Boro will try out Maple Commons parking change / By Martha Knight

A short section of Port Allegany’s Maple Street will have two-hour parking, for a 90 day trial period, the Port Allegany Borough Council decided Monday night.

A four-hour restriction applying to nearly all of the business district had been floated by Eric Button, chairman of the Streets and Sidewalks Committee, based on its recent meeting, but council member Lynn Farber had pointed out that the committee had not been unanimous in its support of that idea.

Farber told fellow council members she was concerned about being fair to all, and foresaw the possibility that there would be requests from other residents or businesses. Also, she wondered whether such a measure could be enforced.

Borough secretary Sue Roboski read aloud an apparently applicable provision in the code book allowing for an experimental parking or traffic change, to be in force for up to 90 days, before a council decision whether to make it permanent by ordinance.

Council vice-president Sam Dynda, presiding in the absence of Andrew Johnson, said he would favor a wait-and-see approach, beginning after the opening of the new Olean Medical Group (OMG) outpost.

On hand were Dan Strauch, manager for OMG, and Mick Caulkins, owner of building at 18 North Main Street where the new medical service is. Faust said the medical service will open in about two weeks.

Strauch said he has concerns for patients who lack ease of mobility and would need to have a short and direct walk or wheelchair ride to and from the medical service.

As for how long patients would be at the center, even an intake visit would not take longer than two hours. Regular appointments would be much shorter.

Caulkins has renovated the rear portion of the building for OMG. The entry is from the Maple Commons side, and has a ramp as well as steps.

There was discussion of whether police would be able to keep track of how long a given vehicle was parked in the area. Police Chief Dave Distrola said he would be reluctant to issue citations for overtime parking without clear legal grounds, given that parking meters are not in use in the borough.

The main parking problem has concerned residents of the area, where there are apartments on the second floor of some business and commercial buildings.

Council member Dave Fair suggested limiting the area for a 90-day trial of restricted time parking, thus assuring that the residents affected would still have nearby parking options.

Discussion continued for some time, with borough manager Richard Kallenborn saying that PennDOT would not require a traffic study prior to a change that did not pertain to Main Street (U.S. Route 6 and State Route 155).

The cost of signs showing the time restriction on parking was another topic. Distrola said such signs are made in Andover, N.Y., among several places. The cost was discussed as about $40 each, for two signs, up to $160 or so, including posts. Distrola mentioned that temporary signs could be plastic, and presumably less costly. Strauch and Caulkins said they thought the cost of signs could be “contributed,” but council member Judy Taylor said she would prefer to see the borough handle the cost of signs.

Fair’s motion to enact such a temporary measure, and apply it only to the Maple Commons area from Main Street to the Church Street alley, finally was adopted, five to one, with Kate Kysor voting Nay.

Kallenborn reported that the harsh winter conditions have kept the borough crew busy and required the use of most of the season’s allocation of salt. Working split shifts has helped control overtime.

Other winter woes mentioned by Kallenborn include a daily battle to keep the trickling filter operational at the sewage treatment plant. Also, there have been water line breaks because of frost heaving the soil.

On the bright side, Kallenborn said, a recent meeting with Carolyn Newhouse, deputy secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) left him and other participants encouraged that some state funding help will become available in the near future, for the water and sewer projects in the borough and in a portion of Liberty Township. The projects were left out of a recent group of PennWorks grants, which would have provided a triple match to local funds.

Other cheery news Kallenborn reported had to do with the location of an operation at Portage Development, an industrial site south of the borough, in Liberty Township. A new tenant there plans to offload pipe from a railroad siding, for transport in connection with the upcoming construction of a Seneca Resources natural gas pipeline.

In addition to construction of 26 miles of pipeline in the area, expected to provide employment opportunities, Kallenborn predicted that “more infrastructure will be needed in Potter County,” with local rail service bringing continued involvement of the Port Allegany area, due to Potter County’s lack of rail service.

Also, Kallenborn said, there is interest by a “planning group” in acquiring a parcel of land in the borough, but he cautioned against celebrating before the transaction is completed and announced.