The township held its regular meeting yesterday. The video is available online here, and the agenda is on the township website here.

Opening

There was a lengthy public comment about the towing service the township police recommend and the contract the township has with this service. According to the commenter, a car totaled in an accident was towed by the township’s recommended tower and the owner was told it would cost $50/day stored in cash to retrieve it. By the time the residents was able to retrieve it, he was told it would cost $350, but when he showed up the tower demanded $1080 for the car. The commenter had multiple recommendations for providing better consumer protections to avoid this kind of predatory behavior.

There is still an opening on the zoning hearing board.

Repaving in the township should start around May 8th, the township should get an expected schedule soon.

Government Relations

The board voted to accept the $489k LSA grant discussed at the last meeting for accessibility improvements to the township building.

PECO is planning to start the tree cutting in the next few months, but the board provided no specifics. It’s not clear which of the projects is moving forward, or if all of them are because previously there were multiple locations in the township where trees were to be removed.

Parks and Open Space

The board again approved the scope amendment for grant for the Hepford park ball field dugouts.

Public Safety

The school district continues to work on their required Memorandum of Understanding with the police, so still nothing for the township board to consider.

The township is preparing a grant for the ARLE program for a traffic light at Turner and Baltimore. The board approved ~$5k (plus $165/hour for additional work) for a traffic consultant to ensure the proposed signal would meet the warrant requirements and would be allowed there.

Finance and Administration

The usual bills from port-o-potties to pavement.

Community Health and Enhancement

Summer camp registration is open with ~135 campers signed up so far. Details are on the township website. The board got confirmation there are still spots for camp counselor volunteers.

While a Swarthmore College student and I were studying putting solar panels on township buildings as part of the college’s green advisor program, we found the township was on an expensive month to month electricity contract for one of its buildings. The board approved switching to Constellation Energy (who supplies the other township buildings) at a rate of about half what the township had been paying.

Infrastructure and Public Works

A property on Atlanta Court is abandoned and in poor repair. The township has received several complaints about the property and has unsuccessfully tried to get the mortgage company to do something about it. The property has been empty for at least a year but taxes are still up to date. The county has a program to demolish houses such as this, providing up to $85k with the township responsible for any amount over that. The amount would be placed as a lien on the property. The township estimates it would cost about $100k to demolish this property, so the township would owe the difference. There are two sale options, I think it was called an upset sale, which would go through if the amount paid at auction was sufficient to cover the liens on the property. Otherwise it goes to judicial sale and the county and township will be out the money they paid for the demolition. The board approved the demolition.

The board approved purchasing a new lawnmower for $15k. The old one will be kept as it can still be used for some jobs still.

The Park Ridge sewer repair was discussed again, there’s nothing new since the last meeting, the engineer is waiting for quotes for the repairs.

Highway Report

The ground solar panel array ordinance is at the county planning commission, which is weird because at the EAC meeting this week I was told the township planning commission hadn’t finished it’s consideration of it yet. So somewhere some miscommunication has happened.

The property at 98 S. Providence Rd. is supposed to plant 27 trees to replace those taken down during construction. But only 6-10 new trees will fit on the property, so the township will take payment in lieu of the trees and will plan to use the funds to plant new trees elsewhere in the township.

The 424 Wallingford rezoning has been advertised and there will be a public hearing at the May 23rd meeting.

There was a discussion of the Oak Valley subdivision on the far north of the township. Since the subdivision in 2005, township ordinances regarding sidewalks, riparian buffers and trees have changed. The owners have asked for a waiver of these. The project has benefits to neighbors as it would connect that part of the township to the sewer line. Commissioner Molloy suggested following the same procedure as above and accept payment in lieu of trees. Commissioner McKenzie pointed out there’s little point to sidewalks in the area as it wouldn’t connect to any other pedestrian infrastructure.

There are 4 items on the May zoning hearing board agenda: variances for 35 Medbury, 42 Green Valley, 606 E Baltimore Pike (for alternative use) as well as a lengthy list of variances from WSSD. I think the last includes issues regarding the new sign, which I’m pretty sure wont’ be compliant with the township’s ordinances about signage. A few years ago the township rejected a church’s request for an LED sign so it’ll be interesting if they grant the school district something they’ve recently rejected elsewhere. But it sounded like WSSD had quite a list of variance requests.

Manager Minute

The summer schedule of meeting 1/month was repeated. June 15th, July 13th, August 10th.

The CAT club is scheduled to start Saturday at Holy Trinity if the weather cooperates.

The DelCo Veterans memorial is preparing a time capsule. If any veterans have suggestions, let the township know.

DelCo is offering free mammograms at their wellness center in Yeadon. I couldn’t find any links online, but the number provided was 484 276 2100, appointments required, open to women 40+ with or without insurance.

COSA has a falls awareness program with multiple events through June. It was mentioned there’s more information on COSA’s website, but I couldn’t find anything there.

Delaware County is looking at establishing a land bank to return abandoned and unused properties to productive use. Public comments are being accepted here until May 5th.