Girardville approves excavation ordinance; resolution seeking grant for community center improvements
GIRARDVILLE – Borough Council here approved last week an ordinance to regulate excavation as well as a resolution to seek $70,000 in grant funding to improve the community center in town.
The Girardville Borough Excavation Ordinance, approved at last Wednesday’s meeting, regulates any cutting, opening, or excavation on streets, highways, or right-of-ways in town and requires any such activity to first be permitted by the borough.
Any work would have to be done by a licensed and insured contractor and road closures would be prohibited unless absolutely necessary and at the discretion of the Mayor, Police Chief, or Fire Chief.
The permit fee would be $300 plus $10 for 10 linear feet or less, or $10 for every 10 linear feet, rounded up to the closest 10.
“This is to address excavations not being finished as their supposed to, and also allow us to get a little more money for excavation permitting,” Arlen “Rick” Day, borough solicitor, said.
Day also provided an update on the potential ban on trucks using compression brakes in town, frequently called a Jake brake after the Jacobs company, which invented the system.
He outlined the various requirements PennDOT has for allowing such zones, including certain speed limits or grades.
“It’s a study that has to be done by an engineer, looking at the application,” Day said. “What we could do is find out how much the study would cost and see if it’s feasible to do it.”
A prohibition is also not allowed for a road with a grade steeper than 4%.
Council also said they were seeking $70,000 from the Schuylkill County Community Development Block Grant to improve the pavements and add handicap ramps into the A Street School, now used as a Community Center, according to Council President Charles Marquardt.
Marquardt also said that the borough is on track to receive $317,000 in federal funding to renovate the municipal building.
In other business, during council approved their participation in the Schuylkill County Hazard Mitigation Plan Update. They also approved a bid for $38,000 to purchase a boiler for the municipal building.
During the public comment portion, multiple residents urged the borough to find a new code enforcement officer. The current code enforcement officer has been on leave due to medical issues within their family, council said.
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