DURYEA — The Stephenson Street Bridge will soon be gate free.
Council members voted at their monthly meeting Tuesday to take down the gate and hand it over to the property owners on the other side of it.
Borough Solicitor Sam Falcone said the property owners will meet with borough engineers and Duryea Realty to decide where they can put it.
“The exact location of where (the property) is is somewhat in dispute, and that’s why borough council tonight deferred that to its engineer to make sure that our engineer is certain that it won’t prevent access to any public property or public roadway. And they can put it on their property,” he said.
According to Mayor Keith Moss, the reason the gate was installed was because the Stephenson Street Bridge once lead to Airport Sand & Gravel Co. Inc. Prior to the company relocating to West Wyoming, the bridge was open only from 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
“It’s just empty land back there,” he said.
Moss said he kept the gate closed permanently for the last six months to prevent illegal dumping and to protect the borough police officers.
“With all of this stuff with the shooting of the police officers, I was a little bit afraid because it’s such a desolate area back there that anybody who had anything against a police officer could just shoot them and nobody would know,” he said.
In other business, council members:
• Approved the appointment of eight part-time police officers for the month of September.
• Corrected the expiration date of the alternate member for the Civil Service Commission that was approved at the July meeting to Dec. 31, 2021.
