Plowing pact moves mega project forward
LIMERICK » A majority of township supervisors reluctantly agreed Tuesday night to making the township responsible for plowing a traffic circle no one wants to ensure a massive 30-acre development project at the intersection of Ridge and Swamp pikes moves forward.
Called Limerick Town Center, the project calls for 308 senior living units and 160 townhomes as well as three retail buildings that have 32,000 square feet of space on the first floor, with apartments above.
Last month, the township supervisors granted preliminary site plan approval for the project, moving it one step ahead in the land development process.
In order for Montgomery County to approve the senior living portion, called Arcadia, the township needs to agree to plow snow off the roads created in the project, as well as Swamp Pike to the New Hanover Township line, Limerick Township Manager Dan Kerr told the supervisors Tuesday night.
The county would pay the township a rate-per-mile for the plowing that adds up to as much as $6,500 per year, a rate more than PennDOT pays the township to plow state roads, he said.
The county would own the roads and be responsible for their maintenance otherwise, with the exception of painting the lines on the traffic circle. That too would fall to the township, Kerr said.
The traffic circle will be created as the result of a plan to shift Swamp Pike so it meets Ridge Pike at a T-intersection with Lewis Road, eliminating the need for difficult left-turns at what is now two intersections.
It was required by PennDOT and no developer or public official has expressed a fondness for the idea at any of Limerick’s supervisor meetings, least of all Supervisor Ken Sperring, who runs a towing business and has “plowed snow for 20 years.”
“That traffic circle is a disaster and trying to plow it while traffic is moving through it will be a disaster,” said Sperring.
Not surprisingly, Sperring was the supervisor who refused to support the idea of the township being responsible for that particular piece of plowing. “PennDOT wants the traffic circle, let them plow it,” he said.
Supervisor Kara Shuler said with a township road crew, or township contractor, doing the work, it would get done more quickly and the township would have more control over it, making the roads “safer for our residents during snowstorms.”
Supervisors Patrick Morroney and Thomas Neafcy agreed and Kerr said he would inform the county. Supervisors Chairwoman Elaine DeWan was absent.
The agreement must still be approved by the Montgomery County Commissioners, he said.