[0:00] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of
[0:04] America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one
[0:08] nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
[0:12] all.
[0:14] Thank you. First item on the preliminaries is approval of the
[0:18] agenda.
[0:19] So moved. Second.
[0:20] Any changes?
[0:22] Hearing none. All those in favor say "Aye."
[0:25] Aye.
[0:26] Any opposed?
[0:28] The agenda is approved.
[0:30] Next item is approval of the minutes from March 24th,
[0:34] 2026.
[0:35] So moved. Second.
[0:36] Are there any changes or corrections?
[0:40] Hearing none, all those in favor say "Aye."
[0:44] Aye.
[0:44] Any opposed?
[0:46] Minutes are approved.
[0:48] Last item on the preliminaries is approval of the bills and transfers dated April
[0:52] 14, 2026, as presented by the treasurer.
[0:56] So moved. Second.
[0:58] Any questions or comments?
[1:01] Hearing none, all those in favor?
[1:02] Aye.
[1:03] Any opposed?
[1:05] They are approved. All right. That takes us to the first
[1:09] courtesy of the floor, of which there will be two.
[1:12] Courtesy of the floor is the opportunity of anyone in the public to address the
[1:16] board on items that are not on the agenda.
[1:19] If you wish to address the board, please come up to the podium,
[1:22] state your name clearly, and write your
[1:27] association address, et cetera, in the book for our secretary.
[1:32] I--
[1:32] Donald?
[1:33] Yeah.
[1:35] Do you right here then, or...
[1:38] Yes.
[1:38] Okay. Do you want to speak first and-
[1:40] Sure.
[1:41] Okay. Hi, my name is Paul Rizzo. I'm a resident of Hanover Township.
[1:44] I've lived here since 2008.
[1:47] I've been working with a company called Empire Access
[1:51] over the past couple years. Empire Access is a
[1:54] company that's been in business for over 100 years, it started as a phone company.
[1:58] They're based out of Prattsburgh, New York.
[2:01] They have been expanding. They have been building in
[2:05] Hazleton, Scranton areas, that area.
[2:08] They are moving into the Lehigh Valley, and one of the first areas they
[2:12] chose is Hanover Township.
[2:14] I wanted to come and introduce myself and let you guys know that we are
[2:18] actively
[2:19] working in the area. We've been working with Mark, the township manager, right now.
[2:24] I did bring down some pamphlets in case anybody comes by or anything.
[2:27] I don't know if that could be handed out or anything, Mark, or-
[2:30] Yeah, we can give out the information
[2:31] Yeah, I can give that to you.
[2:33] Yes, sir.
[2:33] I had provided Mark with a number or anything if any residents have questions
[2:37] or concerns.
[2:39] We've also acquired an office in Highland
[2:43] Avenue, so we are looking to basically invest in the community and we'll be
[2:47] probably hiring in this area, too.
[2:50] And Adam also, Heimsoff, is another resident that's working with
[2:54] them, too. And I just wanted to let you know what we were up to.
[2:58] So this will be a multi-month project
[3:02] before things are turned up and going.
[3:04] But just wanted to let you guys know where we were moving.
[3:07] It's going to be primarily north of 22 in Hanover Township areas
[3:11] selected to bring fiber to the home.
[3:14] So it'd be pure fiber optic right to your house.
[3:19] Most of the providers for broadband is still on copper in this area, so
[3:23] we're only targeting areas that don't currently have
[3:27] fiber optic in various-
[3:29] To south of 22, they have fiber optic?
[3:32] No, they don't, but there's other competition that's going in there.
[3:35] So it's basically kind of a land grab right now for other competitors and stuff
[3:39] like that.
[3:40] So you said north of 22?
[3:43] Yeah, north of 22. Primarily in Hanover Township.
[3:45] There's certain areas that-
[3:46] Yeah. Because that's where I live, and I'd like fiber.
[3:49] Yeah.
[3:50] Are you laying your own lines or are you...
[3:53] You're laying your own fiber?
[3:55] Yes. Yeah, the company. We're using contractors and stuff like that.
[3:59] But you're not piggybacking off of somebody else's fiber?
[4:02] No, we are not.
[4:03] Okay.
[4:03] So we have other partners that have fiber in the area that we are kind
[4:07] of going off of. A company, First Light, has fiber that
[4:11] runs through Hanover Township already that we are using to basically piggyback off
[4:15] to get us around, hop us around the Lehigh Valley and stuff like that.
[4:17] But that's
[4:19] primarily the focus right now.
[4:21] When do you expect to be complete?
[4:23] It's a multi-month project, so the first areas to
[4:27] go are really the underground areas.
[4:29] It's quicker to get to the market that way.
[4:33] So those are what we're primarily concentrating on now.
[4:35] There has been--
[4:41] The aerials
[4:45] component, the permits have been applied for.
[4:48] Well, that's the next question I was going to ask, not when you're going to finish,
[4:52] but when you're going to start, how long it's going to take, and from a practical
[4:55] standpoint, what can the residents expect where you will
[4:59] be laying fiber?
[5:01] Expect as far as... Well, we're working primarily in the right of way
[5:05] area, and then any remediation that takes place
[5:09] after the stuff is put in the ground and stuff.
[5:12] So you'd be digging trenches-
[5:13] Digging trenches
[5:14] ... near the curb line.
[5:14] Slitting trenches. Yeah. A lot of missiling, with
[5:17] directional boring and drilling and stuff like that.
[5:21] And then remedial means you'll
[5:24] cover it back up and reseed it.
[5:25] Yeah, they'll reseed it and stuff like that after.
[5:29] When you say it's a right of way, it's
[5:32] an easement that-
[5:33] Yes, it's part of the easement, yes.
[5:35] So it's where all the other communications lines are, gas lines, stuff like that.
[5:39] Regulated by state and federal law above this point, correct?
[5:43] Yes.
[5:43] All right.
[5:44] Okay. Thank you.
[5:45] Any other questions?
[5:49] No other questions from members of the board?
[5:53] Does the gentleman in the green have a question?
[5:55] I got a question.
[5:56] Can you, sir, can you just
[5:58] state your name and your street address?
[6:00] My name is Frank Sharkosi. I live at 1204 Foxview
[6:04] Drive.
