EAST ROCKHILL >> Plans to reopen the quarry on North Rockhill Road should include building up the road, township Engineer Steve Baluh said at the Feb. 27 East Rockhill Township Board of Supervisors meeting.
“For the road to survive under the truck traffic,” he said, “the paving would need to be increased.”
When he did a recent study of the road, he was surprised to find it already has 4 inches of asphalt, but at least 6 inches would be needed to handle the anticipated truck traffic from the quarry, Baluh said, recommending that the quarry and the township work together to repave the road.
That was one of several recommendations in Baluh’s presentation of a preliminary report done on road conditions in regard to the quarry at 2055 N. Rockhill Road.
The quarry has been inactive since the early 1980s but has maintained state and local permits, township officials said in December when neighbors raised concerns about increased activity at the site.
Richard E. Pierson Materials Corp., the winning bidder in the recently begun next section of widening for the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Lower Salford, Franconia and Salford townships, plans to use stone from the quarry for that project.
A hearing before the East Rockhill Township Zoning Hearing Board is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 14, at Pennridge High School after the quarry’s application for a zoning permit was denied because the township said the quarry had to first get approval from the zoning hearing board for a special exception.
“The zoning officer has denied the application, so they’ve [the quarry] appealed that, and in the alternative, they’re also asking for the special exception approval permitted by the East Rockhill Township zoning ordinance,” Patrick Armstrong, the township’s solicitor, said at the Feb. 27 meeting.
During that meeting, the board of supervisors authorized sending Armstrong to the zoning hearing board to represent the supervisors on concerns raised by neighbors and the supervisors.
Supervisor David Nyman said the board’s issues include compliance with the township zoning ordinance; noise; hours of operation; water quality, both at the quarry and effects on neighboring properties; traffic, particularly truck traffic; berms, buffers and setbacks; natural resource protection; and land development compliance.
Baluh was also authorized to attend the zoning hearing and to do an engineering review of the issues.
Armstrong said he expects to have Baluh testify during the zoning board hearing but said the hearing will last more than one night and Baluh is not expected to testify at the March 14 session.
Concerns by neighbors of the quarry were again raised at the Feb. 27 meeting.
Ryan Gottshall, one of the neighbors, brought bottles of discolored water he said was taken from a creek just outside the quarry property.
“That’s leaving their property,” Gottshall said, describing it as “pretty nasty water.”
Gottshall said a mobile rock crusher was moved from its original location and is not as close to his home as it previously was but remains an issue.
“Obviously, there’s a bunch of us in the area that are hearing the noise, and it’s loud,” Gottshall said.
He also showed township officials video on his cellphone of a water truck headed to the quarry and described the video for the meeting attendees.
“This guy is all over the road,” Gottshall said.
“This truck basically hugged the middle of the road, around the corners took whatever he needed,” Gottshall said, “and it was bad.”
Jeannine Gravel, another of the neighbors, said she was run off the road by a truck going to the quarry.
Gottshall said another concern is future lighting at the quarry.
“We already have the airport. We don’t need another one,” he said.
Gottshall said he moved to his home about 16 years ago.
“When I first moved in and you looked at the night, it was dark, and I liked it that way,” he said. “They built the Lowe’s shopping center up there [in Richland Township], and it took away half the night sky.”
In addition to building up the road, Baluh said, there are existing cracks and potholes on Rockhill Road that need to be repaired.
The Pennridge Regional Police Department did a speed study and found about 85 percent of the drivers on the road are within the 35 mile per hour speed limit, although speeds up 57 miles per hour were recorded, Baluh said.
While the township could not decrease the speed limit on the entire road to 25 miles per hour, state law would allow the portion of the road in the residential village section to be decreased to 25, Baluh said. Additional signs advising drivers to slow to 25 miles per hour on the curves could also be added, he said.
In order to get a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation permit for a school zone, there has to be students who walk to the school, he said. None of the students attending Upper Bucks Christian School on Rockhill Road walk there, though, Baluh said. Reminders to attempt to slow drivers, however, could be added, he said.
“We can do additional signage at the school,” Baluh said. “We just could not get a permit to do the 15 mile an hour school zone.”
Since Rockhill Road is relatively flat, the township could ban the use of jake brakes on the road, he said. For safety reasons, jake brake usage could not be banned on steep hills, he said. Some towns do not allow the use of jake brakes because of the noise.
Baluh also recommended additional signs giving notification of things such as approaching a hidden intersection or giving advance notice of weight restricted bridges.
Pennridge Regional police said there were five traffic accidents on Rockhill Road since the beginning of 2015, Baluh said. The accidents were not in any specific portion of the road and there does not appear to be any problem spot, he said. Most of Rockhill Road is 20 feet wide, he said. There are places it is between 19 and 20 feet wide, which is acceptable under PennDOT standards for two-lane roads, Baluh said.
“They anticipate, at least at the start of the quarry, that most of the material will go to the turnpike project,” Baluh said in answer to a resident’s question. “All that material is heading west, and Rockhill Road is the most direct route for that.”
Following Baluh’s preliminary report presentation at the Feb. 27 meeting, he said he will prepare a more formal final report.
“I think we need to not hesitate. Let’s do what we have to do,” board Chairman Gary Volovnik said.
No action will be taken on the recommendations until the formal report is received, the board said.