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News about ELA Group, Landscape Architects, Land Planners, Transportation, Civil, Municipal and Environmental Engineers, Sports Facility Design and Synthetic Turf Professionals
September 30, 2005
ELA Group, Inc., Employees Generosity Results in United
Way Gold Award
United Way of Lancaster County, 2005, ELA Group, Inc. employees raised a total of $5,735 for United Way 2006 campaign. This is the most in history the employees of ELA Group, Inc. have contributed. The company also pitched in a total of $1,500 towards the campaign. In light of their generosity, ELA Group, Inc. and its employees received Gold Award recognition.
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October 26, 2004
Smart Growth Award, Lititz Elementary School
After three years of planning, the Lititz Elementary School has been selected among submissions to be recognized under the 2004 Envision Smart Growth Leadership Award Program. Lancaster County Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners sponsor the award program. The goal of the awards program is to recognize projects that exemplify smart growth concepts and the advantages they bring to the local community and the region. Achievement of the award and planning for the facility has been a collaborative effort on behalf of Warwick School District, Lititz Borough, site planners and architects. Warwick School District employed local community dialog in the design alternatives and decision-making process regarding the renovation, relocation or rebuilding of the school facility on the existing sites that serve the school. The decision to have the school maintain a downtown location as a vital component of the local community will not only help reduce sprawl development, suburban migration and the associated dependence on the automobile, but will also provide many direct benefits to the students and the community at large.
Highlights of the smart growth and related design features of the project include:
- Supports Lititz/Warwick Comprehensive Plan goal of maintaining a walkable community
- Minimizes dependency on automobiles, reduces bussing costs and improves traffic flow
- Architectural style complimentary to community, site design enhances character of local neighborhood
- Compact development reduces sprawl
- Minimize impact to surrounding downtown properties
- Maintains downtown presence, reducing sprawl and preserving surrounding farm areas
- Preservation of urban, public, open space and recreational space
- Preservation of tax base by not removing another site form tax-eligible rolls.
- Preservation of Lancaster County Heritage by incorporation of existing architectural elements and historic artifacts in new building and site.
- Increased parking, and greenspace
- Improved outdoor instructional areas/play areas, accessibility, sidewalk and intersection improvements, pedestrian crossings, stormwater runoff and water quality control
The sites Planners for the project are the local company of Engineers and Landscape Architects, ELA Group, Inc. ELA Group is based out of Lititz, and has a branch office in State College. Architects for the project are the local company of Architects, Planners and Interior Designers, RLPS Architects, Ltd. RLPS Architects is based out of Lancaster.
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May 3, 2007
Lancaster County Township Wins Road Safety Improvement Award
David Sarley, chairman of the board of supervisors for Penn Township in
Lancaster County (fourth from left), receives the first runner-up Road and Bridge Safety
Improvement Award at the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors’ 85th Annual
State Convention and Trade Show, held April 22-25 in Hershey. Sponsored by PSATS, the
Pennsylvania Highway Information Association, and the state Department of Transportation, the
award recognizes townships for their extensive contributions of time and effort in making roads and
bridges safer. Penn Township received the award for improving safety at a dangerous intersection.
Participating in the presentation are (left to right): Terry Beibleheimer, PennDOT District 8-0
Municipal Services representative; Lori Bomboy of the Lititz-based engineering firm ELA Group,
Inc.; Daryl Lefever, Penn Township supervisor; Sarley; Jason Wagner, PHIA managing director;
James Ritzman, deputy secretary for planning for the state Department of Transportation; and Ken
Grimes, PSATS first vice president.
Penn Township in Lancaster County received the first runner-up award in the 25th Annual Road
and Bridge Safety Improvement Contest at the annual convention of the Pennsylvania State
Association of Township Supervisors in Hershey April 22-25. The township won the award for
improvements made to the intersection of three roads in the southern portion of Penn Township.
The township association sponsors the statewide Road and Bridge Safety Improvement Contest
each year in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Highway Information Association and the state
Department of Transportation to recognize townships for their extensive contributions of time and
effort in making roads and bridges safer.
The intersection of Route 72, Oak Street, and Sun Hill Road is one of the busiest in Penn
Township, and its configuration caused traffic tie-ups and frequent accidents. Route 72 is a major
artery running north and south through the signalized intersection and averages more than 15,000
vehicles per day. Sun Hill Road, which runs east and west through the signalized intersection,
averages 5,000 vehicles per day. Oak Street, which intersects Sun Hill Road about 100 feet east of
the intersection with Route 72, averages about 2,000 vehicles per day.
Before the improvements, the proximity of the stop-controlled Oak Street intersection to the
signalized intersection at Route 72 caused congestion and safety issues for motorists entering and
exiting Oak Street. The Oak Street intersection was blocked at times, interfering with the function
of the signalized intersection. The latter also had no turning lanes, and high numbers of right and
left turns created long delays and frequent accidents at the intersection.
To improve the intersection, the township worked with the Lititz-based engineering firm ELA
Group, Inc. to construct left-turn lanes in the north- and southbound approaches of Route 72 and the
east- and westbound approaches of Sun Hill Road. A northbound right-turn lane on Route 72 was
also added.
A new traffic signal at the intersection now accommodates Oak Street, and proper signal
phasing allows traffic to clear the area on Sun Hill Road between Oak Street and Route 72. Other
elements of the project included roadway widening and reconstruction, concrete curb installation,
stormwater facility installation and modifications, road surface leveling, and a complete roadway
overlay within the project limits.
The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors represents Pennsylvania’s 1,456
townships of the second class and for the past 86 years has been committed to preserving and
strengthening township government and securing greater visibility and involvement for townships
in the state and federal political arenas. Townships of the second class represent more residents —
5.4 million Pennsylvanians — than any other type of political subdivision in the commonwealth.
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