[6:06] The other morning, I pull out of my garage to go have coffee, and there's all
[6:10] these guys tearing up my lawn.
[6:14] Yes, I know.
[6:15] I didn't know a thing about this.
[6:16] Well, they did do mailings. And-
[6:18] Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait. A mailing?
[6:21] Yes.
[6:21] I didn't see no mailing.
[6:23] We did provide mailings, yes.
[6:26] I didn't get one.
[6:27] They did go out, and the guys are instructed to put tags on the door.
[6:31] I threw them off my property.
[6:31] What's that?
[6:32] I threw them off my property.
[6:34] Yeah, I think I'm familiar with that. Yeah.
[6:35] Yeah. And then I called the cops.
[6:36] Yeah, I know. Yeah.
[6:38] That's why I-
[6:38] I did hear that. Yeah.
[6:38] And then they tore up my goddamn dog's fence.
[6:42] Yes, I heard about that. Yeah.
[6:43] Yeah.
[6:43] That's why I asked the question about state and federal law.
[6:48] There are easements and
[6:51] I don't think we have any
[6:54] power in this board to preclude the running
[6:58] of communication lines. Correct?
[7:00] It is in the right of way, yes.
[7:01] Yeah.
[7:01] It is part of your easement on your property.
[7:03] Right.
[7:04] I guess the next question is, is the lawn going to be put back exactly the way it
[7:08] looked?
[7:08] Well, yes. They will do remediation. They'll water it and put some seed down.
[7:12] They're coming back?
[7:12] Yeah.
[7:14] Stones, rocks will get picked up? And the water and grass-
[7:16] They'll do the best they can
[7:17] ... looking dead?
[7:18] Yes.
[7:18] Yeah. All right.
[7:20] Did your fence get fixed?
[7:22] Yeah, they fixed the fence.
[7:23] Oh, they fixed it.
[7:24] Yeah.
[7:24] Okay. Yeah.
[7:25] Yep.
[7:25] Okay.
[7:26] Yeah. All contractors are insured.
[7:28] It's good I came out to see what was going on.
[7:30] Right.
[7:30] It's good I was home.
[7:32] Right.
[7:32] Yeah. The contractors are all insured, so
[7:35] things will be taken care of.
[7:40] And we have given Mark the number for any calls to
[7:44] call into if you have any concerns or anything of that nature.
[7:47] And if it hasn't been taken care of, let us know. We'll take care of it.
[7:49] Yeah, I will.
[7:50] Okay.
[7:50] 100%.
[7:51] Yep.
[7:52] Just speaking for myself,
[7:55] it will be a temporary inconvenience, but fiber
[7:58] offers
[8:00] tremendous speed,
[8:02] clarity for communications, TV,
[8:05] internet.
[8:08] Yeah. I apologize for the inconvenience, sir.
[8:11] But
[8:12] it's-
[8:13] And none of my neighbors knew anything about it neither, so they didn't get mailers
[8:16] neither, I guess.
[8:17] I mean, none of my neighbors knew.
[8:18] Well, a lot of mailing, they did go out. Yeah.
[8:20] Yeah.
[8:21] I did confirm.
[8:21] Part of the reason we're here tonight is to try to be a resource for you and try to
[8:25] build that awareness-
[8:26] Yeah
[8:26] ... and let you know, hey, we're here to answer-
[8:29] Yeah
[8:29] ... your concerns, make sure you're taken care of.
[8:31] Yeah. The neighbors, we saw markings out there on the street-
[8:34] Mm-hmm
[8:34] ... thinking, "What are you doing?
[8:35] You're doing something in the road."
[8:38] Well, they would've sprayed your yard, too, as far as for the communications lines,
[8:42] where they are.
[8:42] Okay.
[8:43] For the PA-1 calls and stuff like that. Yeah.
[8:45] Does anyone-
[8:45] I can give you the number. You want to write the number down, Frank, if you have
[8:49] any questions?
[8:51] No.
[8:51] You're good.
[8:52] That's all right. I'll come see you.
[8:54] Okay.
[8:54] Any other questions from members of the public?
[8:57] Any other questions from members on the dais?
[9:01] Hearing none, well, thank you for coming in.
[9:02] Oh, thank you very much.
[9:04] And good luck.
[9:04] All right. I'll sign this here.
[9:06] Yes, please.
[9:06] Yep.
[9:08] Anyone else for the first courtesy of the floor?
[9:12] I'd like to.
[9:13] Before he starts, you can start walking up.
[9:16] Just your next area that you're looking to do is in the Granite
[9:19] Drive area.
[9:20] Granite Drive, yes.
[9:21] So that'll be the next area. And we've talked about
[9:24] trying to do even more with the mailers and stuff.
[9:27] I was going to say, there's an estimated-
[9:29] Yeah. We've already-
[9:30] Yeah. I don't know
[9:30] ... Paul and I have been discussing it already.
[9:32] I know. Thanks, Gene.
[9:32] Yeah. I'm not sure if there's a...
[9:37] Like the next board meeting, if we could have maybe a further
[9:41] audience to address, that would be fine, too.
[9:44] We could have some of the sales associates come down or something like that.
[9:46] All right, cool.
[9:47] Okay.
[9:48] Yeah. And if there is, as-
[9:49] And my mailing address, my home address, right, would be fine?
[9:52] Since you're a resident?
[9:53] Yeah.
[9:53] Yes, just your street address. But if you do have a general schedule,
[9:57] obviously, we know if the schedules for construction change
[10:01] due to weather and other things, but if we could get that, maybe we could post it
[10:05] on our
[10:09] Facebook page and-
[10:10] Yeah
[10:11] ... our webpage.
[10:13] But again, we do a lot of communications.
[10:17] Yeah, I understand.
[10:18] We have a visual.
[10:19] I'll take them. Yeah.
[10:19] We have a visual showing the neighborhoods, and we can give you, like, a six to
[10:23] nine-month window-
[10:24] Yeah
[10:24] ... and highlight the area.
[10:25] That would be great.
[10:27] I do think that would be
[10:29] helpful.
[10:29] Yeah.
[10:29] Helps to see it.
[10:30] Right. Absolutely.
[10:31] Thank you.
[10:31] Very good.
[10:32] Thank you.
