Officials grant another approval for senior facility
A proposed senior living community planned for Towamencin Avenue has received another approval.
Towamencin supervisors voted unanimously last week to grant preliminary land development approval to Columbia/Wegmans Acquisition, which is planning to build a senior center originally proposed for a site up the street.
“Good luck with the project,” said supervisors’ Chairman Chuck Wilson.
In 2014, original plans for the
project called for the facility to be built near the pedestrian bridge crossing Forty Foot Road, but after roughly a year of talks on that possible site, the project was put on hold due to questions about the underlying zoning. Starting in February, the developer presented an alternative location, on the northern side of Towamencin Avenue, on the outside of a curve in the road between Forty Foot Road and the entrance ramp to the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
In March, the supervisors approved several waivers requested by the developer, largely to do with landscaping around the site and a driveway connection to a neighboring site.
“At our last meeting, we went through the waiver requirements and authorized staff to prepare a preliminary plan approval resolution for consideration this evening,” Wilson said.
That resolution was approved unanimously by Towamencin’s supervisors on March 24, and the developer has said they hope to seek final plan approval later this summer and start construction this fall.
The board approved several other items March 24, including a motion authorizing staff to seek bids on the township’s 2017 road paving program. According to Wilson and Township Manager Rob Ford, the township is planning to pave four streets totalling 19,600 linear feet, and the paving projects will include upgrades to curb ramps and new line striping. The roads to be paved are:
• Flintlock Circle, from Anders Road near Kriebel Road to Anders Road near Meadow Glen Drive.
• Meadow Glen Drive, from Anders Road to Bridle Path Drive
• Bridle Path Drive, from Sumneytown Pike to Buttonwood Drive
• Keeler Road from Allentown Road to Quarry Road.
The board also voted unanimously to authorize the disposal of a long list of township property, including two 2012 Dodge Chargers no longer needed by the police department, two tractors belonging to the township public works department, and a total of 39 portable radios no longer needed by emergency responders due to upgrades being administered by Montgomery County.
“We will not get rid of these until we get the other ones,” said supervisor Dan Littley, who is the township’s emergency management coordinator.
The board also heard an update from sewer engineers Bill Dingman and T.J. Figaniak on the projects underway so far to upgrade the township’s sewer inflow and infiltration issues, largely in the area of Kriebel Road, and which they hope to continue in coming years.
“It is estimated that the repairs have done a significant reduction in I-and-I. However, 2016 was a drier year, and we’re not able to quantify as much of the reduction as we’d like to be able to,” Figaniak said.
The sewer engineers will continue to monitor the functioning of the township’s sewer systems during rain events, Figaniak and Dingman said, and will report back again after the second quarter of 2017 is over.
The supervisors next meet at 7:30 p.m. on April 12 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www. Towamencin.org.