View looking south along US 222 where PennDOT cleared the entire Right-of-Way.
This area was formerly covered with trees and dense shrubs.
US 222 Right-of-Way Clearing Project
East Cocalico Township
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
[Notes by Ken McCrea]
web site URL: EastCocalico.us/222clearing.htm
Starting on Tuesday June 24, 2008 Kinsley Construction, Inc. of York, PA cleared PennDOT's entire 100+ foot Right-of-Way all the way up to the fence behind the houses on Terrace Avenue in East Cocalico Heights development. Although the contractor was supposed to have notified the homeowners in advance, this happened without any warning. To make matters worse, Ronald Brown, project manager for Kinsley Construction, sent a copy of an undated memo to our PA State Representative, Thomas Creighton (R-37th District) that he claimed had been hand delivered to the affected houses. None of the homeowners I have spoken to received that memo. I didn't get it.
View looking south along US 222 where PennDOT cleared the entire Right-of-Way.
This area was formerly covered with trees and dense shrubs.
The next morning I distributed a flier to each house on East Summit Drive, directly across Route 222 from Terrace Avenue to warn them of the clearing project. PennDOT plans to clear the entire 100 foot Right-of-Way all the way to the Berks County Border. This project ("Preventive Maintenance") covers 7 miles, and has a price tag of $11,815,534. (according to documents found on the Lancaster County web site). It includes road and drainage repairs, resurfacing, Right-of-Way clearing, and other activities. The project is expected to be completed in 2009. Among other things, PennDOT is planning on turning the entire Right-of-Way, much of which is now wooded and maintenance free, into mowed lawn, which will require mowing from now until eternity. The cost of the future mowing is unknown, but knowing PennDOT, it will be a very substantial unnecessary cost to the taxpayers.
We organized a neighborhood meeting on Sunday, June 29, 2008 at the Reamstown Community Center for all the households affected by the project. At that meeting, we created a list of all the issues raised by the vegetation clearing, and a list of all the different reasons we were given by PennDOT for that clearing. A major issue that came out of the meeting is that almost everyone who called PennDOT (and most of the people at the meeting had already done so) was given a different reason to try to justify the project. Aside from those listed below, the most common reason seemed to be "its our land, and we can do as we please with it, and you have no say in the matter." The one word that best described the feelings of the residents was OUTRAGE. The link below has the notes that were recorded at that meeting:
On July 2, 2008 I attended the East Cocalico Board of Supervisors meeting to discuss the issues in the public comment section of the meeting. I notified them by email the day before the meeting that I and others from the "222 Neighbors" would be attending to discuss the issue. The link below is to an MP3 file with a recording of that section of the meeting.
July 2, 2008 East
Cocalico Township
Board of Supervisors Meeting
[the part concerning the 222 project]
One of issues raised by the clearing is the lack of buffering between our houses and the roadway. This buffer can help limit the pollution and dust coming off the highway. On July 1, 2008 I came home from work and heard a very loud sound coming from the roadway. The photo below is of workers from Kinsley Construction working on the road repairs directly behind our houses. The wind was blowing the dust towards our houses. Sure was polite of them to start this process right AFTER removing the buffer behind our houses...
Dust created by road work on US 222 along Terrace Avenue
Send email to Ken McCrea, spokesperson for "222 Neighbors"
Last updated July 4, 2008.