Trappe's "Trusted Team" - More Signs of Fence-Straddling

At a special public meeting last week, Trappe Council opened the discussion about Trappe’s proposed new sign ordinance to audience members, who were mostly Main Street business owners and a spokesperson for the Trappe Business Association. The real debate is over electronic signs with changeable messaging. In past Council meetings, the Trusted Team faction, consisting of Marshall Stomel, Paul Edwards, Lew DiPrete, and President Fred Schuetz, has indicated support for these signs. As Schuetz controls the majority faction on Council, if he supports electronic signs on Main Street, then when this comes up for vote, electronic signs will become Trappe’s new Main Street look and feel. Business owners did not dwell on IF they insisted on electronic signs:  rather they spoke of size, lumens, colors, height of letters so as not to distract drivers, and other details.

Also at the meeting was Lisa Minardi, representing the Speaker’s House, who is both personally and professionally dedicated to raising funds to restore the former home of our county’s first-ever Speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenberg. Lisa stood and addressed Council, obviously thrilled at the recent $15,000 grant she obtained for the Speaker’s House, and how she is willing to use some of the funds to print informational pamphlets about the Speaker’s House and buy some pole banners for Main Street to help attract history buffs to Trappe.

But then she laid out the grant situation. Trappe is currently listed as “eligible” for National Register of Historic Places. Graders have noted the existing seven electronic signs along Main Street, which has resulted in lower Trappe scoring. This prevents her from applying for the really useful grants of over $1 Million. If Trappe didn’t have electronic signs, we could qualify for the National Register. Then, if Lisa’s grant application succeeded, and there is a high probability it would, she could proceed with the highly expensive replacement of the Speaker’s House roof and other safety renovations, and even provide some of the grant money directly to Trappe for other historic renovations. So the two opposing interests we see are now clearly defined.

On November 6, 2011, faction leader Fred Schuetz, when running for re-election, published the following statements about his “vision” for Trappe:

“I will continue to promote the idea of Trappe as a destination rather than just a point through which one must travel to get to a more distant point. A Historic Walking Tour pamphlet is a vision intended to promote tourism interest by developing cooperation between our historic resources, business interests and the borough.”

Allowing a row of electronic signs along Trappe’s historic Main Street makes as much sense as erecting a Bellagio Casino between the Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. This is a significant mismatch of “look and feel.” It can become Las Vegas strip, or it can remain historic.  It cannot be both. 

The owner of Dairy Queen attended the meeting and is very much in favor of his electronic sign, came prepared with a great pile of sign documentation, and he said, “Marshall Stomel is sympathetic to my objectives.”

So clearly, we know how Trappe’s Main Street will end up if Schuetz-Stomel-Edwards-DiPrete prevail in this year’s Elections. But the contradictions, selling a historic renovation of Main Street to attract visitors, creating a Historic Walking Tour to attract visitors, then after hearing Lisa Minardi discuss how our low historic grading could make us ineligible for the Historic Register and grants we could really use – how can the Trusted Team faction continue to say yes to both interests?

And to voters?

The Trusted Team faction frequently speaks about how we need to attract businesses to Trappe, how everyone is tired of looking at the vacant properties in Trappe Center, how we must reach out to businesses.

But then at the Nov. 13 Trappe Borough Council meeting, Councilman Paul Edwards, a building inspector professionally, surprisingly proposed inspections on commercial buildings in the borough. Not initially upon occupancy, but every year, annual inspections for a fee. The borough currently inspects about 200 rental properties, and commercial properties would add approximately 120 more inspections per year. Edwards said, “It would generate some revenue over time."

Again, a contradiction. Do Trusted Team members want to attract businesses to Trappe or begin to hassle them, nickel-and-dime them every year, year after year, to raise revenue?