TRAIL GETS $600K GRANT
Phase 3 will extend Liberty Bell Trail to Hatfield Township
LANSDALE » The new year has brought good news for Lansdale Borough.
Local officials have announced a large grant award meant to continue the construction of the trail network that runs through town.
“I’m happy to announce that the park system was just awarded, through DVRPC, a $600,000 grant for phase three of the Liberty Bell Trail,” said councilwoman Mary Fuller.
Talks on completing the borough’s portion of the Liberty Bell Trail have been ongoing for nearly a decade, with the overall Liberty Bell Trail project, as developed by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, planned to run along the former Liberty Bell trolley line from Quakertown south throughout the Philadelphia suburbs. A stretch of that trail running along Railroad Avenue was opened in late 2019, a segment going past the town’s freight station and the Andale Green townhouse development has been underway as those houses have been built, with part of the trail in Stony Creek Park opened in May 2021, and the northern section runs past the town’s Madison Lansdale Station apartment complex, with a connection to trails in Hatfield still being planned.
Fuller and borough Director of Community Development Jason Van Dame said on Feb. 2 that the borough applied for the latest grant from DVRPC’s Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside program roughly a year ago, which was turned down, and a second application has now been successful.
“We’re hoping to get an additional $375,000 grant as well, which would then cover the cost of the whole project” via a separate grant source, Fuller said, and Van Dame added he was “cautiously optimistic” about the
town’s chances of securing the match.
“With this grant in hand, we can begin the real design of it,” he said, from the northwest end of the borough near the town’s Wedgewood Park, likely near the town’s electric and public works offices on Ninth Street and Moyer’s Road toward Hatfield.
“It’s another piece of the puzzle,” Van Dame said, and Lansdale’s record of completing earlier sections of the trail “went pretty well in our favor.”
Dog park being revisited
The new year will also bring a new look at talks on a possible dog park somewhere in Lansdale.
“Now that we have a new committee set up, we will still be looking at that,” said Fuller.
“The new committee has requested we would look into somehow gauging the interest of the residents in Lansdale, as to whether or not this is something they really want in the borough? Is there a need for it?” she said.
Last fall council’s parks and recreation committee took up talks on a possible dog park in town, after feedback from residents asking if the town could have one. Four possible sites were vetted by staff and the then-members of the parks committee: Hancock Street Park, Hidden Valley Park, Wedgewood Park, or the upper area of Whites Road Park, with concerns raised about three of the sites and staff and council members leaning toward Hancock.
On Feb. 2, Fuller gave an update: with a new parks and recreation committee now seated, they’ll be taking up the topic again and aim for more public involvement in 2022, with parks and recreation director Karl Lukens and communication coordinator Tracy Flynn looking for ways to spread the word.
Budget update
Council’s administration and finance committee heard the latest on the town’s 2021 budget from Finance Director Glenn Dickerson.
“On the revenue side, we’re about $1.3 million behind our budgeted revenue, but there’s an easy explanation for that,” Dickerson said.
“In the capital fund, we did not complete some capital projects that were put off, and if you look down in the expenditures, we’re $1.9 million less in the expenditures — we didn’t spend, we didn’t get the reimbursement yet, but it’s basically a wash at this point,” he said.
Total borough revenues across all funds at year-end 2020 were roughly $52.4 million versus expenses of $51.8 million, including all general fund, electric, sewer, and capital projects and payments, leaving a roughly $627,000 surplus for that budget year, according to figures Dickerson showed the committee. For 2021, the budget and actual figures have not yet been fully audited, but early signs are that budgeted revenues of $53.0 million actually came in at roughly $51.7 million, a roughly $1.3 million drop, but expenses were correspondingly offset from $52.9 million to $50,0 million, both by a roughly $1.9 million line item for capital projects delayed due to the pandemic.
“Going on a year-toyear comparison, general fund revenues are up about four percent, year over year, and the major drivers are a $123,000 increase in collection of real estate taxes, year over year, combined with a $394,000 increase in earned income and local services taxes,” he said.
Sewer fund revenues dropped by one percent in 2021, but parks and recreation revenues were up 11 percent, largely due to the resumption of most borough parks programs and pool operations over the summer. The town’s capital fund revenues and expenses went up by 12 percent, “and that’s just primarily timing and receipt of grant funding,” Dickerson said, while the town’s highway aid expenses were roughly $190,000 higher than expected due largely to a snowy winter requiring plenty of salting and plowing.
Event approvals coming
Council’s public safety committee also heard details of several events for the town’s 2022 calendar coming up for approval.
Councilwoman Meg Currie Teoh gave a rundown of events vetted and voted ahead by that committee for full council, including planned Lansdale Day events scheduled for June 4 and Juneteenth events scheduled for June 18.
“A caveat: the special event applications that we move forward, all are pending a site review by the fire marshal, as we update our special event application,” Teoh said.
Other events voted ahead by the parks and recreation committee for full council approval later this month include an Easter Sunrise Service by St. John’s United Church of Christ at 7 a.m. on April 17 at Whites Road Park, and the use of Memorial Park for the borough’s annual Festival of the Arts on Aug. 27, according to Fuller.
Lansdale’s council next meets at 7 p.m. on Feb. 16 at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine ST. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Lansdale.org.