$2M capital project borrowing approved

TOWAMENCIN » The next step toward tackling several long-term projects around Towamencin Township has now been taken.

The township’s supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to move ahead with a $2 million capital project borrowing.

During talks on the township’s 2021 budget last fall, the board discussed and ultimately approved the first real estate tax increase since 2010, citing a need to help fund infrastructure repairs in upcoming years via a long-term borrowing, largely road repairs and upgrades and fixes to the township stormwater and sewer systems.

The formal motion board Chairman Chuck Wilson read during the board’s Jan. 27 meeting spelled out the details of where those funds could be allocated: The borrowing is to fund capital projects consisting of reimbursement of expenditures on capital improvement projects; acquisition of vehicles and equipment; improvements to the township and emergency radio systems; acquisition of police vehicle and body cameras; improvements to the township pool; improvements to stormwater collection systems, and improvements to roads and bridges, Wilson said.

The board unanimously approved the ordinance authorizing the borrowing, then gave a similar unanimous vote to a resolution authorizing the township to begin incurring costs for those projects before the borrowing is finalized.

Parks plan tabled for further talks: One motion was discussed by the board, but tabled for further talks, on adopting a master plan update presented by the township’s open space and parks and recreation committee last fall.

“I know we were all impressed with it, but I don’t think we gave any feedback at the time,” Wilson said.

Members of the parks committee presented the plan update in October 2020, and the supervisors discussed during the budget talks which park upgrades they would like to fund, but never formally adopted the plan. Supervisor Rich Marino said one project in that plan update that he thought should be revisited was a call for new pickleball courts in a park on Heebner Way.

“I just felt that location is too remote for something like that. It doesn’t have the parking, the sewer, the water, any kind of amenities at all, for anybody going there to do something,” he said.

A different option for that park could be basketball courts, and Wilson said he thought the parks board could look at whether pickleball courts would be a fit at Fischer’s Park, and basketball courts at Butch Clemens Park. Supervisor Dan Littley added that he thought the title should be changed from “master plan” to “evaluation plan,” since it was an update of an earlier master plan, and township Manager Rob Ford said he’d review that with the parks committee.

Road paving projects being planned: Marino also reported that the board’s public works committee has begun preparing for 2021 road paving projects.

“We do have a list of roads ready to go. They coincide with the ramps that we did this past year — the handicapped ramps for this year’s project, were done last year,” he said.

Public work staff are currently determining if any locations will need work done on private property where drainage issues require work done behind residents’ curbs, and that work must be done prior to paving.

“We expect to be completing that work in July, which would allow the paving contract to commence in August,” Marino said.

One other road issue was discussed by the public works committee, according to Marino: the traffic signal at Forty Foot and Tomlinson Roads, where the shoulder is being widened to add another southbound travel lane, has recently been damaged. Staff and the engineer believe a loop sensor meant to detect traffic and trigger that signal may have been accidentally cut during the widening work, Marino said, and adjustments have been made to try to repair signal timing delays.

Truck study gets OK: The supervisors also unanimously authorized the traffic engineer to study truck traffic on Kriebel Road in the area of Old Forty Foot Road.

“The township received several complaints last fall about traffic, including tractor trailers, being detoured off of Old Forty Foot onto Kriebel Road, to meander around, and eventually get back into Old Forty Foot,” Wilson said.

Staff have since found that township codes do not list that portion of Kriebel as restricted for large trucks, despite what Wilson called “a sharp Zturn that is challenging on a car, let alone a tractor trailer.”

Traffic engineering firm McMahon Associates has provided a proposal to study the area at a cost of $7,900 and report back with findings, and the board voted unanimously to accept the proposal.

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10; for more information, visit www. Towamencin.org.