Lititz Record Express

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SERVING THE WARWICK A R E A FOR N E A R L Y A CENTURY
99th Year ESTABLISHED APRIL, 18 77, AS THE SUNBEAM
(CONSOLIDATED WITH THE L fflT Z RECORD 19377 Lititz, Lancaster County, PA 17543, Thursday, Jan. 8,1976 TO CEN1S A COPY; $4.00 PER YEAR BY MAIL
WITHIN LANCASTER COUNTY 20 PAGES—No. 42 taxes up Ljtitz Angered over Lease for
M i
In L i t i t z
Lititz Boro Council decided last week to keep its $30,000
building fund intact, and after a lot of slicing and paring,
adopted a $460,901 budget for 1976 calling for an increase
of one mill of taxes.
This puts the current real estate tax rate at 23 mills,
which will add about $9400 to borough revenues.
Council also adopted ordinances retaining the $10 per
capita tax and a $10 occupational privilege tax.
Under the new budget, the borough will be starting off
the year with a beginning balance of $12,191, less than
originally planned since the building fund money was
removed from this starting balance, but more than hoped
for because some of 1975 revenue proved higher than
expected.
This larger ending balance, more taxes than projected
irlier for 1976, some lower salary figures than earlier
jected, and some detailed cost cutting made it possible
co keep the tax increase at one mill.
Sauder Egg Firm Has
New Loading Platform
JP Office, Wants County to
A new loading platform at
the rear of the R. W. Sauder,
Inc. egg company along
Route 501 north of Lititz was
put into operation Tuesday
evening, according to Ray
Sauder, owner of the com­pany.
Sauder told the Record
Express Tuesday morning
that ground was being
moved and the egg com­pany’s
trucks were going to
be using the back dock as of
that evening.
“Our own trailers won’t
Jiv e to bade across the road
(Route 501) anymore;” said
Sauder, “but we can’t ac­count
for other trucks
coming in with supplies,” he
added.
He did say that the com­pany
was warning their
suppliers about using the
front entrance and blocking
traffic on Route 501, but was
unable to promise the other
t r u c k s ’ c o m p l e t e
cooperation at this time.
He said the egg company
receives supplies from other
companies about two or
three times a week.
Included in the new
docking area is a paved lotm
the rear and a wide driveway
around Sauder’s building.
Sauder also said they plan
to erect a 27-foot high light in
front of the building. The 450-
watt lamp will be
v automatically lit from dusk
to dawn, said Sauder. j
/ Problems on 501)
In a Tuesday mhming
conversation with the
R'ecord Express, Ray Sauder
ssdd he feels the speed limit
O/n the stretch of Route 501
'reading south pas Newport
*r,'l into Ltitz is too
«uU: ahou'v je lowered
u 3. mph. .
It IoehCbb like all open
space when you come down
that hill,” he said, “but it
isn’t.”
He said cars fly into the
business area where cars
and trucks are constantly
pulling in and out because of
the speed limit.
Sauder’s son, Paul, was
the driver of the truck which
was involved in the Dec. 30
accident which claimed the
life of Ralph Zimmerman,
64, Lancaster R7, when
Zimmerman plowed into the
trailer of the Sauder truck
which was pulled across
Route 501 blocking both
lanes of traffic.
Paul said they had asked
the state to lower the speed
limit a year ago. At the same
time they had requested
double yellow lines to
prevent passing. He reported
that to this date, the state
has complied with the double
yellow line request only, but,
skid Paul, it has not stopped
drivers from passing
illegally.
The elder Sauder com­plained
that the state police
used to patrol the strip but no
longer do so.
“The Warwick Township
police do all they can,” said
Sauder, “but they can’t use
radar.
Both Sauders felt that a
traffic light at Newport Road
t or at least a signal warning
traffic heading south toward
Newport Road and the
business area would
alleviate many of the ac­cidents
and near-accidents.
Fatal Accident
On the night of the fatal
accident, reported the
Sauders, their flagman had
stopped northbound traffic
and was positioned on the
north side of the trailer
holding a flare.
Paul said he saw the
Zimmerman car coming
toward him and realized the
driver wasn’t slowing down.
He immediately flashed his
warning lights but the car
swept past the tractor and
went under the trailer.
