This week’s meetings
Montgomery Township/Oct. 23 Autumn Festival
Volunteers thanked: Montgomery Township’s commissioners and Autumn Festival committee publicly thanked the volunteers and sponsors who made the annual fall festival held earlier this month possible. “Thanks to all of the committee members, township employees, and all of their family members that have helped us,” said Mary Alfarano, chairwoman of the township’s Autumn Festival Committee. In addition to committee members and employees, the Autumn Festival Committee thanked members of the township’s Environmental Advisory Committee, the Park and Recreation Board, the Senior Volunteer Committee, the Montgomery Township Police Department, the Fire Department of Montgomery Township, the Volunteer Medical Service Corps of Lansdale, the North Penn High School Junior ROTC and Key Club, and the Montgomery County Public Library Bookmobile. Several groups of sponsors were also thanked, for contributing at various levels: Pumpkin sponsors: Dischell Bartle & Dooley, PC; Calvary Church; Delaware Valley Dance Academy; Marks Jewelers; Fulton Bank; Wegmans; Mid Atlantic Packaging Inc. Scarecrow sponsors: Bharatiya Cultural Center; Gilmore & Associates, Inc.; Boucher & James, Inc.; Patient First; Doylestown Health; Traffic Planning and Design Inc. Fall Foliage sponsors: Clemens Food Group; The Peterman Group; Costco; Sal’s Nursery & Landscaping; F. Ambrose Moving Inc.; Spinieo, Inc.; J.L. Freed & Sons; Syrena Collision Center; Univest Bank and Trust Company. “Without you, this event would not happen,” said supervisors Chairwoman Candyce Fluehr Chimera.
Stormwater
Basins: Township officials approved the inclusion of seven more basins in the township’s naturalization program, and reassessments of six more to see how they have grown over the past five years. “The Shade Tree Commission has researched the benefits of naturalizing these basins, and has identified additional basins to be entered into the basin naturalization program,” said Director of Planning and Zoning Bruce Shoupe. Since 2009 the township has added several basins each year to that naturalization program, in which plant material in the basins is allowed to grow long, with the goal of increasing water absorption during heavy rains. “The group of basins listed below is the last of the basins to be entered into the program,” Shoupe said, listing basins on Summer Ridge, Lea Drive, within the Tall Gables development, Autumn Grove, and three near the township’s community and recreation center at Stump and Horsham roads. Starting in 2015, the township began reassessment of basins that had been in the first groups of those naturalized, to determine how effective the practice has been. The six basins up for reassessment were first naturalized in 2012, and are located near Pioneer Drive, in the Gwynmere development, on Montgomery Hill, Gwynwood Pond, within Tall Gables, and at Autumn Woods Park, according to Shoupe.
Leaf pickup
Dates: Township officials announced the dates of upcoming curb side leaf and yard waste collection, to be done by trash hauler Advanced Disposal Inc. ,per a contracted agreement with the township. Yard waste will be collected starting at 7 a.m. on Nov. 18, and residents are asked to put their collected leaf and yard waste materials in biodegradable paper bags at their curbs prior to that time. In addition to the curb side collection, the township will hold monthly leaf and yard waste collection at William F. Maule Park at Windlestrae, at the main section near Kenas Road, from 8 a.m. to noon on the third Saturday of each month.
Bharatiya Temple
Fee waived: Montgomery’s supervisors also voted unanimously to waive the fee for a special events permit requested by the Bharatiya Temple, located at 1612 County Line Road, to conduct a Diwali festival on Oct. 19. Standard township practice is to waive the $100 special event fee for local nonprofits and religious organizations, and the supervisors voted Monday to do so unanimously for the Temple. For more information on the Temple and its upcoming events, call 215-997-1181 or visit www.B-Temple.org.