A headline in today’s (Dec. 10) edition of Lancaster Newspapers reads: East Hempfield Township OKs High funds for Crossings road improvement — Developer would pay the township $1.3 million if the development plan is approved by Manheim Township.
Question: How far will the $1.3 million go toward improving roads in East Hempfield if MT passes High’s Crossings plan? The answer is, “not very far”. For comparison, one of the 31 projects the TIGER III application for federal funds is “add eastbound right-turn lane on Harrisburg Pike at Race”. The total cost of that one right-turn lane is $1.1 million. Another project – “Add northbound through lane on State Road and add second left-turn lane on Yellow Goose Rd.” is priced at a total $1.3 million – exactly the same amount High has agreed to give East Hempfield for multiple changes on Farmingdale Road.
High has not promised any money to East Hempfield for increased roadway maintenance as well as the increase in police and fire calls they are certain to have when several thousand cars a day travel on Farmingdale Road and connecting roads.
The property owners in East Hempfield will pay for all this through increased taxes. Manheim Twp. gets to keep all the real estate taxes coming from the Crossings project.
Why were the East Hempfield supervisors so eager to approve High’s offer when it will cover only a small fraction of the costs – immediate and long-term – to Farmingdale, Oreville, Good Drive, Rohrerstown Road, Marietta Pike as well as other roads that will be carrying Crossings traffic? What on earth were they thinking?
And why was East Hempfield in such a hurry to do this? Why didn’t they wait for Manheim Township to approve High’s proposal before voting on High’s offer?
Why didn’t the East Hempfield supervisors ask for more money for roadway reconstruction and also ongoing payments in perpetuity to cover the increased costs of maintenance and police/fire protection?
Farmingdale is currently classified as a local road, but after the Crossings is built, it will be turned into a collector road that will channel several thousands of cars and delivery trucks every day of the year to other roads and highways.
Quoting from Dave O’Connor’s new story, “We feel this is a very fair representation of the impacts (the Crossings) will have on East Hempfield,” said supervisors’ Chairman Brett Miller, who, along with John Bingham, Doug Brubaker and Bernard Krutsick, voted in favor of the agreement.
Question: How did High arrive at their “fair representation of the impacts” made on roads in East Hempfield? This and other claims made by High have been entire unsubstantiated by High’s administrators.
