Supervisors approve land preservation, debt refinancing

BEDMINSTER » Just over 90 acres of land near the intersection of routes 113 and 313 are being preserved from development.

“This is the property right across from Weis Markets,” Bedminster Township Board of Supervisors Chairman Glenn Wismer said at the July 8 township meeting at which the board approved paying $180,340 for the township’s portion of the more than $1.3 million being paid to buy a conservation easement from Blue Rock Investment Corp. for the 90.17 acres on the tract.

“It’s highly visible,” Wismer said.

“That land’s been in play for 20 years,” board member Morgan Cowperthwaite said.

Efforts to develop the land included curative amendment attempts and a proposal for an

assisted living community, John Rice, township solicitor, said.

With the conservation easement, the property will be preserved for agricultural use.

The land preservation deal is being done in combination with the state, county and Heritage Conservancy, Wismer said.

Along with Bedminster paying $180,340, Pennsylvania will pay $541,020.33 plus $13,600 of closing costs; Bucks County will pay $541,020; and Heritage Conservancy will pay $100,000, the township resolution shows.

In a separate open space related matter, the board agreed to refinance $1,327,700 of open space debt, cutting the interest rate in half.

“Our current interest rate is 3.02 percent,” Township Manager Rich Schilling said. That loan from

TD Bank was scheduled to run through the end of 2031, he said.

When he went back to the bank and said the township was looking to refinance, TD Bank offered to change the interest rate to 1.45 percent, which would also cut the length of the loan by a year and five months, he said.

A quote was also received from another bank, but the interest rate in that case would have been 1.7 percent, Schilling said.

The change to the new 1.45 percent rate will save about $90,000 over the length of the loan, he said.

“I think the time to do it is now, even though it may go down to zero percent,” Wismer said.

The interest rates could also rise, Schilling said.

The board also acted on a request from Upper Bucks County Technical School that the permit fees for a renovation project at the school be lowered.

“Our fee schedule calls for 3 percent of the construction costs plus a $125 application fee,” Schilling said.

That would be $25,514, he said.

“They requested a reduction. I asked them what they would like to pay,” Schilling said. “They pretty much left that up to us.”

Schilling said he was suggesting the board set the fee at half the normal rate or a little less, but not less than $10,000.

“I don’t want to lose money on this, not in the current economic downturn,” he said.

The fees are to cover the costs of inspections and it’s not yet known how many inspections will have to be done, he said. That won’t be determined until after the permit is issued, he said.

Following Wismer’s suggestion that the fee be set at $12,500 and board member Mark Schmidt’s $10,500 suggestion, the three agreed with Cowperthwaite’s proposal to split the difference and set the fee at $11,500.

The school on Ridge Road in Bedminster serves students in the Pennridge, Palisades and Quakertown school districts.