RUSH TOWNSHIP — Rush Township Supervisors on Tuesday, March 10 reviewed transportation updates, development proposals and planning matters during their recent meeting, while also recognizing a new emergency vehicle recently acquired by the Mountaintop Vol. Fire Co. in Sandy Ridge.
Prior to the meeting, Fire Chief Tim Sharpless brought the department’s new wildfire response vehicle to the township building to show supervisors the result of a project supported by the township.
“We just brought it down to the township meeting to thank them for their support,” Sharpless said. “And we got it through an LSA loan, Local Share Municipal grant. They were supportive of it and helped us.”
Sharpless said the new vehicle will primarily be used for wildfire response and related operations in the region.
“It’s for wildfires and it also tows our utility trailer for our side by side,” Sharpless said. “For wildfire search and rescue, whatever we need to do, whenever we need to use it for,” Sharpless said.
During the meeting, officials also heard an update related to the Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization and several transportation improvements affecting the area.
One update involved a grant secured by Centre County Transportation with the support of letters from Rush Township and Philipsburg Borough.
“The township and Philipsburg Borough had written support letters for Centre County Transportation supported this TSMO grant that it was looking for,” Eric Rusnak of the Rush Township Planning Commission said. “She said that she really thought those support letters helped.”
The funding will be used to install traffic cameras on Port Matilda Mountain and crash alert devices designed to warn drivers when accidents occur during hazardous weather conditions.
“So that when people are traveling in bad weather if there’s a crash on the mountain it’ll alert them,” Rusnak said.
Traffic safety
Officials also discussed the planned construction of a truck pull-off area near the section of roadway where lanes expand eastbound at the top of the mountain.
“We voted at last week’s MPO meeting to fund the construction of a truck pull off at the top of the part of the mountain where it goes from two lanes to four lanes eastbound,” Rusnak said. “So trucks that come up there will have to pull off and check their brakes.”
The project is expected to be put out for bid later this year.
Planning commission activity also made up a significant portion of the meeting discussion.
Land projects
Supervisors were informed that the planning commission recently reviewed two land development plans — the Sheetz land development project and the Greystone Phase 2 development.
Both projects were recommended for conditional approval.
“The planning commission approved both of those plans conditionally pending the completion and compliance with the county comments and any local comments that we have,” Engineer Dave McCullough said.
The Greystone Phase 2 project proposes the construction of 19 cottages as an expansion of the existing development, while the Sheetz proposal involves redevelopment of the current convenience store site with a larger store layout and updated facilities.
Supervisors later voted to approve waivers and grant conditional approval for the Sheetz land development plan, contingent upon addressing county and township comments. The board also granted conditional approval for the Greystone Phase 2 plan under similar conditions.
Officials also discussed ongoing review of the proposed Black Moshannon Solar Project. Representatives recently met with engineers from GeoTech and members of the Moshannon Creek Watershed Association to begin developing a water sampling plan related to the proposed solar development.
“Dave McCullough and I attended a meeting at Geotech on February 26th of this year with Justin Stewart [Ampliform] and some of his engineers, along with representatives of the Moshannon Creek Watershed Association,” Rusnak said. “The purpose of that meeting was to start talking about the development of a water sampling plan for the proposed solar operation.”
Supervisors said additional site visits and coordination with hydrogeologists are planned to help determine appropriate testing locations and protocols.
Parks and recreation efforts were also discussed, including a planned application for a state grant through the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Community Development Park Rehabilitation Program.
The grant application would support improvements at Sandy Ridge Park. Officials said the township is working to strengthen its application through community outreach, social media presence and letters of support from local organizations.
“We’re shooting to put that in for the April 30 deadline,” McCullough said.
