The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
New $10.5M township building now open
LIMERICK » The new township building that has been rising over the past year on Ridge Pike is finally completed enough for the township to move its offices back in.
The move-in began on Augs. 15 and as of Tuesday, final touches like the meeting room sound system and a painting were still being undertaken.
The 34,500-square-foot building includes a full basement used for storage and provides around four times more space to the police department than it had in the older township building.
Township Manager Dan Kerr said in the old building, the police department had to make due with about 3,400 square feet, but now has 12,500 square feet of space.
“In fact, this all started with the police needing more room and the board and the administration looking at that and beyond,” Kerr told Digital First Media.
Driving the need for more police space is more police officers.
Kerr said when he began working in Limerick 13 years ago, the township police force had fewer than 20 officers. It now has 30.
The need for more police was driven in large part by the township’s phenomenal growth.
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission population estimates show that Limerick has seen growth of between 5 percent and 10 percent from 2010 to 2016, with more than 900 residents added in that period.
From 2000 to 2010, Census figures show Limerick’s population grew by 33 percent, or more than 4,500 people; and from 2010 to 2016 by an additional 5.1 percent, or 920 people.
The only area towns with greater growth rates in that six-year period were New Hanover at 16.8 percent (1,837); Upper Hanover at 15.5 percent (1,001); Upper Providence at 12.4 percent (2,634); West Vincent at 11.3 percent (517); Skippack at 7.4 percent (1,111) and Douglass (Berks) at 7.9 percent (260).
According to figures from the Montgomery County Planning Commission, Limerick added 411 housing units from 2010 to 2017 — an increase of nearly 6 percent.