Mayor Carley: Yes, Yes, Yes, breaking 3 ties/By Martha Knight

Mayor Don Carley has seldom been called upon to exercise his tie-breaker voting power at a Port Allegany Borough Council meeting, but he was pressed into voting service three times Monday night, when the six council members present split three to three on three crucial votes.

At the end of a public hearing, council members Lynn Farber, Kate Kysor and Judy Taylor voted No on a motion to approve a conditional use and some zoning changes affecting a section of South Main Street. Voting Aye were Dave Fair, Eric Button and council president Andrew Johnson.

Carley’s Yes tipped the balance in favor of approval. The same matter came back before the council when they held their regular monthly meeting soon after the hearing ended. Council members voted as they had before, and again Carley’s Yes decided the outcome.

The identical voting pattern was repeated with regard to another zoning-related matter, when Carley’s vote was needed to secure approval of a motion to proceed with the advertising process and other preparations for a conditional use for a small engine repair business at the corner of North Main and Chestnut Streets.

The new business proposed by Clifton Szuba, a local resident, for the former Greeley auto parts location, was recommended for public hearing as proposed, by Fair, based on planning commission consideration and approval.

Solicitor Michael Alfieri was asked to research some related zoning issues, at the suggestion of borough manager Richard Kallenborn. Meanwhile, the legal steps required for a conditional use grant will proceed, with advertising the necessary public hearing not being delayed during Alfieri’s research.

Eric and Lisa Johnston, local business owners, made progress in  their quest for permission to sell a limited number of used vehicles from the Main Street side of the property that also holds their hardware store.

Johnstons had applied for a conditional use in February, following the usual process of presenting their request to the Port Allegany Planning Commission. The matter turned out to be complicated by restrictions on which zones could contain such businesses, on lot size and distance from the street.

At that time, the planning commission, led by Fair, recommended the necessary changes. Johnstons hoped to secure the local consent so as to be eligible to apply for a vehicle sales license “in a timely way,” thus avoiding most of the penalty a state regulatory agency threatened to impose.

When the planning commission’s recommendation was presented to the borough council in March, the council made changes before advertising the matter for hearing. The resulting zoning code changes were submitted to the McKean County Planning Office, after which director Debbie Lunden sent a letter stating that excepting one business from the designation Highway Commercial, in that area, could be seen as spot zoning, sometime in the future. That exception affected an auto repair shop on the other side of the street.

The local planning commission has as one ongoing assignment an overhaul of the zoning ordinance. At Monday night’s hearing and meeting, Fair and Johnson noted that the matter is in the process of being addressed, and urged going forward with the approvals needed by Johnstons. The latter face proceedings in Harrisburg within days, concerning the impending fine.

After the critical votes allowing Johnstons to proceed, they were given  a statement showing that they have local approval for their “new” venture.

No such obstacles applied to another new enterprise, also the topic in the public hearing, with Ronald and Tina Cooper, of Dagsboro, Delaware, receiving council’s blessing in the form of a conditional use grant for a small retail business in the former Clayton Abbott barber shop building on North Main Street.  They plan to sell antiques and high-end items made by local artisans, and live in the area eventually. Approval in hand, they planned to complete the property purchase Tuesday.

Kallenborn reported that retired borough clerk Barb Fink is filling in for her replacement, but on a three-days-a-week basis, at $15 per hour, with no benefits . “This is working very well,” he said.

Water line replacement along East Vine Street will begin this month, Kallenborn said. A May 10 water leak affecting the junior-senior high school, which occurred late at night during a severe rainstorm, was caused by the failure of a clamp that “should have lasted 100 years” instead of about 14. Kallenborn said he is pursuing the matter with the manufacturer.

Replying to a question by Fair, Kallenborn said he will also ascertain whether similar clamps are in use in the borough water system.

Two bids from paving contractors were opened, and a motion “to accept” that of the lower one resulted in Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc. being chosen to do this summer’s street renewal projects. Their bid was $157,120, just shy of I.A. Construction’s quotation of $158,537. Kallenborn noted that the project had been estimated at $200,000. With possible overages along the way, it could cost up to $190,000.

Nancy Tenglund, a Church Street resident, spoke out during the general public comments period, asking what the borough does about abandoned properties. A property next to hers, foreclosed on by Green Tree Lending, is not being maintained, grass is not mowed, stagnant water is in the swimming pool, and chipmunks proliferate in weeds and grass.

There were no clear solutions offered. Button wondered aloud what steps would be taken if the property owner was “an individual,” inasmuch as local residents do receive orders to clean up their property and mow their lawns.

Tenglund was advised to “call Marty Causer’s office” in search of a referral or suggestion from that assemblyman’s staff.

Button presented a report from the Streets and Sidewalks Committee, and moved that there be a three-way stop sign at the intersection of Pine and Broad Streets. This was approved, five to one with Taylor voting No.