Perkiomen Township, HYK Settlement

The Perkiomen Township Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a settlement agreement between the township and HYK Construction Company during its monthly meeting Tuesday night.

“It settles two matters of litigation. There was an earlier zoning appeal and your validity challenge, which will be withdrawn. We didn’t ever step foot in court; we didn’t spend a lot of money of battling it out there. We hammered out this agreement instead and I think it’s a good thing,” said Solicitor Kenneth Picardi.

“It (the agreement) contains things like HYK’s original appeal had to do with what they can and can’t do on the property by way of expansions, by way of noise, by way of hours of operation. From the township’s perspective, what can be done to minimize noise,” Picardi commented. He said, “to show good faith,” prior to the agreement’s execution, HYK has responded to residents’ complaints and did work with “berming, fencing, certain relocation of trucks and noisy operations and where they park.”

If the township is dissatisfied with “what HYK does, or things HYKY is doing,” it proposes that the township “can go right to Common Pleas Court to seek injunctive or sanction-type relief from the court. It’s much more expedient and forceful than the usual, ‘give notice, conduct hearings,’ things like that.”

 A resident in attendance said, “We in the neighborhood have noticed an improvement (throughout) a period of time. It seems like the spirit of the agreement is headed in the right direction.”

If residents have any further issues, they should notify the township, which in turn will notify a contact person at HYK.

In Township Manager Cecile Daniel’s report, she discussed a recent phone call with a person from PennDOT. “In 2002 and 2003 we had passed resolutions regarding Meyers and Ott and Seitz roads; the intent is we’d be swapping those roads. This is part of the realignment project.” However, PennDOT informed Daniel that, “The resolutions we did almost 10 years ago were done incorrectly. So we need to redo them.”

“PennDOT is in the process of acquiring the necessary easements to do this realignment project, and until they actually own the streets they cannot continue with these condemnations,” Daniel continued. “The sooner we can get this paperwork completed and get it recorded, the sooner PennDOT can pick up where they left off with the condemnations, so we can keep this project on track.”

Daniel also has learned from municipal services that of the two options for Wartman Road—turnback or abandonment—turnback would be “financially advantageous” for the township, at “$4,000 per mile added to liquid fuels.”

In a road abandonment, as road is “abandoned as is,” Daniel said. If there is a turnback, work can be completed on the road. “My understanding is … I would give PennDOT a ‘wish list,’ and someone from PennDOT would take it to the central office in Harrisburg, and they would say which things on this list they agree to and which things they don’t. I would then have to take what they agreed to do to get three quotes from contractors.” Then the township would learn “how much we could spend based on that contracting information,” Daniel said.

“Almost all” of the bills pertaining to the winter weather activity have been received, Daniel said. As of now, the township has spent 114 percent of its snow budget, according to Daniel. She is anticipating it totaling more than 120 percent.

 In other business:

• Engineer Chuck Frantz provided updates on the . The bid documents and bridge replacement plans have been finalized, and will be advertised Wednesday, March 2, Frantz said. There will be a “mandatory pre-bid meeting” Tuesday, March 8, at 10 a.m. Bids will be received March 23 and opened the next day, Frantz said. “We will review the bids at that time, prepare an analysis and a letter for the board to consider at the April 5 meeting, regarding the reward of the contract.”

 Also, the three property owners who will be affected by the project have been contacted, Frantz said. One has retained legal counsel, and Picardi has been in touch that attorney, according to Frantz. Another resident “didn’t have any questions or concerns regarding the letter. Everything in the letter made sense to her.” He is awaiting a response to a subsequent e-mail that listed the “special conditions” on the bid documents. He has not received a reply from a third resident.

Regarding the 2011 Road Project, “We’re keeping an eye out for any additional roads or areas (that took a turn for the worse during the winter) that we may want to include,” Frantz said. He named Trappe Road as a possible addition, and others suggested Ott Road, Wartman Road and Schoolhouse Run. “I’ll present you with the roads we’ve developed at this point … to give you a cost estimate for each and let you decide which roads you’d like to include as a base bid, possibly some alternate items you would want to include.” The bulk of the work won’t start until after the bridge is complete.

• During the Road Master John Moran Sr.’s report, Supervisor Dean Becker expressed concern about “dead and dying trees,” especially along Mayberry Road. “There’s just a lot of dead wood that I think we need to start paying attention to and cutting out just to avoid accidents, injuries, etc.”

•Code Enforcement Officer John Moran Jr. provided copies of a zoning hearing application for a detached garage/shed. “I’ve spoken to Ken Picardi and we see no reason for objection,” Moran said.

After the meeting adjourned, the board entered an executive session to discuss the and the easements for the Godshall Road Bridge Project. In the T-Mobile matter, Fox Heath “has asked and authorized its lawyer to intervene in the case, and their attorney did file a petition. T-Mobile is opposing that,” according to Picardi. A conference to discuss the issue has been set for Friday, “so I’ll need some guidance,” he added. Others involved in the matter include Calabretta, the zoning hearing board and the township.