Good vibrations about roundabouts … Gazette reader Lance Zaring submitted a link to a Times magazine article that is sure to make you a believer in using roundabouts instead of stoplights. As most of you know, a pair of roundabouts is included in planned improvements in the village of Linglestown. Probe of baby’s death in LP continues … More charges might be filed against a Brazilian nanny whose son recently died in the basement of a Lower Paxton Twp. home, says Dauphin County District Attorney Edward Marsico Jr. Citizens leaflet neighborhood … Centennial Acres residents, with the help of watchdog group SWAN, distributed leaflets urging homeowners to attend a Lower Paxton Twp. meeting Tuesday that will include a discussion about a controversial housing community proposed by McNaughton Homes. The residents will present a list of changes they want incorporated into the plan to protect their properties from potential problems posed by the location of storm water basins. Grass mowing contest update … BB's yard-mowing count has been stuck at 21 since way back on August 4. The contest ends on November 1 and then the big prize will be awarded to a lucky someone.

According to a legal advertisement in today’s edition of The Patriot-News, the starting time for the Lower Paxton Twp. Board of Supervisors workshop meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 9 has been changed from 6 pm to 7 pm at the Municipal Center, 425 Prince Street. The meeting agenda had not been posted on the township’s Web site at the time this post was published. A key agenda item is expected to be a discussion on the Estates of Autumn Oaks, a mountainside, luxury home development proposed by McNaughton Homes. Residents of Centennial Acres, a large housing community located between Colonial and Patton roads at the base of Blue Mountain, are seeking last-minute changes to the plan.

Dar Aurand, spokesman for Centennial Acres residents, issued a press release over the weekend on last-minute issues related to a mountainside, luxury housing development proposed by McNaughton Homes. To read it, click the post headline or the above link.

The expected vote by the Lower Paxton Township supervisors this Tuesday, Sept. 2, to approve a mountainside, luxury housing development proposed by McNaughton Homes has been delayed. McNaughton could have forced a vote, but company officials decided to put it off to allow time to update the supervisors on issues raised by Centennial Acres residents during a meeting held Wednesday at the township Municipal Center, said Joel McNaughton, spokesman for the developer. The main concern raised at the meeting was issues related to large storm water ponds that McNaughton wants to construct on the lower slopes of Blue Mountain. For more details, jump over to an article by Patriot-News beat reporter T.W. Burger, and check out a BB op-ed.

An op-ed by BB ...I've seen it happen dozens of times over the years – a housing developer spends months, sometimes years, working to get a plan approved, and then adjoining and nearby property owners catch wind of what’s in the works when the proposal is up for final approval. There’s plenty of heartache and gnashing of teeth, as local officials have no choice but to OK a plan that has a ton of last-minute opposition. This scenario is playing out right now in Lower Paxton Twp. for several property owners who live in Centennial Acres located off of Patton Road. They are about to have their view of Blue Mountain permanently altered by a 91-home development planned by McNaughton Homes. Residents are nervous, and rightly so, about the need for large ponds to be constructed to control storm water. These monstrosities will hold hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and will tower above their homes on the mountainside. Who wants the majestic Blue Mountain to be altered like this? No one. But township zoning regulations allow homes to be built there and McNaughton has been working to meet government requirements associated with their plan since September 2007, while the overwhelming majority of Centennial Acres residents who are fretting got involved earlier this month. For good and not so good reasons, they entered the game in the ninth inning, two outs and a batter at the plate who has two strikes. The residents, who have been assisted by Eric Epstein of citizens group SWAN, have done an admirable job trying to get their concerns addressed prior to Tuesday, Sept. 2, when the township supervisors will put their stamp of approval on the plan. I think they have a shot at getting the supervisors to require fencing around the man-made ponds to help deter kids from jumping into deep water during wet weather. Maybe, if they’re extremely lucky, the supervisors could require McNaughton to put money on deposit to cover costs if the ponds don’t work as planned and existing flood problems in Centennial Acres worsen. So, what can you do to avoid similar emotional trauma? It’s simple – be diligent. Although it gets pooh-poohed all the time, a responsibility of all U.S. citizens is to monitor what politicians and government bureaucrats are doing, and local government is usually the source of most heartaches. Yeah, yeah, I know … that’s easy to say but hard to do. Or is it? Instead of you trying to do all the legwork, become a regular reader of Linglestown Gazette and the Web site published by SWAN, and check the meeting minutes posted on Lower Paxton's Web site. I try to post links to township meeting agendas and preview big issues that are up for discussion, and SWAN sends members to nearly every township meeting so they can produce online newsletters about Lower Paxton governmental affairs. Kiss heartaches away. Diligence is only a few clicks away! ____ - For details about McNaughton’s proposed housing community, check out an article from The Patriot-News by beat reporter T.W. Burger. - Using a feed is great way to automatically find out when new information is added to Linglestown Gazette. I use an online feed reader called Bloglines. To get a FREE feed to this blog, click the orange icon or the link “Subscribe to Linglestown Gazette” that are located in the right-hand sidebar.