Development and safety are concerns of Tarentum Council at May meeting

The development of Tarentum and traffic safety were the concerns expressed in the meeting of the Tarentum Borough Council tonight.

A special item on the agenda was the request of Stumbles, Inc. to move its liquor license from Glassport into Tarentum so that the corporation could open a restaurant to be called "Choppers Bar and Grill". The new restaurant is to be in the building where "Hog Heaven" used to operate.

Council members and residents had many concerns because of the bad reputation of the former bar at this location. The owners of Choppers intend to attract a "suit and tie" clientele to an atmosphere where a professional would feel comfortable bringing the family to dinner. They would fill a gap in Tarentum by being open seven days a week; at present there is no restaurant in the borough serving dinner on Mondays. They would like to take advantage of the broad sidewalk in front of their establishment to offer al fresco dining. It was felt that an appropriate barrier around the outside dining area would also prevent a repeat of the practice at the former "Hog Heaven" of bikers riding their bikes into the bar.

Council voted 3-1 to approve the transfer of the liquor license. Council member Michael Gutonski, from the First Ward (where the restaurant will be), was the sole vote in opposition.

At the time of citizen comments, there were strong concerns that a child was struck by a car last night at the uncontrolled intersection of East Tenth and Mill Street. Neighbors have been concerned for some time about the speed of drivers navigating that intersection. At the end of the meeting, at Mayor Wolfe's request, the Council declared that it was an emergency to control this intersection and approved a stop sign. The council should still go through the steps of adopting an ordinance for the stop sign, but the council's action tonight is sufficient for the stop sign to go into place immediately.

Other citizen concerns had to do with the location of seating for parents watching baseball games at Dreshar Stadium, signs posted on telephone poles, the lack of maintenance of the First Avenue site for The Landings, a similar concern about a lawn on East Tenth, and the chaining of newspaper boxes to telephone poles in the borough.

Police Chief William Vakulick reported that the Memorial Day parade will be on Sunday afternoon at 1:30. He also reported that the Nuisance Call ordinance is being used effectively.

In other actions, the borough council approved motions from the agenda meeting: to buy a new telephone system; to cancel the June, July, and August agenda meetings; to accept a bid for demolition of three West Tarentum structures; to approve Ordinance 07-06 regarding Property Maintenance Penalties; and to purchase a 16 by 9 foot screen and projector to show movies in the park.

[Update 5-22-07] The Valley News Dispatch has a story about this meeting.

File under : Tarentum, development, recreation, traffic safety