It is about helping the residents.
That’s how Athens Township Supervisor Chairman Ron Reagan described his feelings Wednesday on a proposed ordinance that would ban parking, stopping and standing along the entire length of Front Street within the municipality and on a portion of Glen Valley Road from Front Street to Riverside Drive.
This proposed ordinance was discussed as supervisors focus on ways to help residents in East Athens who will be impacted by a water pumping operation that Chesapeake Appalachia LLC is proposing along the Susquehanna River in East Athens.
The controversial proposal will appear before the township supervisors at their Dec. 17 meeting where they will vote on the operation’s land development plan.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the supervisors voted unanimously to direct Township Solicitor Jeff Osmond to draft an ordinance regarding the parking restrictions on Front Street and a portion of Glen Valley Road. The affected portion of Front Street would extend from the Athens river bridge to the Litchfield Township line.
In addition, the township will be requesting that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation install warning lights in the areas around the intersection of Front Street and Riverside Drive — commonly known as Robinson’s Corner — in order to better warn motorists that this particular intersection is a four-way stop.
“Whether they are there for a week or if they’re there for the next five or 10 years, I think we have got to address something to help the residents over in that part of the township,” he said.
Reagan had also attempted to get an ordinance prohibiting tractor-trailers from using their “Jake Brakes” while traveling on Front Street.
The supervisor chairman explained that he was proposing this action as a way to limit some of the noise made by tractor-trailers going to and from the proposed water pumping operation.

“That’s opening up a box,” said Supervisor Jack Walter. “I’m afraid of that ‘Jake Brake’ thing because almost every big truck has them. It is a good safe way to slow the truck down.”
Walter said he is not against helping the residents of East Athens.
“But boy I’m telling you, it (a ‘Jake Brake’) is a standard feature on the big trucks and it is a safety feature, and it works,” he said. “It does make a little noise, but doggone it, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t.”
Any action regarding legislation of the use of “Jake Brakes” on Front Street was never officially brought to a vote by the supervisors.