Safety Hazard

About 200 Winslow Township residents gave a standing ovation last night when the planning board was forced to withdraw an application for high-density housing in the Sicklerville section of the township. The withdrawal came after Michael Diamond, attorney for Avendale West Civic Association, told officials that the developer, the 437 Land Co., had failed to make proper notification to the Camden County Planning Board. Diamond said that failure made the application "null and void.

IFIND IT disturbing that Mayor Nutter has called for departments to cut their budgets, for rolling brownouts in the fire department (a safety hazard throughout the city) and elimination of the DROP program in which lies are being put out about it - yet it seems he hasn't yet really tried to negotiate with the city unions that haven't had a contract in two years. Now the mayor has once again hired for his cabinet, the biggest of all previous administrations, two new people at $100,000 a year each.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), operators of the former Sunoco refinery in South Philadelphia, announced Thursday a recall of some potentially unsafe kerosene sold through nine Pennsylvania and New Jersey outlets, including stations in West Philadelphia, Quakertown and Burlington. PES said it was conducting a "voluntary recall" of kerosene sold between Dec. 10 and Dec. 18 because it "could create a potential safety hazard due to a low ignition temperature, which may cause fires in space heaters or other equipment.

OVER THE PAST several weeks PennDOT has begun a project along I-95 in the Pennsport community in which they are redoing the drainage coming off of I-95 down into the community. The problem is that the water/runoff that is coming out of these drains is not just rainwater: There is trash and debris floating amid the water runoff - the water is just spewing out all over the open public space. The downspout pipes are extremely large and are no longer attached to a receiving drain.

The Federal Aviation Administration's decision to permit construction of a 450-foot chimney at West Deptford's proposed coal-fired power plant became final last week, after no additional evidence against the project was presented to the agency during the previous month. The FAA has ruled that the smokestack does not pose a hazard to air traffic from the Philadelphia International Airport. That ruling, based on a study of the proposed plant's impact on the flight paths of planes landing and taking off from the airport across the Delaware River, had been challenged by two national pilots associations.

State Rep. Ronald C. Raymond (R., Sharon Hill) has asked PennDOT to reconsider a plan to remove a traffic light at High Street and Chester Pike as part of a project that would synchronize the timing of traffic lights along the pike. During a Sharon Hill Borough Council caucus meeting Thursday night, council President Charles Hollenden said Raymond sent a letter to PennDOT about a week ago at the request of several residents of High Street who are opposed to the removal of the traffic light.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) announced Thursday that it was recalling a potentially unsafe batch of kerosene that got into the market that could cause fires in space heaters. PES said it was conducting a "voluntary recall" of kerosene sold between Dec. 10 and Tuesday because it could ignite and "create a potential safety hazard. " The company operates the former Sunoco refinery in South Philadelphia. As much as 2,000 gallons of the volatile fuel were sold through nine Pennsylvania and New Jersey outlets, including stations in West Philadelphia, Quakertown, and Burlington, said Philip L. Rinaldi, chief executive of PES. The recall was initiated after a customer complained that the fuel did not smell right.

A coalition of residents charged yesterday that the CSX Transportation rail company has walked away from negotiations and is threatening to close off all street-level access in Center City to Schuylkill River Park. CSX owns the tracks that separate the riverside park from the surrounding neighborhood. "For 30 years the city has been promising [a park] and has finally delivered," said Russell Meddin, a coordinator for the Free Schuylkill River Park coalition. "Unfortunately CSX is blocking access.

Plans to demolish a historic wall that dates back 192 years ran into, well, a brick wall yesterday when neighbors and preservationists blocked a demolition crew early in the morning. At an emergency meeting of the Burlington City's Historic Preservation Commission last night, the demolition was further halted until the managers of the Burlington Meeting House Conference Center can demonstrate to the commission that they at least explored alternatives to destruction. The wall, about 900 feet long and four feet high, surrounds a historic Quaker cemetery on Wood Street near Broad Street.

The Ambler Borough Council has reached a compromise in the long-running controversy concerning a resident's high hedges, defusing a feud between council member Frank Morasco and borough solicitor Jack Gaffney. The council moved Monday to revoke an ordinance that makes having hedges that are higher than 4 feet and located at an intersection a safety violation. They also agreed to draft an ordinance that would parallel a state standard. That state standard gives only a certified state traffic safety inspector the right to declare a violation for a safety hazard.