Lederach Golf Course shows operating profit but below 2018 budget
LOWER SALFORD >> With winter temporarily giving way to more spring-like temperatures during the first week of February, there were a few golfers out at Lederach Golf Club, Lower Salford Township Board of Supervisors Chairman Doug Gifford said at the board’s Feb. 6 meeting.
“There was still snow on the course,” he said. “Gives you an idea as to how much pent-up demand there is.”
Gifford also gave an overview of the townshipowned golf course’s 2018 financial results.
“You’ll be happy to know we finished in the black to the tune of $85,000 on operations,” he said.
The budgeted operating profit was $235,000, though, he said.
“You can see that the weather does have an effect on the results of the golf course as we’ve been proving for far too many years,” Gifford said. “In any event, we at least took in more than we put out.”
Throughout the year, he had reported that the rainy weather was having an impact on the number of golfers.
In other matters at the meeting:
• The board held a conditional use hearing for Anthony Turchi’s plans to add a 2,100-square-foot detached garage and crushed stone driveway on a 10.9acre flaglot with an existing house on Store Road.
Part of the property is in Lower Salford and part in Towamencin, James Garrity, Lower Salford’s solicitor, said. The garage is Golfers play at the Lederach Golf Club, a municipal course in Lower Salford Township.
planned for the Lower Salford portion, he said.
Under Lower Salford’s zoning ordinance, an accessory building can’t be more than 30 percent of the size of the principal building on the site unless conditional use approval is given, he said.
“The square footage of the detached garage will exceed 30 percent of the square footage of the principal building on the tract,” Garrity said.
The tract is approved for forestry preservation, Turchi
said. The size of the garage is to be able to include a tractor and other agricultural equipment, he said.
The garage will not be visible from the road or by neighbors, board member Keith Bergman said. It will be near the middle of the property, and the neighbors also have wooded lots, Turchi said.
In answer to Gifford’s question if he’s aware the garage would not be allowed to be used for a business, Turchi said he is.
The conditional use was approved.
• The board approved having an application put in for a Montco 2040 Implementation Grant. The competitive grants are funded by Montgomery County.
“The program focuses on supporting local projects that specifically further the goals of the county comprehensive plan and the plan’s themes of Connected Communities, Sustainable Places, and Vibrant Economy,” according to information on the county website.
“This is to fund sidewalks
along Park Avenue,” Gifford said.
The sidewalks, which would be between Maple Avenue and Kulp Road, would provide connections to existing home developments, the Harleysville Community Center and the township trail system, application information says. The community center includes the Harleysville pool.
The township is asking for a $125,000 grant and is committed to providing a local funding match of $145,000, the application information says.
• The board accepted the winning $8,400 bid on the MuniciBid online auction site for the sale of a 2002 Ford F-350 pickup truck with a plow.
“I believe this amount to be more than reasonable for a 17-year-old truck that we probably paid less than $25,000 for when new,” Public Works Director Doug Jones wrote in a memo to the board.
The winning bidder was Dwight Heckman, of Hamburg, Gifford said.