An extension has been granted to the Vistas at South Mountain.

A vote to approve or deny 88 town houses and one single home proposed for 48.5 acres along East Emmaus Avenue in the vicinity of Gaskill Avenue and Honeysuckle Road is expected to be on the board of commissioners’ 7 p.m. Sept. 11 meeting agenda at the municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave.

With approximately 45 township residents in attendance, commissioners voted 4-0, with one commissioner absent, at the Aug. 14 township meeting to grant an extension to Sept. 12 for the preliminary-final plan with itemized waivers and deferrals for Vistas at South Mountain.

Commissioner Alex Karol made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Alok Patnaik, to grant the extension requested by Attorney Michael E. Peters, shareholder, Eastburn and Gray, PC, Attorneys at Law, Doylestown Office, representing the developer, Tuskes Homes.

As a result of the extension, tabled were: a resolution to approve the preliminary-final plan for Vistas, a resolution to approve the sewage facilities planning module for Vistas and a motion to authorize Pennsylvania Department of Transportation highway occupancy permits for Vistas.

Karol said he will not be at the next commissioners’ meeting, 7 p.m. Aug. 28.

Commissioners’ Vice President Rodney Conn was absent at the Aug. 14 meeting.

Commissioners and representatives of Tuskes Homes said Aug. 14 they hope all five township commissioners will attend the Sept. 11 meeting.

It’s the third time that commissioners have tabled a resolution to approve the Vistas project.

Commissioners and the developer want to resolve a question as to whether the township or PennDOT controls jurisdiction of the East Emmaus and Gaskill intersection.

Attorney Jason A. Ulrich, partner, Gross McGinley, LLP, township solicitor firm, brought the matter of jurisdiction to the attention of commissioners, the developer and audience before the vote at the Aug. 14 meeting.

Ulrich provided copies to township officials, members of the audience and The Press of his Aug. 14 correspondence to Marah Haddad, senior civil engineer, district permit manager for Lehigh and Northampton counties, PennDOT, Engineering District 5-0.

Stated Ulrich to Haddad in his Aug. 14 correspondence: “Please note, that it is our understanding that E. Emmaus Avenue is a state road and therefore, we [Salisbury Township] have no jurisdiction as to traffic patterns, signaling or road features.

“As I am sure you understand, the Board of Commissioners of Salisbury Township’s primary concern is resident safety. It has been our desire to see a traffic light installed along Emmaus Avenue as we believe it would increase safety in the township,” Ulrich wrote.

“Our engineer, the developer’s engineer and the residents would prefer this outcome based upon numerous public meetings,” Ulrich stated.

“To the extent that you are, via this email below, granting authority to install a traffic light and providing jurisdiction to us, we would intend to install a traffic light along E. Emmaus Avenue,” Ulrich continued.

“If that is not the case, kindly clarify your position, and do so to the residents whom you have provided the communication to, before our meeting tonight [Aug. 14]. I apologize for having to do this, but these emails have created a furor among the residents who believe that we are not being honest about our abilities along E. Emmaus Avenue,” Ulrich stated.

During the Aug. 14 meeting, Ulrich stated he had not received a reply from Haddad as of the Aug. 14 meeting.

The “email below” to which Ulrich referred was dated Aug. 11 from Haddad in response to an Aug. 1 email from township resident Donna Johnson.

“Your concern regarding the proposed changes at the intersection near Emmaus Avenue and Gaskill Street was forwarded to me for response,” Haddad stated in her Aug. 11 email.

“The intersection falls under township jurisdiction,” Haddad stated.

“At this time, our department has received some preliminary information regarding the concept, and we are currently in the early stages of review. We are actively working in coordination with the township and project representatives to fully evaluate the proposal,” Haddad stated in the email.

“Please know that no final decisions have been made regarding any modifications, including the potential installation of a concrete median or changes to turning access at Gaskill. Community feedback – such as yours – is an important part of this review process, and we will continue to take these concerns into account as we move forward,” Haddad’s email stated.

