Township Of Newtown: Newtown Square Rail Trail Committee Open Positions!

Press release from the Township of Newtown:

January 27, 2022

Newtown Township is looking for three residents who would be willing to participate in a committee facilitating a feasibility study for the proposed new trail segment known as the Newtown Square Rail Trail.  The committee will report to the Board of Supervisors, and will assist in selecting a consultant who will perform the study itself. 

The proposed Newtown Square Rail Trail, following the old Pennsylvania Railroad track bed, is a 1.3 mile walking and biking trail segment which would connect Brookside Park with Greer Park, and from there connect to the sidewalk system in the center of Newtown Square, and to the Ellis Trail – which itself connects to the Goshen Trail and the 1742 Square Tavern, the Liseter Trail and the Newtown Meadow Preserve.   

The feasibility study needs to be done with great sensitivity and openness to whether the proposed trail segment is indeed the right fit.  A primary focus of this project’s scope of work is “Community Involvement.” 

The railroad ran through farm land when it was built in 1895.  The railroad bed itself is now the property of PECO, but approximately 70 individual properties are now neighbors to this parcel after the farms were developed into neighborhoods beginning in the late 1940’s.   A significant amount of time is dedicated to involving each of those neighbors in the study, sharing information regarding trails and earnestly listening to their concerns and their ideas. 

While the entire community will have the opportunity to participate in the feasibility study process, we need the experience of the local residents - as well as the experience of the consultant we will bring in - to guide us through the investigation.  For this reason, we hope that the three residents who will be appointed to the committee might be among those who live next to the old railroad bed.  While all will be invited to participate, those three will be among those to assist in leading the consultant selection and helping Newtown Township provide the highest quality and most honest feasibility study to the community.  

Interested residents are asked to send all letters of interest or resumes by February 7, 2022 to Suzanne Wolanin at:  wolanins@newtowntownship.org or mail them to: Newtown Township 209 Bishop Hollow Road Newtown Square, PA 19073 ATTN: Suzanne Wolanin.

This press release was produced by the Township of Newtown. The views expressed here are the author’s own.