SPRINGFIELD: Zoning Board denies waiver, use variance business owners

By Amber Cox, Special Writer
   SPRINGFIELD — The towship’s Zoning Board unanimously turned down an application requesting approval for a use variance and waiver of site permit to allow for the operation of a cargo brokerage business, the repair of trailers and the use of office space on June 18.
   The property is located on Petticoat Bridge Road in an agricultural zone and is the former site of Reeds Lawn Equipment.
   The applicants, Sam Bonacci Jr. and Sam Bonacci III, owners of Balley Transportation Corp., employ six full-time employees and 18 owner operators that work remotely. Under the proposal, the workers would go to the site to drop off and pick up trailers.
   The business involves the transportation of various non-hazardous commodities such as paper, plastics and beverages throughout the region.
   Repairs that would have taken place on the site included tire changes and rotations, brake shoe replacement, general repairs to both the interior and exterior of the trailer.
   The attorney for the applicants, Jonas Singer, had a professional planner, James Miller, examine the site and determine if the site is appropriate for the trucking company.
   Mr. Miller said he concluded that the site would be cohesive for the trucking company.
   More than 30 concerned citizens showed up at the hearing and almost 20 voiced their concerns about having the business brought into the area.
   Petticoat Bride Road, which runs partly in Springfield Township and Mansfield Township, has a weight limit of 10 tons on its Mansfield side. Mansfield Mayor Arthur Puglia was present at the meeting and ensured that the weight limit would be enforced if the application was approved.
   ”We have a 10 ton limit,” Mayor Puglia said. “I want this for the record, they will not be able to use Petticoat Bridge Road in Mansfield Township. I want the residents to know that we will enforce it.”
   A number of concerns involved the condition of Petticoat Bridge Road, run off from any solvents used at the site for repairs of the tractors, noise, traffic conditions and the overall safety of the residents.
   Petticoat Bridge Road is home to the historic Petticoat Bridge Skirmish of December 1776. The skirmishes were a series of battles in the American Revolutionary War.
   Resident Stephen Bauer said the site would make a “visual nightmare for everyone and a number of safety issues.”
   Resident Donald Mandus has lived on the road for 29 years and values the fact that the area is agricultural and residential.
   ”This proposed application is so far removed from any agricultural or residential concept that it’s hard to believe its even being considered,” Mr. Mandus said.
   The next meeting of the Springfield Township Zoning Board will be held on July 16.