[10:33] Okay. Thank you very much. Come on up, sir.
[10:36] Hi.
[10:37] Hi.
[10:38] My name's Gary McDonald. Right now, I'm living in Hanover Township.
[10:43] I've lived in
[10:44] the state, in Pittsburgh, and Reading, and Allentown for the last
[10:48] 30 or so years. I spoke at the last meeting,
[10:52] too. Also, I
[10:56] was on the Pennsylvania Pedal Cycle and Pedestrian Advisory
[10:59] Committee for PennDOT. PennDOT Pedal Cycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
[11:03] That's getting harder to say all the time.
[11:07] So, the PennDOT Pedal Cycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee did a lot of work
[11:11] in the 1990s to improve pedestrian
[11:15] laws, and it's still going on.
[11:17] I'm not a part of the committee anymore, but I just recently fought a proposed bill
[11:21] from our state Senator Miller,
[11:24] that would've severely restricted
[11:27] bicycling practices and bicycle driving.
[11:32] And we shot it down. There was an effort statewide to do that because the law was
[11:36] so egregious. But anyway,
[11:39] there's a condition nearby at the Keystone Park Road and
[11:43] Wegmans Drive. Right at Wegmans, there's a senior living center,
[11:47] the...
[11:51] Sterling Center.
[11:51] Sterling Senior Living Center. Sorry, Retirement Center.
[11:56] There are 178
[11:59] retirees living there.
[12:02] And like I said, it's right across the street from Wegmans.
[12:06] That's an attractive destination.
[12:08] It's also right across the street from two LANTA stops, one on each side, of
[12:12] course, and it's a mileAnd it's essentially a walk in the park
[12:16] to get here.
[12:18] But the traffic on Stoke Park Road is
[12:22] very frightening. There is a crossing there.
[12:25] In Pennsylvania, you're allowed to cross any intersection, whether
[12:29] it's marked or whether the signs are up that show the man with the slash
[12:33] through them, you're allowed to cross at that intersection.
[12:35] Those signs are only advisory, and PennDOT is not supposed to
[12:39] put those up anymore. But I do see new ones going up in the area.
[12:44] But all that crossing has for a traffic control device
[12:48] are the parallel white lines that you're all familiar with.
[12:51] That's all there is. There are a couple signs, pedestrian warning signs leading up
[12:55] to that,
[12:56] but the road is 56 feet wide there.
[13:00] You've got the parallel white lines for the crossing, and
[13:06] Stoke Park Road has a curve and a slope
[13:09] leading into that intersection.
[13:11] And I took a lot of measurements there between the last meeting and now.
[13:16] It turns out from when you're standing on the ADA ramp
[13:20] looking southwards, Stoke Park Road is oriented north-south there.
[13:24] When you're standing on the ADA ramp looking southwards,
[13:29] approaching vehicles will come into sight and will reach
[13:33] the first line of the parallel crossing in just seven seconds, an
[13:37] average of seven seconds. I walked across that street many
[13:40] times. A normal adult pace, it takes 12
[13:44] seconds to walk across. In Pennsylvania, of course, and
[13:48] ethically, motorists are supposed to yield to somebody who's in front of them.
[13:52] In Pennsylvania, the rules are special.
[13:56] If a pedestrian is in the crosswalk, even if they're past
[14:00] where the motorist would travel, the motorists are still supposed to hold their
[14:04] yield.
[14:06] Well, I went back and measured motorist behavior.
[14:10] Besides the seven seconds typical
[14:14] closing time,
[14:16] I crossed the intersection, I think. Let's see if I can hand this out too.
[14:20] I have enough copies. I think around 30 times I crossed, and
[14:25] a very large percentage that time,
[14:29] a motorist would not yield. Usually, it was when I was
[14:33] halfway across, and they would just simply drive behind me.
[14:36] A couple times it was when I was halfway across, and they drove in front of me.
[14:41] Quite a few motorists did yield properly and held off.
[14:44] But most of those, I think I scribbled in those times, most of those were people
[14:47] coming out of the Wegmans
[14:50] who could see...
[14:52] Anybody there can see the pedestrian clearly, but Wegmans is kind of a
[14:55] different situation. Wegmans has a stop sign up there, so
[14:59] the motorists coming out of Wegmans are obeying that sign, are already stopped,
[15:03] looking left and right or ahead to see if they can go, and they'll see the
[15:06] pedestrians and properly yield.
[15:09] I don't mean to cut you off, but I think we are well aware of the
[15:12] challenges of that location, and I believe
[15:16] that we have been
[15:19] looking into, correct me if I'm wrong, Mr.
[15:21] Hudson, we've been looking into some ways to traffic calm.
[15:25] We upgraded the signage already for the approaches.
[15:29] I think I've seen that.
[15:30] Yeah. So we put on high visibility signage.
[15:33] We put on the high visibility pole reflectors.
[15:36] We even upgraded the arrows on the
[15:40] LED lights.
[15:42] Yeah.
[15:42] And put the pole protectors on those.
[15:44] There's a sign that says ahead under the advanced warning sign that we
[15:48] also upgraded to the high-
[15:49] I saw those, and that was the first time I noticed them.
[15:53] But I saw those in place.
[15:55] The signs were older.
[15:56] Yeah.
[15:56] They were there before, so we replaced them with new high visibility.
[16:00] Okay.
[16:00] Extra high visibility.
[16:00] The only thing we actually added was underneath the flashing
[16:04] signs. We added a post strip, like a reflective post.
[16:07] Everything else was just upgraded.
[16:09] Just to catch the eye of the approaching vehicle, correct?
[16:12] Yes.
[16:13] There is advanced warning. There is the crosswalk signaling exactly where the
[16:16] crosswalk is with flashing lights as well as
[16:20] in the middle of the road, we have one of the channelizations that is
[16:23] removable that we have at a lot of our crosswalks.
[16:26] All right. They were quite likely in place
[16:29] before I made these measurements.
[16:32] I believe that's what they said, but they were-
[16:35] They were in place, but we just upgraded them. When did we?
[16:38] Yeah. Except for the post strips under the thing, everything else was placed,
[16:42] or it was a sign, but there's a new fluorescent
[16:46] yellow-green that replaced the old yellow that you see.
[16:50] Yep.