I the driver
wb r i ^ c ¡own,” said
Pat. ^aV ngot the moment
ne saw ine car pass his
tractor. The next thing Paul
reported seeing was the car
lodged under his truck’s
trader.
Both Sauders said the
driver behind the Zim­merman
vehicle and one of
Zimmerman’s passengers,
Amy Walters, reported
seeing the man holding the
flare before the crash.
This “ parking area" that belongs to the Flanagan
building is the area that county commissioners
signed an agreement to use for the necessary three
parking spaces for a JP office, scheduled by lease
to go into the building as of March 1.
L ititz R e c o rd Bxpreaft P h o to «
Raised by Borough
Zoning fees, along with a
number of other fees in the
borough, were increased
and-or changed by Boro
Council last week.
An appeal or application to
the Zoning Hearing Board
will cost $15, plus a $10
deposit for advertising the
case, postage and
stenographic costs (which
will be refunded or the extra
costs billed).
An amendment to the
zoning ordinance or map will
cost $25, plus $15 deposit,
primarily for advertising,
under same conditions as
above.
A curative amendment
(where a person feels some
part of the zoning ordinance
has wronged him and wants
it corrected) will cost $100
plus a $25 deposit for ad­vertising
and postage plus an
additional $50 deposit for
estimated stenographic fees,
if a tnmsr-iption of a record
is required, the person
asking for it must pay for it.
No fee will be charged for
hearings involving the
Historical District, if no
permit would be required for
a similar hearing in another
district.
Other Fee Increases
Bicycle licenses, which
used to cost 25 cents, now
cost $1.
The fee to hang a sing,
which used to be $1, now
costs 25 cents per square
foot, with a minimum $1.50
price.
Building permit fees have
doubled in each category.
The fee used to be $1.50 per
$1,000 for the first $50,000
worth of construction. This
fee is now $1.50 per $1,000 for
the first $100,000 worth of
construction. The minimum
fee remains at $3.
The plumbers registration
fee is increased from $2 to $5.
The peddler’s fee is doubled.
Residents now have 25
days instead of 30 days to
pay sewer and water bills
before being subject to a
penalty.
Bid Award
In further business,
Council awarded a bid for
construction of water main
and sanitary sewers on
Second and Sixth Avenues' to
D. L. Burkholder, Inc., New
Holland, low bidder at
$40,623.24. Work is expected
to start first on Second
Avenue, sometime this
month.
Council approved a
preliminary plan for the
section of Libramont that
includes South Cedar Street
[Continued on Page 8]
.4
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This is the corner and alley that cars would have
to maneuver in order to park in the designated
parking area for the new JP office at 9 S. Broad St.,
for which the county signed a lease on Dec. 31.
« 1 1 »
!? I® I
Loading area at the rear of
Sauder's Egg plant was being worked
on Tuesday afternoon, and was
scheduled to be in operation by that
night, so that trailers would no longer
have to lie across Route 501 to
maneuver up to the front of the plant.
M i l
More space was being cleared
Tuesday afternoon for a larger paved
area behind Sauders, where trailers
* * v # v -wi
could maneuver before backing up to
new loading dock.
By Peggy Fralley
Anger continues to mount
in Lititz among residents,
business people, and public
officials as more of the
details surface about the
recent lease signing for a
new JP office.
Meanwhile, in the wake of
a Tuesday that apparently
was filled with a barage of
complaints from Lititz
residents and business
people, the county court and
commissioners issued a
formal joint statement to the
Record early Wednesday
morning, stating that they
“recognized the concern” of
local citizens regarding the
location of the JP ’s office at 9
S. Broad St. and that steps
have been taken to try to
avoid having the
magistrate’s office in that
building.
The statement was
delivered by Ronald Reedy,
court administrator who is
handling negotiations for the
various magistrate’s offices
throughout the county.
Reedy said that the court
feels “a workable solution
can resolve the problem,”
adding that he could not
disclose what has been
worked out.
Reedy said that he per­sonally
had worked out a
solution to tiie problem, and
that details of it will be
released “at a later date.”
In the mean time, the
inagistrate’s office will stay
at 104 E. Main St., its present
location, now being rented on
- a month to month basis from
the D&E Telephone Com­pany.
