Neighbor Concerns Voiced at Schwenksville Borough Meeting

Schwenksville resident Robert Duda——updated council on the situation, and expressed frustration that the issue wasn’t fully resolved.

Duda said he collected 13 petition signatures from his Summit Avenue neighbors, who were also concerned about the situation.

While the sanitation problem is being addressed, Duda said the noise is still a problem.
“At 2 o’clock in the morning, I got nine (German) shepherds barking, barking, barking,” he said, adding that the circumstances were taking a toll on his family. His wife often cries.
“She’s out shopping for an apartment now,” Duda said. “My daughter doesn’t want to come home from college.” Duda also said the noise is preventing him from hosting a party at his home for his daughter’s upcoming college graduation.

Mayor Joe Giunta asked if the current ordinance listed specific decibel levels or had “provisions for penalties, fines, liens, so forth. If not, maybe that’s something we really should look into.
“If you have (a decibel meter) and you don’t have a law, how are you going to enforce it?” Giunta asked.

Solicitor Bob Brant said Giunta’s plan was good but “long-term” with the time it would take to create and adopt an ordinance as well as buy a decibel meter and train the code enforcement officer in its use.

“There are no teeth in the ordinance that allow us to take a very strict stance,” Brant told Duda.

He suggested they could possibly cite the owners with a zoning violation. “It may not win ultimately, but I think it’s the best weapon in the arsenal right now,” Brant said. “For example, the zoning district you’re in is a single-family residential zoning district. So the argument is they’re living and operating in a single-family residential district, contrary to the zoning provisions. You basically argue that they have what’s tantamount to a kennel. Even though they don’t have a kennel license and they don’t have a kennel and they don’t have 30 dogs, they have nine dogs.

“If council would like to authorize their solicitor to look at filing a zoning violation of the property, that might have some teeth in it.”

“If you give me a blanket motion we can at the same time attack the ordinance problems that way.”

The council unanimously approved the solicitor to take “any and all action,” as President Arthur Fairclough said.

As the evening proceeded, the council—minus Lee Ann Miller, who recused herself because she is a partner in the project—unanimously approved the preliminary/final plan for the Schwenksville Investment Properties Inc. lumberyard project. This resolution combines preliminary and final plans, saving the developer time and money, Brant said.

In other business:

• The concept plan for Meadow Park were approved.

• Council unanimously approved paying bills from the general account, payroll and taxes, and liquid fuels, totaling $38,676.57.

• Rudy Micsko was absent, so Fairclough made note of certain items from the financial report: The borough had a storm drain repair bill for $20,000 from 2010, and did not accrue for that. The budget is $30,000. “So we’re going to have to fix our budget process to make sure that doesn’t happen next year,” Fairclough said.
The borough received a loan of $100,000, Fairclough reported, but “we don’t have a lot of (revenue) coming in yet.” Property taxes don’t start coming in until April, he noted, and “the earned income tax (EIT) is still showing substantial decreases against last year,” he said. At the end of February last year, the borough had $33,000; this year it’s only $22,000, Fairclough said. According to recent Census data, Schwenksville “was one of the top five that had lost population over the last 10 years,” experiencing about an 18 percent drop, he said.

• Giunta said a representative from PennDOT had been out to Game Farm Road and found the speed limit to be appropriate. Giunta, other borough officials and residents have expressed concern with the speed and safety along the road, where there has already been one fatality. Upon questions about further actions, Engineer Dave Leh said Giunta’s suggestion of a stop sign at the intersection of Smith and Game Farm roads “would be easier (to get installed) than a traffic light,” but a warrant analysis—determining need—would have to be done.

• The Schwenksville Fire Company responded to seven calls in February; the Lower Frederick Regional Ambulance Corps had 102 calls last month.

• has not complied with the request for .