A project that’s been a long time coming, Penn Forest Township’s supervisors approved bidding out a new salt shed at the Transfer Station at their April meeting.

Getting the salt pile out of the maintenance building at the site has been a goal for years.

The current storage spot even took in some water at times.

The new spot is at the top of the hill, built into the hill to keep it even dryer. Supervisors agreed to use pre-fab concrete walls to allow for a 10-foot-tall salt pile. Specs are being made for the building, to be put out for bid later this month.

Bid specs will also go out for a trench drain across the maintenance building at the Transfer Station to take care of the water problem. It’s hoped to award this work at the May meeting so it can be done this summer. With the salt pile moved, there will be extra space for township equipment.

Also at the Transfer Station, the fourth compactor that was ordered last fall has finally arrived and was installed. It is now in use.

The 2022 roads projects were approved to go out to bid. This year, Short Road, Danner Road, and parts of Church Road and Meckesville Road are on the list. The bid materials will be posted shortly so that the work can be awarded at the May meeting, with a targeted completion date by the end of August.

Supervisors also agreed to have Shiffer Bituminous patch potholes on township roads, contracting for two truckloads at $2,200 each.

Roadmaster and Supervisors’ Chairman Roger Meckes reported that the roads crew will be out cleaning up roadside trash and fixing washouts until mowing season begins.

For the township park, the batting cage ordered last month was upgraded to a larger size to match the one already in the park. The change brings the cost up to $6,072 including the net. Two truckloads of infield dirt were ordered for $2,187 plus a $45 fuel charge per load.

The food truck operator attended this meeting and said he is ready to bring his truck to the park later this month. He will bring his paperwork in to the township within the week.

The park commission will begin to meet at the park this month. Their April meeting will be on April 20, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Public comment at this meeting again was about short-term rentals. Peggy and Larry Dusablon of Towamensing Trails were back to promote the idea of limiting the number of short-term rentals in one neighborhood.

Township solicitor Thomas Nanovic is working on proposed rules that would hold up in court. He pointed out that existing STR properties that are properly registered and following the rules would be grandfathered under any new rules.

The Dusablons complained about making calls to the township STR administrator, Granicus, and not getting satisfactory responses. In one instance, a call to Granicus did not reach the 24-hour contact for the STR property because the Granicus automated call did not connect with the property manager’s automated system. This will be resolved.

Discussion then drifted into enforcement, where it was decided to double the number of letters going out to violators. Barry Isett and Associates provides code enforcement for these, and report that eight of 1 properties previously cited had resolved their problems. Supervisors voted to take the remaining two to court.

Prompted by Supervisor Pat Holland, they voted to send 20 letters each month going forward to stay ahead of any problems (still hoping to keep the 80% resolution rate so as to not be busy taking violators to court).

Kathryn Forry of BIA also reported that the zoning office had been “very, very busy in March.”

The meeting wrapped up with supervisors approving reverse subdivisions for three sets of lots in Towamensing Trails.