Several residents of Darktown’s Water Street attended the Oct. 13 Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners meeting to express their thanks to Mayor Joseph R. Marx Jr., his staff and the commissioners for coming up with a plan to close Water Street to the public. The commissioners also voted on three key agenda items regarding Water Street, one of which failed to pass.

Edward Tomcics was killed while crossing Water Street Dec. 25, 2024. Many residents of Water Street and the township attended the commissioners meeting in January to voice their frustration and anger about reckless driving and speeding on Water Street.

“We have faced indifference and incompetence from previous administrations for decades,” Renate Brosky, a resident of Water Street, said at the Oct. 13 meeting,

Marx directed a temporary closure of Water Street starting Sept. 22, after months of discussions and collecting information. Detour signs have been placed all around the surrounding area, with signs for Eberhart and Range roads, going down to Lehigh Street. The road remained closed to the public, as of press time.

Marx noted the street is still accessible to the public from the Lehigh Street bridge, but you cannot drive through Water Street to get to Eberhart Road.

At the Oct. 13 meeting, Water Street residents argued that making the street one way would still allow for reckless driving. Marx noted he viewed video footage of cars passing other cars on the 25 mph street.

Tony Jezick, a resident of Water Street, thanked the mayor and the board at the meeting.

“I’m 58, and this is the first time I feel safe where I live. I just want to say thank you. I, for one, am very happy, and I know all my neighbors are,” Jezick said.

Rick Reigle, also a resident of Water Street, thanked the mayor and the board for closing the street and for providing a petition to the residents.

“We were happy that there was some kind of petition going around because we were all ready to sign it,” he said.

Jay Paetzell, a resident of Water Street, thanked the mayor and his entire staff for installing the gate on Eberhart Road, which was donated by a local resident, and for making the street safer for the residents.

“Now I feel like I can at least get to my car and go where I need to go safely,” Paetzell said.

Brosky added it’s not only speeding vehicles that present the hazard. She mentioned the residents have to back into the driveways when they arrive at their homes, as it had gotten too dangerous to back out of their driveways, especially when the street was two way. Brosky said whenever the Water Street residents would go back into their driveways, people would become very hostile, shouting and cursing at them.

“The hostility and bad behavior asked for action to be taken. If all drivers were courteous, we would never have needed any kind of action,” Brosky said.

Diana Fleming, a resident of Water Street, thanked the mayor and the board for adding a bus stop for Whitehall-Coplay School District students on Eberhart Road.

Three key votes took place at the meeting regarding Water Street, all of which resulted in heated discussions among the commissioners about the future of Darktown’s Water Street.

The first vote was a resolution for authorization of engineering work and surveying to be completed on Water Street. The vote passed unanimously among the board in a 6-0 vote.

Keystone Engineering will oversee the work, with a cost of $41,500. They will survey Water Street and determine what properties are encroaching and which are not. An evaluation will be given to say what can or cannot be done on Water Street.

Deputy Mayor Jack Meyers said a partial traffic study would be included in Keystone’s work.

Marx said a speed analysis was done in 2019 and another was completed in February of this year. He was told the speed sign added there earlier this year has slowed down some drivers, but he doesn’t believe this is the end fix.

“The misbehaving is still taking place. There’s still people speeding, and there’s still people passing other cars,” Marx said. “My number one responsibility is to defend all the taxpayers of the township.”

Board Vice President Jeff Warren advocated for using Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Local Technical Assistance Program to do a potential traffic study and provide recommendations for Water Street.

“If we’re doubting our engineers, why are we even using them?” Commissioner Phil Ginder asked.

The second vote regarding Water Street was for the mayor to authorize a traffic study to be conducted on Water Street. Warren said he has pushed for this since February. The vote tied 3-3 among the board, with Warren, Elizabeth Fox and Thomas Slonaker voting “yes” and Randy Atiyeh, Ken Snyder and Ginder voting “no.”

Commissioners Ginder and Snyder argued the engineering and survey work should be completed before a traffic study is initiated.

Warren stated LTAP would have done a review of Water Street and provided recommendations from an engineer, based on the state’s traffic calming manual.

Last month, Warren made a motion to move forward with a traffic calming plan for Water Street, but he withdrew his motion because the board all agreed to have an executive session with the solicitor and other staff to review legal decisions regarding the closure of Water Street and its future. He also had to withdraw his motion because it would have needed to be advertised ahead of time on the agenda, according to Solicitor Jack Gross.

Marx said if a traffic calming measure were to be introduced and someone got hurt on Water Street during that study, the township would be liable.

The third vote regarding Water Street was to support the decision to temporarily close Water Street for the purpose of public safety, which passed 4-1. Slonaker, Atiyeh, Snyder and Ginder voted for the closure. Warren abstained from voting, and Fox voted against closing Water Street.