[16:50] So, we upgraded to that. But the signs themselves were there,
[16:54] replaced and likely.
[16:55] And then I also updated Senator Miller's office with the estimate
[16:59] from Jim for about a million dollars
[17:02] where they're looking for a possible grant.
[17:04] To signalize it?
[17:05] Mm-hmm.
[17:06] Yeah.
[17:06] All right, so you're looking at that.
[17:09] Yeah, because the woman who contacted me did approach Senator Miller when he was
[17:13] here for his town hall.
[17:13] Yeah, and I've been in contact with Senator Miller's office.
[17:16] All right. Because there are other traffic calming
[17:20] methods
[17:21] that I expect will work better. The person asked for
[17:25] stop signs.
[17:27] Stop signs are not-
[17:28] We can't stop sign that intersection.
[17:30] Yeah.
[17:30] Why not?
[17:31] It's three lanes. You're not-
[17:32] You've got stop signs.
[17:34] We're not going to stop sign that intersection.
[17:35] Well, I'm going to-
[17:36] Is that a restriction?
[17:39] Hold on. Courtesy of the floor is for you to address us,
[17:43] and we're listening.
[17:45] Second time we're listening. But we have to be guided by our professionals, our
[17:49] engineers, and our solicitor
[17:53] at
[17:54] any kind of traffic calming or changes to roadways.
[17:59] I liken it to a balloon. Push over here, something comes out
[18:03] over here, and it's not always a decision made at this level.
[18:07] So,
[18:09] correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Hudson, Mr.
[18:12] Kucker, we can't just throw in
[18:15] stop signs or signalization. That's a cooperative
[18:19] multilayer decision. Am I correct?
[18:22] Yeah, the intersection has to meet PennDOT's warrants for a
[18:26] stop sign
[18:27] There's a lot of different warrants.
[18:29] One of the things that is absolutely not a warrant
[18:33] is traffic cop,
[18:35] because it pushes the speeds up between the stop signs.
[18:39] So PENNDOT doesn't say if that's the only reason,
[18:43] doesn't qualify.
[18:44] Yeah, you can't use stop signs for speed control, only for traffic
[18:48] control.
[18:50] So we hear you,
[18:53] and we are moving at a pace to do something, but
[18:59] there are constraints to what we can do.
[19:01] And what we can do is going to be guided by our professionals
[19:06] and the law.
[19:07] And what we did was we upgraded the signs as quickly as we could-
[19:10] Yeah
[19:11] ... to try to help. And we have this, the,
[19:15] what's the thing in the middle of the road?
[19:16] Channelization device, they're calling it. The pedestrian channelization.
[19:21] The guy-
[19:21] And on the yellow lines. Yeah.
[19:23] Right.
[19:23] So.
[19:25] Yeah. And we'll take an over-under how long that one lasts.
[19:27] It's been there.
[19:29] You never know.
[19:30] Yeah. So,
[19:33] I appreciate you coming in. We usually allot three
[19:37] to five minutes, but if your
[19:41] goal is to list a whole bunch of things that you want to do, we're looking at
[19:45] what we can do and what's possible, but that's not what
[19:48] courtesy of the floor is for.
[19:51] All right. Well, can I leave my papers here?
[19:53] Absolutely.
[19:53] I printed them out last again.
[19:55] You can leave them with Marty.
[19:56] All right.
[19:57] And we'll pass them in.
[19:58] And don't get me wrong, we appreciate you coming in another time
[20:02] because, as they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
[20:05] But we are looking at the squeaky wheel, but
[20:08] we have constraints.
[20:13] Yes, I heard that the last time, but there are several roads
[20:17] around the area that have stop signs controlling multiple lanes.
[20:22] Well, I would be the first to tell you there are illegal stop signs all over the
[20:25] place.
[20:27] What I said about the pedestrian cross... Well, they're not going to be illegal.
[20:30] They're just useless,
[20:33] because pedestrians are allowed to cross. All right.
[20:36] Well, thank you.
[20:36] Thank you. Did you want me to sign in?
[20:37] Yes, please. Anyone else for courtesy of the floor?
[20:43] All right. That brings us to a slew of
[20:46] proclamations.
[20:49] And the way we've set this up, we're going to each take one
[20:53] for some
[20:54] recognition
[20:56] within the township. Joe, Mr. Peptone, would you please take the first
[21:00] proclamation?
[21:01] Sure. So the first proclamation we have is Proclamation
[21:04] 2026-01, National Public Works Week.
[21:07] Just to do a quick
[21:09] excerpt from the
[21:11] proclamation, our Hanover Township Public Works Department maintains over 60
[21:15] miles of township roads and critical infrastructure with a dedicated team working
[21:19] year-round. They make sure to engage with our community through events such as
[21:23] Touch-a-Truck and Trunk or Treat.
[21:24] And National Public Works Week provides an opportunity to recognize the dedication,
[21:28] hard work, and often unseen contribution of public works employees.
[21:32] I move the board to adopt Proclamation 2026-01 to proclaim the
[21:36] week of May 17th through May 23rd as National Public Works Week in
[21:40] Hanover Township.
[21:42] Is there a second?
[21:44] Second.
[21:45] Steve's got it. All right.
[21:48] Any comments or questions, members of the board?
[21:52] Any comments or questions from the members of the public?
[21:56] Can't disagree with this one. Yeah.
[21:57] Thank you to our public works, though.
[22:02] Hearing none, all those in favor?
[22:04] Aye.
[22:05] Any opposed?
[22:06] Proclamation is approved. Thank you, Mr. Peptone. Ms.
[22:10] VerSteeg.
[22:12] Proclamation 2026-02, National
[22:15] Police Week.
[22:18] The Colonial Regional Police Department works for Hanover
[22:22] Township and serves also Lower Nazareth.
[22:25] They strengthen our public safety through our community partnerships, their
[22:29] outreach initiatives and programs to promote transparency and
[22:33] trust through our Neighborhood Watch and our Citizens Police Academy.
[22:37] We would like to honor the men and women of law enforcement who have made the
[22:40] ultimate sacrifice and recognize those who continue to serve with courage,
[22:44] integrity and selflessness every day.
