Lewis Road Project On Schedule

Construction on Lewis Road is on schedule according to PECO, township manager Dan Kerr said at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.

Supervisor Tom Neafcy brought the project up toward the end of the meeting during supervisors' comments, saying it was supposed to start two weeks ago.

Kerr said everything was online according to their schedule, with crews surveying the area and marking everything. One pole has been placed and more construction will follow, which will occur from 9:00am to 3:00pm during the day.

The board also heard from Carl Royer regarding the township's Community Development Block Grant program. Royer said the township received $185,301 in grant money, only $2,000 less than last year.

"The program was cut by 13 percent, but they used 2010 census numbers to come up with the amount, so it balanced out," Royer said.

CDBG funds are used to assist lower-income families with weatherizing, roof repairs, heating repairs and other housing issues. The program helps 9-11 families a year.

"The threshold [for eligibility] is 80 percent of the median income of the area, so for a family of two that would be about $43,000," Royer said. "We have 14 people currently on the waiting list."

Plans for renovations at moved forward on a board vote at the meeting. The township plans to create two multipurpose fields, build new backstops for the softball field and do some grading to the property.

Originally, there were plans for two large fields that were oriented east-west and several smaller fields, but after surveying the property, Kerr said, it was clear that a plan for two large fields oriented north to south was a better option.

"We'd prefer the north-south option so the sun isn't in players' eyes," Kerr said.

The grading work will be done mostly in-house by the Public Works department, saving $11,000-$16,000 off the original estimates. The township hopes to put new public restrooms at the park but the cost is currently holding up that project. Kerr said more options must be explored.

Finally, during the public comment section of the meeting, several residents of the spoke up about their .

Resident Larry Kaltenbacher asked the board who is responsible for ADA accomodations in the development. Kaltenbacher said that his wife, among others, is forced to use the road because there is no handicapped access to the sidewalks.

Other residents asked the board to give them some information about the situation between the developer and the township because they feel "held hostage by the situation," according to resident Cindi Freeburn.

"We're not getting the truth [from our board] so we have to come here to hear what's going on," Freeburn said.

Solicitor Joseph McGrory explained that the only action the township can officially take is to declare McGrath in default, which would mark the subdivision as a failed development and force the developer to forfeit any escrow money held by the township.

"We would then come in and do the public improvements," McGrory said.

The residents' issues with their homeowners' association board are beyond the township's control, McGrory explained.

"We have no jurisdiction between the homeowners and the HOA," he said.

If the township forces a default, it will "almost certainly guarantee that the development won't get finished," McGrory said.

McGrory offered to assist the residents in figuring out who to contact about their list of problems. Chairperson Kara Shuler was sympathetic to the residents' concerns.

"It's a serious problem, and I promise we'll do what we can," Shuler said.