The email dated Aug. 1 from Donna Johnson was apparently initially handled by Angela Rose Cooper, administrative assistant to ADE-Maintenance, PennDOT, District 5-0, who it seems forwarded it to Haddad.

Johnson stated, in part, in her Aug. 1 email: “Us residents of the township that have lived in this area for years have been told by the board of commissioners [that] PennDOT would not approve a traffic signal at the intersection.

“The builder, Tuskes Homes, is now trying to coordinate with PennDOT a concrete median strip for that intersection. So all of us residents would have to drive completely out of our way if we would need to make a left-hand turn onto Gaskill to get to our homes from Emmaus Avenue because of the strip,” Johnson stated.

It was the understanding of commissioners and the developer’s representatives PennDOT had jurisdiction over the intersection because East Emmaus Avenue is a PennDOT-maintained highway.

According to township officials, PennDOT denied a township request for a traffic light at East Emmaus and Gaskill, the cost of which the developer’s representatives had said Tuskes Homes would pay.

“PennDOT has not approved a signal,” Stan G. Wojciechowski, department head, Municipal Engineering Services, Barry Isett & Associates, Inc., township consulting engineering firm, said of the East Emmaus and Gaskill intersection at the March 27 township meeting.

PennDOT has a warrant system before approving a traffic light on a state road. East Emmaus Avenue is a state jurisdiction highway.

The PennDOT warrant system is a set of guidelines to determine when to install signs or traffic devices.

The PennDOT website states warrants for traffic signals consider factors such as pedestrian volume, crash experience, peak hour traffic, school crossings and coordinated signal systems. Warrants are used in conjunction with professional judgment and local knowledge.

Salisbury Township Chief of Police Donald Sabo said the East Emmaus and Gaskill intersection has a lot of accidents, Wojciechowski said at the Jan. 22 Salisbury Township Planning Commission meeting.

The impact of traffic to and from the proposed town house development on the safety of Salisbury Township School District students at the East Emmaus and Gaskill intersection was raised by members of the Salisbury Township Planning Commission. Salisbury Elementary School is at 1400 S. Gaskill Ave.

Several planners at the Jan. 22 meeting said they favored a traffic light signal at East Emmaus and Gaskill. There is a stop sign on Gaskill at East Emmaus Avenue. There is a stop sign on Honeysuckle Road at East Emmaus Avenue.

“This is our problem, the major issue for this project,” Planning Commission Chairperson Richard Schreiter said of school student safety at the Jan. 22 planners’ meeting.

The Salisbury Township Planning Commission voted 3-2, with two members absent at the April 23 meeting, to recommend approval to commissioners of Vistas at South Mountain.

Chief Don Sabo, in his report to commissioners at the Jan. 23 township meeting, said he had met with representatives of PennDOT and other agencies concerning student safety at East Emmaus and Gaskill.

Because of what is believed to have been PennDOT’s denial of a traffic light, the township and the developer had proposed a mast-arm mounted flashing warning device and a pole-mounted flashing warning device that would be an activated system with the mast arm out over the road at East Emmaus and Gaskill. Diagrams of the device were projected on video screens at the Jan. 22 planners’ meeting.

The mast-arm plan was set aside when the installation of a median strip was proposed at the July 24 township commissioners’ meeting by Robert L. Hoffman, Regional Manager, Traffic Planning and Design, Inc. Bethlehem, on behalf of Vistas at South Mountain, LLC. Hoffman said at the July 24 meeting that PennDOT was reviewing the median strip plan.

“These are complex discussions,” Phillip C. Malitsch, director of land development, Tuskes Homes, said at the Aug. 14 meeting, adding, “This [a traffic light] is a big shift from what we’ve thought about.

“There’s no question that the light would be more expensive,” Malitsch said. “I think we would need an extension and come back [to a commissioners’ meeting],” Malitsch said.

Township officials and the developer’s representatives are hopeful a meeting with PennDOT officials can be held prior to the Sept. 11 commissioners’ meeting to determine whether the township or PennDOT has jurisdiction for the East Emmaus and Gaskill intersection and whether a traffic light or median strip could be installed.