By Sean Guay
Hershey, Pennsylvania — The Derry Township Board of Supervisors held a public meeting last evening at 7:00pm, beginning with a hearing for the transfer of a liquor license from the City of Harrisburg to Derry Township. The board voted to approve the transfer for Old Coaly LLC and the future home of Bacco Pizzeria and Wine Bar on Chocolate Avenue.
A flag certificate was presented to Derry Township by the Harris Ferry Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution for outstanding dedication to patriotism, mentioning their appreciation of the Court of Honor Veterans Memorial that was constructed in downtown Hershey.
NO amendment for medical marijuana
The Derry Township Board of Supervisors will not amend a zoning ordinance to allow medical marijuana facilities in the general commercial zoning district at the Park Village Plaza. Representatives for Terra Pharm and the Park Village Plaza requested the board to consider a zoning amendment that is needed to open a marijuana dispensary in the plaza near McDonald’s and Pizza Hut on Hersheypark Drive. However the board expressed no interest in drafting an amendment to allow for the dispensary in the general commercial zoning district.
$283k approved to replace 2 rooftop units at police department
The Derry Township Board of Supervisors awarded a $283,500 mechanical installation contract to NRG Controls to replace 2 rooftop units at the police department. Rooftop units 5 & 6 serve the first floor of the police department. They were originally installed in 2006. NRG Controls was the lowest bidder on the prevailing wage scale. HB McClure bid $289,935, and a third bid of $299,000 was also considered. The equipment replacement is a planned expenditure from the capital improvement fund in the 2025 township budget.
Islamic Center “green entrance” surprise
The Derry Township Board of Supervisors were surprised by a last minute update to the plan for a private school and church facility being proposed on Stoverdale Road. Representatives for the Hershey Islamic Center unveiled an alternative to their original design that now includes an unpaved “green entrance” for emergency access. Although the board was not prepared to remark on the new proposal, they were in consensus that the plan for this facility will be required to have two separate means of ingress and egress in the event of an emergency. Madam Chairwoman Natalie Nutt firmly asserted several times that a building project of this size facilitating school children in Derry Township will absolutely require a second entrance.
Members of the Islamic community are eager to get the project off of the ground, although the challenges of engineering a suitable parking lot entrance have complicated the planning process, and increased the projected cost of construction. Because conditions at the site allow for access only from Stoverdale Road along a creek bed, DEP will now have to consider environmental impacts of the proposed green entrance. The owner of the adjacent parcel at the neighboring Sheetz plaza won’t allow for emergency access onto their property.
Designing a suitable parking lot for the proposed facility at this location is also a challenge because the site is zoned in the conservation zoning district. The requirement for impervious paved area of the proposed project would require additional action from the zoning hearing board to alter their current proposal if the parking lot would need to include more paved area.
One township resident who spoke with Harrisburg100 after the meeting said it is disheartening to see every inch of farmland, open fields, and woods in Derry Township being developed. She also recalls the severe flooding during storms in 2011 and considered the potential impact on the parking lot entrance of the Islamic center in the event of another storm.
Township resident Bobby Jeffries also spoke to Harrisburg100 about traffic in the area of the proposed plan. He described the parking lot entrances and access road behind the plaza with Sheetz, saying, “Traffic can be a mess with everyone having to drive off of Wood Road to access the parking lots. That is a crowded space for sure with the Stoverdale Church and old cemetery on the other side.”
Early in the planning process it was considered that an entrance could be added to the privately owned access road behind Sheetz, however that proposal was not accepted by the property owner of the plaza. Engineers seek to design a sufficient parking lot including two entrances within the framework of the township ordinances while staying within the project budget.
Microchipping free-roaming cats
The Derry Township Board of Supervisors voted to authorize township staff to begin drafting a revised ordinance amendment to require outdoor free-roaming cats to have a breakaway collar and microchip. During discussion, the board cited recent publicized cases of pets being dumped in the nearby Briarcrest apartment complex, and at a public park in Hummelstown, as well as the need to keep animals spayed and neutered. Although local volunteers seek to broaden the amendment to include all pets, the township said it is bound by law to restrict the requirement to outdoor free-roaming cats.
Authors to visit Library
On Saturday March 29 at 2:00 pm The Friends of the Hershey Public Library welcome author A.S. King to the Hershey Public Library. Award-winning, nationally recognized local author and LGBTQ+ advocate A.S. King will speak, answer questions, and sign copies of her books for children age 8-18.
A.S. King has traveled the country speaking to high school and university students, educators, and humans who care about the mental health of young people. She has recently launched a non-profit, Gracie’s House, which provides and maintains safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in rural areas.
On Saturday April 5 at 2:00 pm the Hershey Public Library will feature Grace M. Cho, author of the book ‘Tastes Like War,’ her true story of being a daughter who reckons with her mother’s schizophrenia.
“My mother had been a sex worker at the U.S. naval base in Korea. And it was quite a devastating moment for me to learn that. And then I spent the rest of my adult life trying to process it in various ways, one of which was through research and writing. And so it sort of set me on this path to do the work that I do today.”
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