Several residents came before Kutztown Borough Council at the June 16 meeting to address personal concerns, including one resident’s concerns with university students and another’s request for the borough to advocate for environmentally friendly energy solutions.
The issue of university students crowding the town and creating disturbances has been a long-standing discussion within the borough.
Steve Curry, a borough resident, came before council, pleading with them to do something about students crowding Main Street, specifically on Thursday and Friday nights during university semesters.
“While it’s calm here in town, and I can actually feel safe, maybe there can be something done with Thursday and Friday nights and the herd of students,” said Curry. “The residents can’t even go up through the town and enjoy the town. I carry a pistol now when I’m going through town, it’s that bad.”
Curry said that police officers herd students like cattle, and that the excuse of Kutztown being a college town is no longer valid when addressing this issue.
“I pay taxes here,” he said. “This is my town, and the residents that live here, it’s their town, too.”
Curry offered suggestions for handling student crowding, including allotting more officers, collaborating with the university or imposing a curfew on the students.
Council Member Rachael Martin addressed Curry, stating that the borough simply cannot afford to put more officers on the streets.
“I’ve lived here nine years,” she said. “This has always been a discussion for the board. The officers are doing their jobs. We’d like to see the university show a little more care and concern for what happens to their students late at night.”
While Martin agreed that the issue is important to address, she reminded Curry of the efforts being put in, including officer patrol and the creation of KUBoK, “a coalition of community members and Kutztown University students, staff, and faculty who work with the Kutztown Borough Police Department by volunteering his or her time and talent to create a safer community and promote awareness,” according to http://www2.kutztown.edu/safety-and-emergency-information/kubok.htm.
Mayor Sandy Green stated that there might be an opportunity to address these concerns with the new administration coming into the university.
Martin assured Curry that council has and will continue to do their best at addressing the residents’ concerns with students in the town.
“We don’t want to treat them like criminals when they are just standing in the street,” she said. “We are trying to get on the same page as the university.”
Another resident, Gene Mosca, came before council to address their policies in regard to buying back energy.
Five years ago, Mosca was told he would receive payment for energy created by solar panels on his home.
Over the past several years, the payment amount has gone down from 4.3 cents per kilowatt-hour to 4.19 cents, which Mosca says makes his investment “much less attractive.”
Mosca addressed the board in hopes that they could do something to increase the appeal of using alternative energy in homes within the borough.
“I just want the council to rethink all this,” he said. “What is it that we want to do? We want to cut back on greenhouse gases, and we want to do right by the citizens of Kutztown. What that is, I don’t know, but I do see problems. I think I am the only resident that creates energy from rooftop panels. I think that’s very unfortunate.”
Borough Solicitor Keith Mooney addressed Mosca, stating that the policy currently in place is based on an ordinance created a few years ago.
“Kutztown actually adopted the same formula that the power companies in Pennsylvania were required to adopt,” said Mooney.
Kutztown was not required to adopt that formula or buy back energy, but they chose to. Despite council’s efforts to advocate for alternative energy through adoption of the ordinance, options are limited.
According to Mooney, if Mosca were to go directly through Met-Ed, he would receive the same rates as he is currently given. That is to say, the borough is doing the best they can.
In other news, council took action on an ordinance proposed by the Planning Commission that amends Article VI of the borough’s zoning code. The amendment permits the reconstruction of nonconforming buildings and structures that are “damaged or destroyed by fire, explosion, acts of God or acts of the public enemy.”
Also, council approved five waivers and the final preliminary plan for an addition to Kutztown Self Storage. The waivers regard curbing, improvements to Apple Alley, storm water and basin side slopes.
The next Kutztown Borough Council meeting will be held on July 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kutztown Train Station.
