Lititz Record Express

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Lititz, Lancaster County, PA. 17543, Thursday, September 29,1983 25 CENTS A COPY: $7.00 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 22 Pages-No. 27
Broad Street Completion
Deadline 'In Jeopardy’
Kathy Lodish and her husband Kerry want to
buy property at 327 S. Broad St. that includes this
converted garage at the rear. They would like to
use the building as a home for Mrs. Lodish's
elderly father and are appealing to the Zoning
Hearing Board to annul a 1980 decision in the case
and grant them a special exception for the
property.
In Balikian/Lodish Case
Zoning Annulment Sought
Dr. Manuel Balikian has a
property for sale, and a
prospective buyer.
In these days of a shaky
real estate market, that’s
usually a reason for
rejoicing.
The prospective buyers,
Kerry and Kathy Lodish, 19
E. Second Ave., are in­terested
in his property
because of a garage at the
rear which Balikian once
used as a doctor’s office
while he wa r practicing in
Lititz. The Lodishes feel the
office would make an ideal
place for Mrs. Lodish’s
father Clyde Wool to live.
Wool, a disabled veteran,
has health problems and
Mrs. Lodish would like to see
him close at hand where she
could help him with
household tasks, and a diet.
If they moved into the
Balkikian residence, Wool
would be close to home, yet
In T h is Issue
Editorial 4
Sports Section 6,7,8,9
Social 10,11
Classified 12,13
Church 20
Business Directory 21
have the privacy of a
separate dwelling.
When the Lodishes went
before the Zoning Hearing
Board in July to request
permission to establish a
second dwelling place at the
property, 327 S. Broad St., they
found that the original
variance that was granted to
Balikian in 1980 to convert
the garage into a doctor’s
office now made it im­possible
for the Zoning
Hearing Board to grant
another variance.
The Zoning Board in its
Aug. 8 decision, delayed for
a month to obtain input on
the case, stated that because
a variance had already been
granted to the property,
another one could not now be
granted. The Zoning Hearing
Board also determined that,
according to the zoning
ordinance, a variance can be
granted only if the “unique
physical characteristics and
topographical conditions
create an unnecessary
hardship to the owner, and
prevent the reasonable use
of the property.”
The zoning board told the
Lodishes that there was no
hardship because the
property did have a
reasonable use - a doctor’s
office - which was granted as
a variance to Balikian in
1980.
Balikian, a general
practitioner with an em­phasis
on internal medicine,
moved to Lititz in 1980 after
receiving a variance from
the zoning board to enlarge
and convert the garage at
the rear of 327 S. Broad St.
into a doctor’s office. He said
he spent approximately
$20,000 to make the garage
usable for his practice.
But when his practice did
not grow as he anticipated,
he made a decision in 1982 to
close it, and took a job with
the Veterans Hospital in
Lebanon. In May of 1983 he
and his wife moved to
Lebanon and put the house
on Broad Street up for sale.
The Lodishes, near
neighbors of Balikian, saw
the property for sale and
determined that it would be
ideal for them to live in and
enable Wool to live nearby.
Looking back, Balikian
said he thinks the converted
office is too small for a good,
well-functioning doctor’s
office, and that he doubted
that any other doctor would
be interested in it.
When he realized the
Lodishes were interested in
the property, he was excited.
But the decision of the
Zoning Hearing Board was a
letdown for all the parties
involved.
"I was a little disap­pointed...
that the borough
couldn’t satisfy the needs of
a family living in Lititz a
long time who wanted to
have their in-laws with
them,” Mrs. Lodish said.
Mrs. Lodish said she was
disappointed “with all the
rules and regulations.” She
said it “didn’t really matter
about good intentions, just
the technicality of it all.”
“We were strictly doing
this for my dad’s sake,” she
said. "A neighbor said we
were silly in the first place
for going to the Zoning
Board, but something inside
me said, ‘do it right.’ I didn’t
want to live in fear that we
had done something wrong.”
Mrs. Lodish said she had
expected the matter to be
treated routinely and that
she was "shocked” when the
decision was made.
After weeks of con­sideration
and discussion,
Balikian has decided to
approach the Zoning
Hearing Board again. Both
{Turn to Page 5)
By Kathleen King
There is growing concern
among borough officials and
the state’s contractor that
the South Broad Street
reconstruction project may
not be completed by the Oct.
31 completion date.
David Anderson, director
of public works for the
borough, said he felt “the
Oct. 31 date is somewhat in
jeopardy."
Anderson said a lot of the
delay had stemmed from the
fact that the utilities,
especially UG1, were slow in
completing their part of the
work. Anderson said the
borough and the state in­spector
told UGI when the
work first started in July
that its gas main would be
too high and it should be
lowered. Anderson said UGI
would not lower it until the
borough and the state went
to fie Public Utility Com­mission,
which finally
mandated that UGI lower its
gas main.
Elam Ziegler, con­struction
superintendent for
Windsor Services, Inc.,
Reading, the contractor for
the job, said there is concern
on his part, too, that the Oct.