[22:47] And we would like to proclaim May 10 to the 16th as
[22:51] National Police Week, and we urge all residents to recognize and
[22:55] express their appreciation to our
[22:59] CRPD officers and personnel.
[23:02] So
[23:04] I move
[23:06] the board to adopt Proclamation
[23:08] 2026-02 to proclaim the week of May 10th
[23:12] to May 16th as National Police Week in Hanover Township.
[23:16] Second.
[23:17] Any comments or questions from members of the board?
[23:20] Any comments or questions from members of the public?
[23:23] Hearing none, all those in favor?
[23:25] Aye.
[23:26] Any opposed? Proclamation is approved.
[23:30] Which takes me to the proclamation for
[23:34] our EMS,
[23:38] which will be the week of recognizing our Emergency Medical
[23:42] Services Week in the township, May 17th through 23rd,
[23:46] 2026.
[23:48] Hanover Township EMS provides basic and advanced life support, which
[23:52] is a new service, emergency medical services to the
[23:56] residents of Hanover Township, delivering 24/7 emergency
[24:00] care to over 11,000 residents. They respond to thousands of
[24:04] calls annually. They're a dedicated group of both
[24:08] volunteers and
[24:10] paid staff,
[24:12] but
[24:13] the benefits we get from them is immeasurable.
[24:18] So,
[24:19] I move the board to adopt Proclamation
[24:22] 2026-03 to proclaim the week of May 17th through
[24:26] 23rd as Emergency Medical Services Week in Hanover
[24:30] TownshipIs there a second?
[24:32] Second.
[24:33] Any questions from anyone on the dais?
[24:36] Any questions from members of the public?
[24:39] Hearing none, all those in favor?
[24:42] Aye.
[24:43] Any opposed? The proclamation is approved.
[24:46] Proclamation 2026-04, Arbor Day.
[24:51] While we have Earth Day, which highlights global environmental awareness,
[24:55] Arbor Day provides an opportunity for the local community to
[24:59] plant trees, promote sustainability, and invest in the long-term health of the
[25:03] township.
[25:05] And it focuses specifically on the lasting impact of trees at the
[25:09] local level.
[25:10] So I move the board to adopt proclamation 2026-04 to
[25:14] proclaim Arbor Day in Hanover Township as Friday, April 24,
[25:19] 2026.
[25:20] Second.
[25:21] Any questions from my colleagues?
[25:24] Any questions from the public? Hearing none, all those in favor?
[25:28] Aye.
[25:29] Any opposed? Proclamation carries. Thank you.
[25:33] So I'm up next. And whoever gave me this, I thank you very much for
[25:37] this. I normally bring this up every year.
[25:40] This is recognizing Motorcycle Safety and Awareness
[25:43] Month for May.
[25:47] I'm not going to read the proclamation.
[25:49] We all know motorcycles
[25:51] are out on roads when the
[25:55] weather is nicer.
[26:00] We have to be aware of motorcycles, especially left-hand turns.
[26:05] I could speak to this with some familiarity.
[26:08] My son was killed
[26:10] by a tractor-trailer coming home on his motorcycle 11 years ago.
[26:17] It not only takes the life of the rider, but it impacts the family, as you can all
[26:20] imagine.
[26:22] So my word of advice to you is
[26:26] it's always the left-hand turn, cars cutting in front of
[26:30] motorcycles and just not paying attention.
[26:33] On nice days, just please look to
[26:36] your left
[26:41] when you're turning and make sure that the motorcycle, there's nothing
[26:45] coming. They're hard to see sometimes. They blend in to the environment.
[26:49] Therefore, I move the board to adopt proclamation
[26:52] 2026-05 to proclaim the month of May
[26:56] as National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month in Hanover Township, and
[26:59] urge all residents to join in efforts to promote
[27:03] motorcycle safety and reduce the risk of accidents on our roadways.
[27:07] Second.
[27:09] Any questions from my colleagues?
[27:11] Any questions out in the public? Hearing none,
[27:15] all those in favor?
[27:17] Aye.
[27:17] Any opposed? Hearing none, the proclamation carries.
[27:21] Thank you all.
[27:23] It's a lot of good stuff.
[27:24] Mm-hmm.
[27:25] All right. For the report of the chair, I just want to mention two things.
[27:28] We have a
[27:30] neighbor to the north who happens to be the
[27:34] director of NASA. Just want to
[27:36] congratulate the director of NASA
[27:40] and Mr. Isaacman and his entire team.
[27:44] We had a wonderful experience last week with the
[27:47] Artemis 2 crew safely returning to Earth.
[27:51] And the reason why it's, I don't know, very dear to my heart is
[27:55] the astronauts landed on the moon on my
[27:59] birthday in 1969. So I'll always remember that, and I'm really
[28:03] looking forward to them going back to the moon.
[28:04] So congratulations to our
[28:07] community neighbor. And
[28:10] congratulations on behalf of myself and the entire board
[28:14] to Steven Gross and his wife, Jackie, on the healthy birth of their
[28:18] third child, Finn McGrady, weighing in at
[28:22] nine point, what, three ounces?
[28:24] Nine pounds, 2.2 ounces.
[28:27] Congratulations.
[28:28] Thank you.
[28:30] Jackie was not relieved. Well, I guess she was in a way, but I was relieved
[28:34] that this was the first child that wasn't born at 1:30 in the morning.
[28:37] Right.
[28:37] So that was
[28:39] nice.
[28:40] Well, congratulations.
[28:42] Thank you.
[28:44] Anything for the
[28:47] report of the vice chair?
[28:48] I have nothing to report.
[28:49] All right. Thank you. Mr. Pepitone, anything out of one?
[28:53] Nothing to report.
[28:54] Mr. Gross, anything out of three?
[28:55] Nothing out of three.
[28:56] Mr. Prendiville?
[28:58] During my
[29:00] roam around the township,
[29:02] noticed the sinkhole, alerted Marty to it, and
[29:06] that sinkhole was filled. It was off of Hanoverville Road up by the,
[29:11] I think up by the park, Marty?
[29:13] Yeah, across the street. It was on the-
[29:16] Okay
[29:16] ... Monocacy Farms property.
[29:18] So that's all I have out of five.
[29:19] And it was filled over the weekend.
[29:23] Realized. Thank you.
[29:26] We have no appointments, resignations.
