrisburg Pike or Farmingdale Rd.
In reality, this is likely to be a much higher number, even during the week, and certainly much higher on weekends. It has been rumored that a “big box” store such as Target may be built. If so, this will attract customers in the hundreds.
Using the most conservative estimates (apartments – 520 trips; hotel – 700 trips; stores – 2800 trips for a total of 4,020 weekday trips and more on weekends. This shows NO DECREASE in the previous estimates of traffic shown by the 2008 Crossings plan.
Since half of this number can be expected to use the Farmingdale entrance/exit, that means 2,010 cars weekdays on Farmingdale Road. When High’s administrators say that the new (2011) Crossings plan will have less of an impact on surrounding roadways than the old (2008) plan, that is simply not true. They, along with the Manheim Township Commissioners, need to be told this at the next public hearing on the Crossings on Monday, Dec. 12, at 3 p.m.
Why is this hearing held when many citizens are at work and can’t attend (as was also the case on Dec. 5 with the 5:30 hearing)? Critics say that the MT Commissioners want to push this through before Simpson and Downing – who voted in favor of the 2008 plan – will retire from the Board the end of this year. It is said there may even be a public hearing on the day after Christmas – Dec. 26 – in order to push the new Crossings plan through before the end of the year.
Perhaps this is why an out-of-state resident who is following these events has decried the “blatant misrepresentation” and “the underhanded manipulations” that are occurring “in this historic city”.
Farmindale Road simply can’t be used as an entrance/exit route. And that’s that.
EDITOR: Being very familiar with the narrow and serpentine Farmingdale Road, we agree tht it is not suitable for commercial traffic.
Actually, there are now two separate entrance/exits planned for Farmingdale Road. High presented their traffic study two weeks ago, but there was no newspaper coverage and only one or two members of the public at that hearing.
The traffic expert’s testimony started after 10 pm. Cross examination of the traffic expert occurred last Monday evening- again, no press coverage, but at least a handful of people found the Staufer Mansion.
It makes no difference in the amount of congestion – or number of accidents – if there are two – or 3 or 10 – entrance/exits from the Crossings opening out onto Farmingdale Road. This road is a macadamized former farm lane that was never intended to handle thousands of vehicles accessing a huge mixed use, high density commercial/residential complex. Only a developer like High would even think of it.
To High, East Hempfield Township, being the snot-nosed little brother, doesn’t matter. Get the gullible East Hempfield supervisors to accept as little money as High can get away with for required improvements to Farmingdale Road and connecting roads. No matter that there will be increased road maintenance costs (potholes, anyone?) and increased police/fire/emergency services. The East Hempfield taxpayers can pay for that in increased taxes. East Hempfield won’t be able to pay for it with real estate tax money from the Crossings because Manheim Twp. gets ALL of that.
It’s not the Crossings plan itself that is bad – it’s the location. The Crossings may be a good idea but the Deisley farm is the wrong place for it. The Crossings simply has to go somewhere else. There has to be some other farm in Manheim Twp – if there are any left by that time, that is.
What High Industries wants; High Industries gets. And LNP will do nothing to get the facts out ahead of time that might be detrimental to High’s.
Both LNP and high’s are becoming (if not already) a total disgrace to lancaster City and County. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.