31 date may not be met.
“I have already written
two letters to the state
concerning that possibility,”
Ziegler said.
“It’s been impossible to
work up until this time,”
Ziegler said, adding that the
utilities “ delayed me
tremendously.”
Ziegler said Windsor
worked where it could in
‘ ‘ piecemeal ” fashion, but
that between the borough
and the state, the utilities
should have been coor­dinated.
“Somebody wasn’t on the
ball,” he said.
Ziegler said if there is
“decent weather” he may be
done on time but he isn’t
making any promises.
Ziegler said any extension
of his Oct. 31 deadline would
have to come from the state
construction department of
PennDOT, but that he has
been "documenting it along
the line” so that he has
something to back up the
reasons for delays in his
work.
According to Anderson, if
the contractor is late, the
state has the right to assess a
$1,000 a day penalty, but that
penalty is only assessed if
the contractor is behind
schedule “because of his
own problems. ”
Both Anderson and Ziegler
said weather will now begin
to play an important part in
the contractor’s ability to
finish the project on time.
Anderson said he felt the
contractor “should be done
no later than Nov. 15” as it
now stands, but if “we hit
two weeks of rainy weather,
forget it.”
Anderson said all the
water line work is done, all
the storm sewer work is
essentially done, and the
utilities should both finish up
this week.
At that point the con­tractor
will be able to work
without interference, he
said.
“In the next few days,
stone will be placed in the
first block, underdrains will
be installed after the stone
base is in,” he said.
The underdrains are used
to drain the road base of
moisture, Anderson said.
All the curbing work must
be finished before the
macadam can be laid An­derson
said, and there is still
quite of bit of that to do.
Once the curbing is
c om p le te , th en the
macadam will be laid in
three layers, Anderson said.
The layers will consist of a
base material, an additional
base material called ID2 and
a “ wearing co u rse ”
material on top.
Anderson said the con­tractor
is working on
"grading, rolling and fine
tuning the ground” to
prepare it for the stone base.
He said that from the very
beginning the borough had
requested the contractor to
"be sure the first block of
South Broad Street gets
done, no matter what,” for
the holiday shopping season.
However, there is no
obligation on the part of the
contractor to concentrate on
that block, Anderson said.
Ziegler said that working
“ piecemeal” has been
(Turn to Page 14)
Council Approves
PP&L Contract
Candidates May Submit
Campaign Articles
The Lititz Record Express will again make space
available to candidates in the November election who
wish to submit articles on their qualifications and
viewpoints.
Candidates may submit articles now for publication
in an upcoming issue of the Record Express. No ar­ticles
will be accepted after Thursday, Oct. 13.
Articles should be typewritten, double-spaced on 8-
by-11 inch paper and should be limited to 400 words or
less. The articles should address only the issues and
not personalities. They will be subject to standard
editing.
Candidates may also submit a black and white
photograph of themselves to accompany the articles.
Lititz Borough Council
Tuesday night gave final
approval to a contract with
PP&L to install convenience
outlets on 51 light standards
in the borough to eliminate
the need to string the
Christmas star ornaments.
The contract is payable in
three annual installments of
$3,815 each, plus interest of
nine percent. Total interest
over the three years will be
$1,030.05.
The lights will be installed
on a photoelectric control
device which will operate the
lights on a dusk-to-dawn
basis.
Council also directed
borough business manager
Kenneth Wiest to prepare
bids on the trees which will
be used along Broad Street
to replace those removed
during the construction
work.
The borough will be
purchasing 78 trees in a
mixture of Armstrong Red
Maple, October Glory
Maple, Red Sunset Maple,
Trinity Pear and Greenspire
Linden. The trees are the
type specified for city
planting and were picked for
their aesthetic beauty,
councilman William York
said.
The p lan n in g and
recommendations on the
choice of trees and their
placement were done by the
Shade Tree Commission
working in conjunction with
the landscape firm of Mc­Cloud,
Scatchard, Derek and
Edson. All work done by the
landscape firm was done
without cost to the borough
as a donation, York said.
Other residents interested
in purchasing trees at cost
should notify the borough,
Wiest said.
In other business, council:
• Paid $30,514.60 to G.L.
Marks, the water line con­tractor,
for work on the
Broad Street project.
• Approved the signing of
the certificate of substantial
completion with Marks.
• Approved an education
request by the police
department enabling all
members to take a National
Rifle Association qualifying
pistol course.
• Noted that this was the
best season to date for
memberships at the Lititz
Springs Pool, with 775 season
family passes purchased and
338 individual season passes
purchased.
« Approved the hiring of
two new employees — Louise
Shreiner as borough
secretary and Joanne
Frehafer as quality control
specialist at the wastewater
treatment plant,
• Exonerated the tax
collector from $20 in oc­cupation
taxes.