[29:30] It doesn't look like we have anything for planning and zoning either.
[29:33] Okay.
[29:33] So that takes us to Mr. Gross on developments.
[29:36] The only thing I have is LVHN UHS Behavioral Health Hospital,
[29:40] land development security release request number one.
[29:43] I move the board, as recommended by Hanover Engineering's letter dated April 8th,
[29:47] 2026, to
[29:50] grant RKRS, developer of LVHN
[29:53] UHS Behavioral Health Hospital, land development, a reduction of the
[29:57] required security in the amount of
[30:01] $4,641,202.78,
[30:05] conditioned upon the following. One, the developer adheres to Township
[30:09] Policy 08, payment of plans and appeals account.
[30:12] And two, confirmation of remaining security in the amount of
[30:16] $388,263.22.
[30:20] Second.
[30:22] Any questions from anyone on the dais?
[30:26] I just have a question. Now, on the corner of Macada
[30:30] and Shanersville, there's that area that always floods.
[30:33] Mm-hmm.
[30:34] That's not the detention basin that-
[30:37] No.
[30:37] No. It's the one that's-
[30:38] Detention basin's further up
[30:39] ... further up
[30:40] ... on the site.
[30:44] Do the two areas work together or yeah?
[30:47] Yeah.
[30:49] Yeah, that flooding is more controlled as a function of the pipe under Cherry
[30:52] Street and the flatness of the area approaching
[30:56] Cherry Street. If you notice on the cadet itself, along the whole frontage
[31:00] there, it's very flat.
[31:01] Yeah.
[31:03] Okay. Any questions from anyone out in
[31:07] the public?
[31:10] Hearing none,
[31:12] all those in favor?
[31:13] Aye.
[31:14] Any opposed? Motion carries.
[31:17] And that concludes developments.
[31:19] We're moving.
[31:20] Yeah.
[31:20] All right. That takes us to Mr. Pepitone and then administration.
[31:23] Sure. So I got two things. First things first, we got ordinance
[31:26] 26-01, amending chapter 130, political
[31:30] signs. I move the board to adopt ordinance 26-01,
[31:34] amending Hanover Township's code of ordinances, part two, general legislation,
[31:38] chapter 130, political signs, to amend the maximum permitted size of
[31:42] political signs and address any conflicts with First Amendment protections,
[31:45] repealing all ordinances and/or parts of ordinances that are inconsistent herewith.
[31:49] Second.
[31:51] Any questions from anyone here on the dais?
[31:54] Any questions from members of the public?
[31:57] Hearing none-
[32:00] Roll call
[32:00] ... roll call, please.
[32:01] Mr. Pretendive?
[32:02] Aye.
[32:03] Mr. Gross?
[32:03] Aye.
[32:04] Mr. Pepitone?
[32:05] Aye.
[32:05] Ms. Thursday? Aye. Ms. Loll?
[32:07] Aye. Motion carries.
[32:09] All right. And second, resolution 2026-10,
[32:14] intergovernmental agreement with the City of Bethlehem.
[32:16] I move the board to approve resolution 2026-10 and to
[32:20] authorize the chair and township secretary to execute the intergovernmental
[32:23] agreement with the City of Bethlehem to appoint the City of Bethlehem Police
[32:26] Department as the duly authorized agent for the purpose of providing police
[32:29] protection for the Monocacy Park Complex and
[32:33] facilities without any cost to Hanover Township. That one's for you, Mike.
[32:37] In addition, Hanover Township appointed the City of Bethlehem's EMS and Fire
[32:40] Department to provide the necessary EMS and fire protection services.
[32:43] Second.
[32:46] Does anyone have any questions on this?
[32:49] I do, but why this way, carpet?
[32:54] It's always been that way. This is updating a resolution from
[32:58] 1964,
[33:00] and at that time it only actually mentioned police, but for the
[33:04] last
[33:07] 61, 2 years
[33:09] they've also been doing EMS and police.
[33:12] Does this take jurisdiction away from Colonial Regional?
[33:16] It always has.
[33:17] Yeah?
[33:17] Yeah, they've never gone down there in their existence.
[33:21] This is more
[33:23] 911 just gets it in writing than Bethlehem. They need an update.
[33:26] So to who they're going to dispatch?
[33:28] Yeah.
[33:28] Okay.
[33:29] Yep.
[33:29] Thank you.
[33:30] That's really the long and short of it.
[33:32] Yeah.
[33:32] Since it wasn't updated since 1964.
[33:34] So
[33:36] this is part of Hanover Township trivia.
[33:40] But it's serious, obviously. Any other questions?
[33:44] Any questions from members of the public?
[33:47] Hearing none, roll call, please.
[33:48] Mr. Pretendive?
[33:49] Happy birthday. Aye.
[33:51] Mr. Gross?
[33:52] Aye.
[33:53] Mr. Pepitone?
[33:53] Aye.
[33:54] Ms. Thursday? Aye. Ms. Loll?
[33:55] Aye. Motion carries.
[33:58] All right. And that concludes administration. I now pass it to Mr.
[34:01] Pretendive, public works.
[34:03] Thank you. I move the board to authorize
[34:07] the township secretary to advertise the bid
[34:11] proposal for the 2026 paving project.
[34:14] Second.
[34:16] What is the 2026 paving project?
[34:19] So we spoke about this at the last meeting.
[34:22] It's going to be Hanoverville Road from North Commerce Way to the
[34:26] circle,
[34:27] not including the circle,
[34:30] as that's newer pavement already.
[34:31] And then Hanover Street from Weaversville Road to the
[34:35] township line with East Allen,
[34:38] approximately 0.34 miles.
[34:40] So that's east of 512 that you're talking about, right?
[34:44] Yes.
[34:45] For Hanoverville.
[34:46] For Hanoverville.
[34:47] Yeah, for Hanoverville.
[34:48] Yeah, it doesn't touch 512.
[34:50] I know. I said East Allen.
[34:53] Just making sure.
[34:54] Any other questions from anyone on the dais?
[34:57] Any questions from members of the public?
[34:59] No question.
[35:01] Oh, I'm sorry?
[35:02] You said the circle. What is the circle on Hanoverville Road?
[35:05] What is-
[35:06] It's just a turnaround.
