The Chestnuthill Township supervisors adopted a resolution Tuesday evening authorizing the township to begin taking the necessary steps to purchase 60.17 acres situated along Little Mexico Road.

Lee and Patronila Hoffer, owners of the property located where Effort Neola Road intersects with Little Mexico Road, have offered an option to the township to acquire the property for recreational use or for open spaces preservation.The Hoffers have set an initial price of $6,000 per acre pending an appraisal to be conducted on behalf of the township.According to Supervisor Chris Eckert, the township would need to acquire 50 percent of the funds for the purchase from grants. The resolution gives the township the authority to begin the search into obtaining the needed funding as well as to acquire the services of a real estate appraiser.The option contract to purchase the property is valid for six months.Also on Tuesday's agenda was a plan developed by the township's roadmaster David Scheller to clarify how road striping will be conducted in the future.Chestnuthill has more than 150 miles of township roads, many of which are in high-terrain areas which are prone to foggy conditions and most of which have little or no street lighting. Over the years township residents have complained about the lack of line striping.One resident in particular, Stuart Thody, has been diligent in calling out the township on the issue of line painting. Thody's persistence has not wavered."I want to commend the road department for their hard work," said Thody upon review of the rotational plan presented by Scheller."I hope I am not responsible for making you do all this work.""But I must say I am pleased to see that two roads in particular, Merwinsburg and Toll Roads, will be painted every two years," said Thody. "I believe that going into next year it will be four years since those roads were painted."Township manager Dave Albright also said the township road department has been hard at work compiling a huge amount of data on local roads, culverts and other information to make the department more efficient and to help keep track of road projects that will need to be done in the coming years.