Merchants Struggle Through Construction/Detour Days
By Julia Marshall
Various business owners
along the churned-up Main
Street-to-Second Avenue
blocks of South Broad Street
e s tim a te th a t th e ir
establishments have suf­fered
sales decreases
ranging from 95 percent in
one business to none at all in
two others as a result of a
detour and road construction
that began August 1.
Most construction-area
m e rc h a n ts c o n ta c te d
estimated that they are
currently doing half their
normal volume of business.
D.E. Schumate, owner of
The Carpet Shop at 9 S.
Broad St., estimated his
business as the hardest hit.
“I’d say my business is off
90-95 percent,” he said,
adding that 1983 has been his
worst in 25 years of business
on Broad Street.
“Actually, the biggest part
of my business came from
out of town. They hear about
it and they see it (the detour
and construction work). I’ve
even had people call and say
they’re coming, then not
show up. I’ve advertised in
the papers that I would
actually come into their
homes with carpet samples,
but it didn’t do me too much
good,” he said.
Linn Hershey, owner of
Lady Diana Casuals, 47 S.
Broad St., said her business
was down “by 50 percent
anyway. That’s simply
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Dawn McKinney, co-owner and manager of Bo-K Flower Shop, said her walk-in
business is “ down at least 50 percent or better" as a result of the Broad St.
detour. "I understand that it has to be and there isn’t anything we can do about
it, but we’ll all be glad when it’s finished."
because it’s more of a hassle
to get here, and not only that
— parking is a real problem.
I think people like to take the
path of least resistance.
They don’t want to drive
around and hunt a parking
place. They want con­venience.”
Hershey said that lack of
traffic, as well as parking, is
also responsible for a
decrease in her sales.
"A lot of our business is
drive-by. A lot of people who
see our display in the win­dow
stop in because of that,”
she said of pre-detour days.
Dawn McKinney, co­owner
and manager of the
Bo-K Flower Shop on S.
Broad St., said lack of traffic
is also a factor in decreasing
her business “at least 50
percent or better. We just
don’t have the walk-by
traffic we normally have;
also the drive-by traffic,
which brought a lot of people
in just by noticing things in
the window.”
McKinney said the volume
of business she receives by
telephone is about the same
as before.
Winnie Spence, owner of
The Lititz Sewing Center, 19
S. Broad St., said her
business has been down
more than half since the
street was closed, and called
this year her worst in 22
years of business.
She attributed the lack of
business to potential
customers’ belief that
sp o ts a re
in downtown
p a rk in g
unavailable
Lititz.
“The people are just
avoiding all congestion
downtown and they all say
there’s no place to park. We
have a place out back where
they can park. When there’s
a parking lot out back, I
think the people are just
avoiding coming down­town,”
she said.
Spence said the con­struction
work has made
getting to stores difficult,
however. “One day they
couldn’t even get in. There
was a ditch across the alley,
across the pavement. It’s
just been one big mess.”
Spence said she had had no
thoughts of selling her
business despite the slump.
She said she intends to keep
her business open and wait
out the construction period
but added “I hope it doesn’t
take too long, because you
can’t go on too long like
this.”
Also hard-hit along the
construction area is Lititz
Springs Garage, 243 S. Broad
St. Don Steffy, who manages
the garage and co-owns it
with Eugene Steffy, his
uncle, said the lack of traffic
along Broad Street has cut
gasoline sales by about 50
percent, although the car
repair business is holding
steady.
“It’s hurt, you know, but
it’s hurt the gas business
worse than the shop
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To keep regular customers, Don Steffy of Lititz Springs Garage kept gas prices
down despite an increase in wholesale prices. He said the detour has made this
his worst in about 22 years of business. “ It’s hurt, you know. Its hurt the gas
business worse than my shop (repair) business."
business. The rep a ir
business is pretty good, but
it’s really hurt the gas.”
Drivers detoured away
from Steffy’s garage can
reach it via Marion Street,
which runs between South
Broad Street and the detour
route. To encourage steady
customers to use the side
street, Steffy kept his gas
prices down despite an in­crease
in the wholesale cost.
Even though he calls this
his worst season in 22 years
of business, Steffy said the
willingness of his regular
customers to seek him out
using Marion Street has
helped. “They’re hanging in
th e r e . Our re g u la r
customers are coming by.
It’s the transient trade we’re
missing.”
Despite an originally
projected completion date of
October 31, Elam Ziegler,
construction superintendent
for Windsor Services, ex­pressed
concern about the
chances of meeting that
date. (See related story on
pagel.)
Steffy said if the detour is
in effect during the
Christmas season, as some
business owners fear, his
business would be hit har­der.
“That’s a good time of
the year for us, too, because
people are driving a lot
more.”
Like Steffy, Mike Hess,
owner of Hess Men’s Wear,
said regular customers have
helped business during the
construction period.
“It (the detour) hasn’t
drastically affected our
business; however, we know
that it hasn’t helped business
at all. We want to thank our
loyal local customers whose
continuing patronage has
kept business from being as
(Turn to Page 14)