[35:07] The cul-de-sac?
[35:08] Oh.
[35:08] Oh, yeah.
[35:09] At the dead end at Old Hanoverville Road.
[35:13] Yeah. At the dead end.
[35:13] Behind-
[35:14] Yes
[35:14] ... behind CVS.
[35:15] Yes.
[35:15] Correct.
[35:15] Yep.
[35:16] All right.
[35:18] Any other questions?
[35:20] Hearing none,
[35:21] all those in favor?
[35:22] Aye.
[35:23] Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you.
[35:26] That concludes public works. Thank you.
[35:28] All right. That brings us to the second and final courtesy of the floor.
[35:33] Anyone out there that has anything they want to present to the board?
[35:37] All right. Hearing none, I'll close that.
[35:40] We'll move on to our staff report, starting with Mr. Kucker.
[35:44] Mark and I are working on the AFHBD, primarily the uses,
[35:48] going back to the work groups
[35:51] draft.
[35:52] Trying to look at some of the things we talked about since then and trying to bring
[35:56] back to the board a copy of
[35:59] what essentially is the working group's draft with some modifications that Mark
[36:03] and I think may be appropriate. So hopefully within the next month
[36:07] or so, we'll have something back for the board.
[36:10] Thank you.
[36:12] Mr. Brock?
[36:13] I'm happy to say that I have nothing.
[36:18] Mr. Laport?
[36:21] First, yard waste back in session and holy moly.
[36:27] I can tell people have been waiting to get outside.
[36:31] So it's been very heavy.
[36:34] It seems to have,
[36:36] with the new garbage service being separate containers,
[36:39] it really has helped out because what a lot of people
[36:43] were using are yard waste containers for their trash and-
[36:48] It made it difficult. It slowed us down because we had to open up
[36:52] 50 containers every time that were residential waste.
[36:55] So it has been a big improvement. It's just that people have been ready to
[36:59] get out there and do stuff. It's been very busy, but
[37:03] we're back in business. So,
[37:06] I don't know if we talked about this, but there was a tree up at College
[37:10] Heights Park that fell on our
[37:13] swing set up there. We got
[37:17] insurance for it, and it was ordered literally like the next week.
[37:20] But it's probably going to be at least three to four more weeks until that
[37:25] play-- Just the play. It gets in of this
[37:29] three-bay swing set. So that is ordered.
[37:31] It will be replaced as soon as it
[37:35] comes.
[37:37] All of the main roads have been swept
[37:41] like the last week and a half or so, and they have started in developments.
[37:45] Our sweeper started north, beginning with Monocacy Farms and has
[37:49] been working, and we're posted down into Greenleaf and Greenfield.
[37:53] We'll be tomorrow. As we've done in the past, we put barricades at the
[37:56] entrances to almost every... And we write the date that they
[38:00] have the cars off the road. And then there's a couple developments like
[38:04] Comfort, Grace, Jacqueline, that we'll post on this Friday,
[38:08] giving them the opportunity to see that all weekend because those are
[38:12] mainly highly parked on the road areas.
[38:15] So we'll do those couple areas Monday,
[38:19] just to get those out of the way.
[38:21] We don't have all that much on-street parking, but we try
[38:25] to limit it, obviously. If anybody sees
[38:29] any big sticks or anything out on the road, we'd appreciate helping pick up
[38:33] and sneeze it up for us.
[38:34] Hey, Laurie, the street sweeper came by on
[38:38] Monday, and that was much appreciated.
[38:39] Yep.
[38:41] I think it was the first time in history where I told the family to get the cars
[38:44] off the street, and they complied,
[38:48] which is good.
[38:51] It's a small point. I'm nitpicking this.
[38:54] It's not anything to do with you, but people,
[38:58] on Mondays in that section, it's trash day, and people are putting
[39:02] their cans in the road, which forces the truck to go around the trash.
[39:06] Right. Yes.
[39:07] You can put your trash cans on the curb.
[39:09] You'll still be able to get it because it's an arm that comes out.
[39:12] Yeah.
[39:13] I don't know if we can
[39:15] reinforce that.
[39:17] It did get approved.
[39:17] We can try.
[39:18] We can try.
[39:18] We can try.
[39:19] We just got them to hate the bins. Right?
[39:24] We also wrote down-
[39:25] Now you want to introduce a change.
[39:26] You put the arm lift out to the road.
[39:29] Yeah.
[39:29] But a lot of people are turning them around.
[39:33] I thought these were supposed to go in the curb, in the road.
[39:35] Now it seems like a lot of people on my street-
[39:38] Yeah.
[39:38] Well, there you have it. They can go on the curb. The arm comes out.
[39:41] I put mine on the curb.
[39:42] There you go. It's just on the grass.
[39:44] Yeah, I do it on the grass.
[39:45] It seems like a lot of these found their way to the street now, the new cans.
[39:48] I have to put mine on the street because my driveway has a good pitch, so...
[39:52] But it would-
[39:53] Put another one.
[39:54] Yeah, I can do that too, but I just-
[39:56] Actually, my kids like the recycling buckets because they can put more
[40:00] stuff in it, and I always had them overflowing, so...
[40:03] Me too.
[40:03] Yeah.
[40:04] Yeah. That old days.
[40:05] I haven't filled one yet, so...
[40:06] They do end up, I've seen a little bit more garbage on a windy day, when
[40:10] they dump it, make it into the road.
[40:13] Hmm.
[40:17] But with that, there was a couple little instances where we did see
[40:21] yard waste in the Casella cans.
[40:23] Yeah.
[40:23] So please try not to use the Casella or
[40:27] White Tail cans for your waste. But yeah, street sweeping, if you see the signs,
[40:31] do your best. Try to keep your vehicles in your driveway for that day, so-
[40:34] And the trash cans on the curb.
[40:35] And the trash cans on the curb as we make our way through.
[40:40] Maybe you could stagger it where it's not
[40:43] on trash day.
[40:44] Yeah.
[40:45] Just an idea.
[40:47] That would take some work, but it could be done.
[40:48] No, I don't want to create work.
[40:50] No, it's just... Yeah. What I mean,
[40:53] the trash is five days a week now.
[40:56] It is, right.
[40:57] So.
[40:57] Yeah.