The lease between the
county and the owners of the
property at 9 S. Broad St.,
Richard and Pauline
Flanagan, 412 Eshleman
Dr., Lititz, was signed
Wednesday, Dec. 31, the date
that the lease on the present
magistrate’s quarters on
East Main expired. It was
signed by Raymond Herr,
former chairman of the
county commissioners, and
Paul Paes, former com­missioner
who went out of
office as of Jan. 5, and who is
present chairman of the
L a n c a s t e r € o u n t y
Republican Party.
The terms of the lease
include $400 a month rent,
for six years, with oc­cupancy
set for March 1. The
landlord is to supply utilities
and maintenance and pay
remodeling costs, and the
county is to pay any increase
in taxes or utilities after the
first year.
Reedy said Tuesday that
tentative plans had been
agreed on by the com­missioners
as to the layout of
the first floor - plans calling
for complete remodeling on
the first floor and three
parking spaces at the rear of
the building, as per a county
requirement based on
amount of floor space used
for the offices.
However, Mrs. Flanagan,
who is an aunt of former
commissioner Paul Paes’
wife, declined to comment on
Tuesday on the nature of tile
remodeling, replying, “ I
can’t say,” when asked by
the Record what the first
floor was going to be used
for.
She said that no building
permit had been taken out
yet, and when questioned on
the matter, she said that she
and her husband had not sold
the building. There had been
some unofficial reports this
week that a sales agreement
as well as a lease had been
negotiated.
The unannounced signing
of the lease, as well as the
choice of location, angered
local persons, who were fast
to react once word of the
deed got out.
On Monday night, Lititz
Boro Council directed Boro
Manager David Anderson to
write a letter of protest to the
county commissioners.
The Parking Committee of
the Lititz Retailers
Association Also got to work
on a letter of protest to the
county.
On Tuesday afternoon, a
Lititz businessman, Mike
Hess, was circulating about
75 petitions on downtown
Lititz streets and in local
stores protesting the actuon,
and asking for appeal, and
these were rapidly filling
with signatures.
The borough was taken by
surprise over the lease
because until this week,
Reedy had assured Coun-cilmen,
some other officials,
and local businessmen, as
well as the press, that the
county was no longer in­terested
in the Flanagan
property. “I felt the whole
thing was dead,” Reedy told
the Record as late as
Wednesday morning.
Reedy was, in fact,
working with Mrs. Bertha
Blair of the D&E Telephone
Company as late as Dec. 29
to prepare plans for
remodeling and enlarging
the present magistrate’s
office on East Main Street.
Mrs. Blair was to present the
plans to her own board of
directors later in January.
Although Commissioner
Hot denied to the Record
th at he knew of this
development with D&E,
Reedy insists that he told
Herr about it, in the presence
of another commissioner,
Jean Mowery, just a few
days before the lease with
Flanagans was signed.
He said Commissioner
Herr had told him to explore
the D&E plan first, and that
he had then informed Herr
that there was a possibility
that D&E would go along
with it. “I felt that there was
a moral obligation to D&E
and we should explore that
first,” Reedy said.
While Herr maintains that
he signed the lease on
Reedy’s "recommendation
and acknowledges that he
did not look over the building
first, and in fact had left the
whole matter of finding JP
offices to Paes and Reedy,
Reedy denied to the Record
that he had recommended
the Flanagan property.
“I will admit that I said it
could be laid out properly
and adapted if it was laid out
the way it should be,” he told
the Record. But, he said, he
did not in fact recommend
the property, and did not like
being blamed for it. “Herr
signed the lease and he knew
what he was signing,” Reedy
said.
He said Paes had directed
him (Reedy) to prepare a
lease on Dec. 31, telling him
the county was going to lease
the Flanagan property. He
said Herr then came into his
office, asked the amount of
tile rent, and signed the
lease. He said the Flanagans
signed the lease in Lititz.
Reedy confirmed that the
commissioners had offers
and dimensions on other
properties that could be
made available for the
[ Condmed on Page 8]
In Tfiis Issue
Business Directory 17
Church News 15
Classified Ads 19
Editorial Page 4
Sports Section 6,7
Women's 12,13,14
NOTICE
The monthly meeting
of the Lititz Retailer’s
Association has been
scheduled for the second
Wednesday of this
month. The January
meeting will be held
next Wednesday, Jan.
14, at 7:30 P.M. at the
General Sutter Inn.
All area businessmen
are welcome and invited
to attend.
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