BIG Presents Engineer to Testify in Billboard Hearing

Marc Kaplin, the attorney representing Bartkowski Investment Group (BIG), put engineer Michael Tantala on the stand at Thursday night’s Haverford Township Zoning Hearing Board meeting to give testimony regarding the billboard issue on BIG's behalf.

Tantala, an engineer and principal of Tantala Associates, LLC, said that the five —two of the billboards would be located along Lancaster Avenue in Haverford Township overlooking Bryn Mawr in Lower Merion Township, and three signs along West Chester Pike in Haverford Township—would not create driving issues, as .

“It is my professional opinion, within a reasonable degree of engineering certainty, and on the basis of their design, location, configuration, size, height and lighting that the proposed, five billboards along West Chester Pike and Lancaster Avenue in the Township of Haverford, will:

A., will not present a physical obstruction to vehicles moving on the routes.

B., will not obstruct sight distances between the driver and other motorists or pedestrians.

C., will not distract or interfere with the effectiveness of official traffic-control devices.

D., are appropriate in height and size on the basis of industry standards, traffic speed, view analysis, surrounding topography, and other things. And E., will comply with professional design and industry standards to include design, structural capacity, lighting and other items,” Tantala said.

However, township attorney James Byrne objected to the phrase “other items” and the zoning hearing board struck the term.

During his testimony, Tantala said that PennDOT permits the type of billboards being proposed and that PennDOT estimates that nearly 12,000 of these same-style billboards are in Pennsylvania alone.

Tantala said that based off of the studies he has read and his own research, the proposed billboards pose no threats to motorists and are structurally sound.

However, during a , a Lower Merion Township businesswoman showed photos of a toppled billboard lying on a Delaware building.

Byrne objected that Tantala did not cite certain specific studies that the engineer used in his report that he gave the zoning hearing board.

But Kaplin rebutted, saying that he only asked Tantala for his opinions based on the specific studies that he cited in his report and not the studies that were not cited and mentioned in his report.

Byrne said he was satisfied with that and withdrew his objection.

“I think maybe I’m going to reserve my comments until I cross-examine him, and I’ll rather see how the testimony went,” Byrne told the Haverford-Havertown Patch when asked for his opinion of Tantala’s testimony.

Robert Kane, zoning hearing board chairman, stated that the cross-examination will take place on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011.