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Home My WebLink AboutFebruary 2025 - PC Staff ReportFranklin County Planning Department Updates Franklin County Planning Commission Thursday, February 6, 2025 Addressing With the development of Next Gen 911, new standards are being put out for road naming and addressing. Matthew Romero has taken responsibility for road naming and addressing procedures on the planning department side and the department is coordinating closely with GIS to work these new standards into our general workflow. Agricultural Preservation The program currently has 160 preserved farms totaling over 19,647 acres. 2022 Farms ● Witter, Paul (42.15 acres) - Settled on 11/7/24 ● Witter, Paul (26.47 acres) - Settled on 11/7/24 ● Peckman, Dennis & Barbara (74.22 acres) - Settled on 11/12/24 ● Martin, Donald & Denise #2 (48.75 acres) - State Approved 12/12/24 ● McKenrick, Rodney & Bonnie (101.52 acres) - State Approved 12/12/24 ● Snyder, Vaughn (100 acres) - State Approved 10/10/24 ● Hershberger, Daniel & Amy (113.78 acres) - Pending Conservation Plan 2023 Farms ● Lemar Road LLC (204.08 acres) - Peters Township - In Review for State Approval ● Steve and Lynn Hykes (141.10 acres) - Antrim Township ● Paul Witter (4) (88.2 acres) - Southampton Township ● Barry Timmons - (46.11 acres) - Montgomery Township ● Todd and Vicki Heckman - (37.1 acres) - Peters Township ● Donald and Denise Martin #3 - (79.6 acres) - Guilford Township - In Review for State Approval ● Jeff Grove - (58.17 acres) - Peters Township - In Review for State Approval ● JEM Farm - (93.39 acres) - Washington Township 2024 Farms ● Schnebly (136.6 acres) - Montgomery Township - Survey Process ● Brake, B (80.7 acres) - Montgomery Township - Survey Process ● Brenize, Ben (115.3 acres) - Southampton - Survey Process ● Gingrich, A. (104.9 acres) - Peters Township - Survey Process ● Bachtell (132.90 acres) - Montgomery Township - Survey Process Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) ● FY 2024 application was submitted to DCED on Friday, November 1st. We have requested the full allocation of $357,219. The proposed projects are as follows: ○ Luminest- Acquisition - $226,919.58 ○ Habitat for Humanity- Acquisition- $50,000 ○ Upwards-BOOST Program- $16,000 ● The County received an executed contract for FY 2023 in August of 2024. We are currently waiting on approval for modifications before proceeding. Projects being funded pending approval: ○ Borough of Greencastle - Baltimore Street Crossing Signal - $54,210 ○ Habitat for Humanity- Acquisition- $37,488.96 ● Notices to proceed for FY 2022 CDBG were sent to our subrecipients in April of 2024. At this time, we are requesting a modification that would include Habitat for Humanity as a subrecipient. ○ Borough of Greencastle - ADA Curb Ramp/Sidewalk project: $286,103 ■ Goes to bid late October/early November of 2024. ○ Habitat for Humanity- Acquisition: $10,845 ● Our FY 2021 CDBG contract ends in May of 2025. We have completed drawdown for both Contact Hotline and Borough of Greencastle and are in the process of drawing down from Admin and closing out each activity. The projects are as follows: ○ Borough of Greencastle – ADA Curb Ramp project: $110,000 ○ WCHS – Nursing Program: $9,000 ○ CONTACT Helpline: $9,000 ● General updates on other CDBG program years: ○ FY 2019: ■ Greencastle Curb Ramp Project- $289,875: The county was recently approved for a 3 year activity extension due to Greencastle’s activity being delayed. Greencastle now has until June 1st to complete the 32 curb ramps. At this time, they have 25 constructed ramps. Comprehensive Plan Implementation of the comprehensive plan is underway. Staff have created a tracking spreadsheet to ensure that we are making progress on our three-year implementation plan. A report on the results will be included in the Annual Report. Staff would be happy to accept feedback on community organizations that are or may be willing to help advance some of these goals so that we can work together on implementation. Mosquito and Tick-Borne Disease Control Program ● Mosquitoes: ○ We secured $181,682 through DEP for the 2025 Mosquito and Tick-Borne Disease Program. Surveillance will start April 1, 2025 and run through the end of September. We once again had Lacrosse Virus found in Franklin County which is now two years in a row. Annetta Hurst will be returning as the program's seasonal tech and we are looking for an individual to fill the second position. ● Ticks: ○ The rate of infection for Lyme Disease for the 2024 fall tick collection was 30%. This is lower than the state average of 60%. Transportation ● 2025-2027 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP): Following final review by PennDOT, FHWA, and FTA as well as a 30-day public comment period, the final draft of the 2025-2027 UPWP was approved at the November 21, 2024 MPO Policy Board meeting. Final accompanying documentation is currently being drafted before final submission to PennDOT. ● TAC Conversion to Ad-Hoc Status and MPO Bylaws Amendment: Following approval of amended MPO bylaws accounting for the shift during the November 21, 2024 Policy Board meeting, the Franklin County Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has been moved to an ad-hoc status. As a result going forward, the TAC will only meet on an as-needed basis as opposed to hosting regular quarterly meetings. Members of the committee as well as the public will continue to be notified should a future meeting of the body be scheduled. ● Cumberland Valley Rail Trail Feasibility Study: Following several final interviews with affected parties, including with PennDOT representatives, Wellspan, and CSX, a final draft report was created and shared with Steering Committee members during the final committee meeting on January 28, 2025. The report highlights overall positive public reception regarding efforts to expand the trail from Shippensburg to Chambersburg, and discussed five alternative alignments which were proposed as possible trail paths - one sharing right-of-way with a portion of CSX rail line, several on the West and East side of the CSX right-of-way, respectively, a fourth utilizing utility easements and a portion of Rowe Run Road, and a fifth running along US 11. Overall, the report found that the alignment which shared right-of-way with the CSX rail line was the most efficient alignment to utilize - however, that alignment is not currently feasible due to CSX’s policy of not allowing ‘rail-with-trail,’ and other alignments presenting issues with obtaining parcel right-of-way (at least 83-99 parcels would be impacted on the second and third alignment), as well as safety concerns with alignments riding parallel to and crossing busy roadways. It was further recommended that adoption and/or updates of official maps of municipalities within the trail corridor would be an apt planning tool to move forward with any efforts to bring the trail extension to fruition. The report and accompanying findings will be publicly available on February 13, 2025 and will be discussed at the next FCMPO Policy Board meeting. ● County Bridge Projects: Preliminary engineering for bridge replacement projects on bridges 130 and 131, which is receiving federal funding through inclusion on the FCMPO TIP, continues to be underway. Following initiation on August 6, 2024 and discovery of the expanding scope and necessities of the project, including the need to further account for historical points in the vicinity such as the Fort Chambers Log House and the Washabaugh Brewery vault sites and assessment of the former McCleary Oil business, supplements were included for both projects. A proposal for bridge 118 on Shimpstown Road over Licking Creek for superstructure replacement was also submitted to our office by partners at HRG, and is currently under review. Our office is also in the process of introducing an advertisement in ECMS for the purposes of securing a new County bridge engineer in preparation for the expiration of the county contract with HRG. Solid Waste Plan Development of the Solid Waste Plan is underway. Staff and the consultant are coordinating with DEP to determine if the plan revision will be substantial or non-substantial. In the meantime, data is being gathered to be incorporated in the plan. The Solid Waste Advisory Committee is set to hold a kickoff meeting on February 18th at 10 a.m.