PENN TWP — Supervisors approved a conditional use permit which allows local business owner William Mahan to have vehicles stored on his property on Pittsburgh Road.

Mahan requested the conditional use of his property so one of his lessees, roofing company Lonn Starr Contracting, could use the parking lot to store vehicles and equipment.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, the township held a public hearing on the conditional use, which drew a large crowd of residents who had concerns about the proposal.

This included one neighbor who was concerned cars stored near her property would leak fluids onto her lawn, and another resident who had doubts the plans provided for enough setbacks or fencing.

As a result, the public hearing ended up delaying the start of the regular hearing by 20 minutes.

One condition of the approval was that Mahan would have to plant evergreen trees to use as fencing for the parking lot, in accordance with section 18.36 of the township’s zoning ordinance. Since evergreen trees don’t grow during this time of year, this requirement has been delayed until New Year’s Day.

Penn Township and its contractors are making progress on construction of the new traffic signal for the busy intersection at Route 8 and Airport Road.

Supervisor Samuel Ward said the concrete foundations and underground conduits have been finished.

“We expect the fabrication of the traffic poles to be completed in the next several weeks,” Ward said. “Once they are completed and delivered, it will take approximately two to three weeks to finish the installation.”

Penn Township has collected the results of a survey it distributed to residents in June to gauge interest in connecting to a municipal water system instead of using wells. To date, only some residents in Penn Township receive water from a municipal system — namely, the Municipal Water Authority of Adams Township.

Ward said Adams Township is preparing to schedule a meeting with the authority and local engineering firm Herbert, Rowland & Grubic to discuss the findings.

“We intend to set up a meeting to review the results and ask them to consider additional municipal water services in Penn Township,” Ward said.