Maple Avenue residents return petition to Boardman Trustees

July 13, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

BOARDMAN

Maple Avenue residents Marilyn and Andrew Yurko came to the township trustees meeting Monday with a petition from 17 of the 27 property owners on the street, requesting that the speed limit be changed from 35 mph to 25 mph.

The neighbors have complained previously about excessive speeding and truck traffic in the residential area.

“We just want the traffic slowed down” Andrew Yurko said.

The couple also suggested drivers use McClurg Road, which is a commercial area, instead of the residential area on Maple Avenue.

In the last month, the township sprayed new yellow double traffic lines on the street and increased police speed patrols in the area.

Marilyn Kenner, township roads superintendent, said she and the trustees will doublecheck the validity of the petition signatures, then send it to the Mahoning County Engineers Office for a speed study and a recommendation on whether to change the speed limit.

“They’ll look at the number of driveways, they’ll look at the current traffic count, they’ll see if there’s any other road-geometry issues that we’d have to deal with,” Kenner said.

If the office recommends the speed limit remain the same, Kenner said the township could still install advisory speed limits, which are unenforceable.

In other business, the trustees unanimously approved the continuation of the township’s participation in a natural-gas aggregation program but switched to a new supplier. The program allows residents of participating communities who enroll to get a fixed rate from Interstate Gas Supply Inc. until the end of September. By Oct. 1, the township will adopt a new two-year contract with Independent Energy Consultants Inc. with a monthly retail gas rate starting at $3.091 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas.

The rate will increase to $3.471 MCF by Sept. 1, 2018. The current rate is $4.315 MCF.