[40:59] The building and FRP, Mark and I were over there for the bathrooms at First
[41:03] Responders Park. I don't know if anyone's been by, but all the equipment's gone,
[41:06] the fence is cleaned up, grass is starting to grow.
[41:08] Right.
[41:10] We actually had a public works director from a nearby community
[41:14] come and check it out because they really liked it, and they were thinking about
[41:17] doing something, and he was impressed with that.
[41:20] So I'm excited for that to be open. There's just maybe a
[41:24] couple things on the punch list that the contractor has to do.
[41:28] Nothing major,
[41:30] so.
[41:33] We're out mowing as well. We mowed a little bit last week.
[41:36] You'll see guys in parks mulching and putting playground safety surfacing
[41:40] down.
[41:41] We try to do it when there's nobody occupying the parks, but if you see us out
[41:45] there, that's what we're doing.
[41:47] That's all I have. Thank you.
[41:48] All right. Thank you.
[41:50] That brings us to Mr. Hudson.
[41:52] All right. So Dante sent up, they had a question and answer performance with
[41:56] Ted Donatelli, was held on Thursday, April 9th.
[41:59] Ted put on a good show and played some classic songs.
[42:03] Jack McCollum conducted the interview and kept the audience engaged.
[42:06] Heard very good things about it. The Women Move for Health program is
[42:10] underway with a total of 30 women registered for the program,
[42:14] one of the largest turnouts in recent years.
[42:17] Spring programming toddler time began today.
[42:20] Youth tennis
[42:21] clinics begin next week, and martial arts will begin the first week of May.
[42:26] The HTCC is accepting donations for the Walk to
[42:30] End Alzheimer's.
[42:34] And the Easton Municipal Band and Liberty Alumni Band will put on a joint
[42:38] performance next Saturday, two Saturdays from now,
[42:41] on April 25th at 3:00 PM. That's a free event at the
[42:45] community center.
[42:46] Just a quick question about Dante's portion of this.
[42:49] Do we know how the campaign for the community center and pool are
[42:53] going? I believe you advertised that-
[42:56] Yeah, I do not
[42:56] ... as a discount.
[42:57] I don't have that.I'll go get that for you.
[43:00] This is just the ending the
[43:03] bigger discount, right? Or that was the first half of April?
[43:08] Second.
[43:08] Second half.
[43:09] Okay.
[43:09] One of them. Because there was a 20% then it dropped.
[43:12] Oh, right. You got an early bird boost.
[43:15] Yeah.
[43:17] Yeah.
[43:17] I'll get that answer for you.
[43:18] Okay.
[43:22] Just the letters went out for the stormwater project on Gasbarrin King
[43:26] Street. We've had some residents contact us to get on a mailing list, and some
[43:30] came in with questions.
[43:33] Our IT companies are working on transitioning the township to the
[43:36] serverless environment.
[43:39] Farmhouse Village construction has begun on Jacksonville,
[43:43] up near Hanoverville. Residents should expect road closures
[43:47] on Jacksonville in the next couple of weeks.
[43:49] They have to cross Jacksonville with a
[43:50] storm sewer line, and
[43:54] they have to connect to the water, and that's a 36-inch main, so that's going to be
[43:58] a pretty big
[43:59] project. So at some point it will be
[44:03] closed permanently for a couple of days, up to two
[44:07] weeks. We're hoping not that long, but
[44:11] it could be.
[44:12] Will we be using our mobile sign up there to warn people?
[44:16] I offered that to the contractor, and they did go through PennDOT and got
[44:20] the approval for the detour since it's going to detour onto a state
[44:24] road. So there should be all
[44:27] PennDOT approved signage out, and then they will put advance warning out as
[44:31] well,
[44:32] and then we offer the sign as well as an additional aid and warning.
[44:36] Yeah. Excellent. Thank you.
[44:39] And the township continues to get complaints, and Marty and I
[44:43] are absolutely pulling our hair out about the electric dirt
[44:47] bikes.
[44:48] Yeah.
[44:48] This isn't an electric
[44:53] pedal bike. This is an electric dirt bike, which is no pedals.
[44:56] Basically, it's a full-on dirt bike.
[44:59] We now also have some gas dirt bikes,
[45:02] with the kids on them. A lot of times these
[45:05] young people riding these are not-
[45:09] Supervised
[45:11] ... safe. They're not supervised at all.
[45:13] We are working with the Colonial Regional.
[45:15] We have new signs ordered that we're going to put at the entrances to each of
[45:20] this park.
[45:23] So we are working on it.
[45:24] Is it just in the parks or is it on the roads or is it both?
[45:28] It's everywhere-
[45:29] On the roads
[45:29] ... but we're really having problems in the municipal park.
[45:33] Okay.
[45:33] They are on the pump track sometimes, but it's
[45:37] even just they run full out through the grass.
[45:40] I passed a kid on the way here.
[45:42] Yeah.
[45:42] On Jacksonville doing a full wheelie.
[45:45] Yeah, that's true. We are not the only township having problems with this.
[45:49] Are our police authorized
[45:53] if they stop them to confiscate the bike?
[45:56] As I know, yes.
[45:58] Are they?
[45:58] I think so.
[45:59] I think we should make that clear because I was once young, I grew up in South
[46:02] Jersey, and nothing quite brings the point home as
[46:06] if your parent has to go down to the police station to
[46:10] retrieve your very expensive gear.
[46:14] So we are working on it. We are getting a lot of complaints.
[46:18] Again, unfortunately, the
[46:20] individuals that are riding are riding close to the playground,
[46:24] riding along the trail.
[46:25] Yeah.
[46:28] Marty and I are literally pulling our hair out.
[46:31] And then just at our May meeting, the May 12th meeting,
[46:35] planning to do a photo at FRP. So we'll probably meet there
[46:39] before this meeting and then come over here for this meeting.
[46:42] So more information.
[46:46] All right.
[46:46] That's all I have.
[46:49] Thank you.
[46:50] Our next board of supervisors meeting will be May 12,
[46:54] 2026 at 7:00 PM.
[46:57] I pose a motion to adjourn. So moved.
[46:59] We are adjourned. Thank you all.
[47:02] Is that
[47:03] photo with a park in it? An environmental
[47:07] park?
[47:08] No, no