Vol.121 No. 39 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 December 2 - 8, 2012 el he Partas Post. WILKES-BARRE, PA. www.mydallaspost.com AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER Enrique Gonzales clears snow off the family car by hand after a two-inch snowfall delayed school buses and iced roads. School gr no school? By MEGAN SCHNEIDER mschneider @mydallaspost.com Superintendents Frank Gal- icki of the Dallas School District and James McGovern of the Lake-Lehman School District he men ultimately in charge w safely students travel to school during inclement weath- er. When our area saw its first brush with snow of the season this past Tuesday, Lake-LLehman remained on its regular schedule while Dallas called a two-hour delay. That isn’t the way things are normally done. It all comes down to planning and timing. Jim Gurzler clears sidewalks on Machell Avenue near Dallas center after a two-inch snowfall on Tuesday morning. 2% CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST A two-inch snowfall delayed school buses and inconvenienced shoppers like Kyle Niccum, left, who trudged up Church Street Tuesday morning. Galicki explained that all schools communicate before and during storms or anticipat- ed weather to coordinate sched- ules as much as possible. “There is a network; the West Side supers contact each other,” he said. Usually, the decision to call a 6 a.m. Galicki explained that since Tuesday’s snow didn’t start until late morning, delay or cancellation is made by See SCHOOL, Page 10 DALLAS TOWNSHIP Visioning session allows residents a say In By MEGAN SCHNEIDER mschneider@mydallaspost.com Residents from Dallas Town- ship and members of the town- ship’s planning board met with Jack Varaly from Varay Associ- ates on Nov. 28 to begin the process of building a compre- hensive plan for the township. Varaly was hired by the town- ship to help prepare a plan to map out a vision for the future. The meeting was held to en- courage residents to express their concerns and opinions re- garding issues of zoning, hous- ing, land use, natural resources and other topics and allow resi- dents to volunteer for ad hoc committees to help gather ideas for the plan. “The most important thing that goes into the plan is identi- fying the vision of what they want the township to become,” Varaly said about residents. He added that the majority of the township is zoned Al agri- cultural and advised that, when committee volunteers consider rezoning, they expect slow but steady growth and not the kind of boom the area has experienced during the last 20 years. Census data for the township is available on the township’s website. Elizabeth Martin, vice chairman of the Dallas Town- ship Board of Supervisors, said she would post more specific information on the jobs of com- mittee members and offer ex- amples of other comprehensive plans so people have a better understanding of the process. “Citizen participation is very important,” said Martin. Carl Kaschenbach asked sev- future FOR MORE INFO ... For more information on joining the ad hoc committees in Dallas Township, visit the township web- site at www.dallastownship.com. eral questions about how the process worked. He also posed a question regarding rezoning and wetlands, expressing a de- sire to know how accurate area maps are in regard to showing wetlands in the township. Af- ter much discussion, it was un- derstood that every property would have to be assessed by a professional to determine ex- actly where wetlands are locat- ed. Kaschenbach said, “We are shooting in the dark a little bit then.” Varaly explained that, re- gardless of rezoning, safe- guards are built into other ordi- nances that will protect the wetlands not mapped from be- ing built on or destroyed. The township had approxi- mately 10 volunteers for com- mittees during the meeting, in- cluding Kaschenbach, Walt Ko- chen and Mary and Al Rodri- guez. Martin expected more volunteers to step forward be- fore the end of the week. Com- mittees will meet approximate- ly once a month but times and dates have not been set. Varaly said the process should take about three months to com- plete. He clarified that the compre- hensive plan does not imple- ment any changes but gives su- pervisors a direction. Every de- cision will still have to pass through a public meeting be- fore anything is made official. HARVEYS LAKE BOROUGH Community continues to be divided on police station FROM THE COUNCIL PRESIDENT Read a letter written by Harveys Lake Borough Council president Larry Radel explaining his position on the police station issue on The Dallas Post website. Log onto www.mydallaspost.com By MEGAN SCHNEIDER mschneider@mydallaspost.com Once again, the possible move and renovation of the Harveys Lake Police Station was a topic of contention at the borough coun- cil’s regular meeting on Nov. 20. Resident Danny Blaine brought up the topic during the public comment portion of the meeting when he presented council with a letter written by resident Ed Williams. The letter was in regard to the homeowners of Marina Pointe. Blaine read part of the letter aloud, stating that Marina Point residents are against moving the police station to Little League Road. “It doesn’t seem logical to me and I disagree 100%,” said Blaine of the proposed move. Guy Giordano said he saw esti- mates for the renovation of the current station that the borough received last week and thought 6'"B09815120079 they were wrong. Judi Williams Spagnuolo then asked council about floor plans available for public inspection on a back table in the room. The floor plans are for the renovation of the recreation center on Little League Road. Spagnuolo checked with council to be sure original bids for both buildings had come in over the allotted grant money. She raised the question about cost and whether that would result in a tax in- crease. “As a taxpayer, I can’t afford to pay,” she said. Mayor Clarence Hogan stated the floor plans on display were drawn prior to receiving esti- mates from contractors and they were only on display because the police station issue was a topic on the agenda. This sparked debate in the meeting room that continued for approximately 15 minutes. Coun- cil President Larry Radel defend- ed the proposed moving of the members Michelle Boice and Thomas Kehler tried to explain that estimates for the current station are exaggerated and in- clude an addition that is “unnec- essary.” Radel defended the addition in the estimates, saying engineers are trying to make the square footage of the buildings the same for comparison purposes. Radel said, “The reality is we don’t know how much it’s going to cost.” Kehler added that if the esti- mates of the current station are taken into consideration, the cost of renovation is about $87,000, almost the same as ren- ovating the recreation center. During the debate, resident Carol Culver scolded Council President Radel for “rolling his eyes” while other council mem- bers were presenting their view- points. Council member Amy Wil- liams reported the borough is preparing to send certified let- ters to all residents who have over $500 in unpaid garbage fees and that the borough is short al- most $80,000 in garbage fees. Council member Ed Kelly quieted the situation by stating, “We won’t have to raise taxes if we can get people to pay their fair share.” Boice proposed to have a pro- See STATION, Page 10 The Harveys Lake recreation building now houses Charlotte's Reading Room but is being con- sidered as a possible site for a new police station. CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST The current Harveys Lake Municipal Building on Route 415 as seen from the west side. i
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