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New Hope Shared Services Update (2018-05-01)

Supervisor Mark Baum Baicker made this statement on behalf of the Board:

We are disappointed at the apparent outcome of our attempts to sit down with the New Hope Borough Council to discuss the way we allocate costs for shared services. After our numerous attempts to get them to the table with us were rebuffed, members of the Council did meet with us once last Fall but cancelled the scheduled follow-up meeting, on the basis that they needed to do a new review and would get back to us early in 2018.

New Hope released a statement to the Herald last Tuesday for publication in Thursday’s paper and we received it from them Friday. That same morning, Supervisor Mark Baum Baicker called Council President Allison Kingsley to try to set a date for the follow-up meeting we never had. Ms. Kingsley talked about each of the shared areas, explained why she felt Solebury was wrong about each one, and concluded that there “is nothing to talk about.” So there apparently will not be another meeting.

We find this to be very unfortunate, since we still have a number of questions and concerns.  In many ways we really are one community and having an ongoing dialog is always the best way to resolve differences. And the input we have received indicates that residents of both New Hope and Solebury would like the two governments to work together to reach a fair agreement.

One of the shared service areas involves the sports teams, and we noted in their press release that New Hope’s council “feels that funding the cost of extra-curricular activities such as Park and Recreation is not appropriate.” They indicated that they view participation on sports teams as equivalent to private piano lessons, which would never be paid for by a municipality. We definitely have a difference of approach there, since in Solebury we see funding Park & Rec programs as a primary mission.

Our offer to meet with the New Hope Council remains open and we hope that they rethink things and take us up on it in the days ahead.

Read prior posts about this topic here.

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Quarry Update - 2018-05-01

Supervisor Kevin Morrissey provided the following update:

NHCS Quarry reclamation Status update

Last September, New Hope Crushed Stone quarry (NHCS) filed with the PA Commonwealth Court challenging the DEP’s and Environmental Hearing Board’s authority to require NHCS  to complete quarry reclamation by the middle of 2019. NHCS envisions a considerably longer timeframe to complete this work..This hearing is scheduled for oral argument on June 7, 2018 in Philadelphia.

The results of this hearing will be shared with the community as soon as possible.

As was mentioned at the last BOS meeting, the DEP has granted New Hope Crushed Stone(NHCS) a temporary increase of water pumping in the quarry to 2mil gallons from the current 500k gallons maximum per day. This is to lower the water in the quarry to at most 40’ from the current 35’ below sea level.  This is being allowed to enable NHCS to move equipment involved in reclamation to another location to avoid being flooded.

The DEP has informed the Township that it will require approximately 2-3 months for the equipment move to be accomplished.  At that time the 500k GPD pumping requirement will be reinstated.  The new location of the equipment will be situated so that it will not be required to move again.

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Wawa Presentation

Representatives of Wawa made a presentation of the sketch plan for the proposed Super Wawa at the intersection of Route 202 & Sugan Road. A sketch plan is not a formal plan, but rather an opportunity for an applicant to share their plans and to obtain feedback from the Board and community. No decision was requested.

As you may be aware, Wawa presented a sketch plan to the Solebury Township Planning Commission on October 9, and residents provided a lot of feedback. A summary of that meeting appears here.

John VanLuvanee, the developer's attorney made a general introduction, followed by a presentation of the overall site plan from Adam Benofsky of Bohler Engineering, and a discussion about traffic from traffic plan & design consultant Matt Hammond. The drawings and related documents may be found here.

The drawings looked largely the same as those that were presented in October. One change they mentioned was that they lined up the Sugan Road entrance directly across from the entrance to New Hope Manor (a retirement community on the other side of Sugan Road).

Most of the discussion focused on traffic concerns. Mr. Hammond explained the methodology that he used for the traffic study. His goal is to not make traffic any worse than it is now, and ideally to make it better. They look at various items including existing roads, characteristics, data of traffic volume at peak times (7-9 AM and 4-6 PM on weekdays and 11-1 AM on Saturdays), signals, diagrams, timing of lights, coordination of lights on other parts of 202, sight distance, etc.

A standard measure of delays at intersections is the Level of Service, which is graded from A-F. PennDot prefers a grade better than D. The current intersection has a B grade and Mr. Hammond's study would remain a B grade after the Wawa is built. Mr. Hammond stated that it currently takes an average of 22.5-23 seconds to travel through the intersection; after the proposed Wawa is built, it would take 18.6 seconds.

Once again, the room was filled with many, many residents who expressed opposition to the proposed Wawa. Some stated that they are satisfied with the current Wawa and that the Super Wawa does not fit with the character of our community and is not being built for the residents of Solebury, but rather for pass through traffic. The biggest concern was with respect to the increase in traffic. Many believe that the traffic study does not take into consideration many factors such as the traffic problems that already exist (which will be exacerbated by the increase in traffic from the Super Wawa), the regular use of the Fire House as an event space, the traffic created by Cornerstone Health Club, that traffic is also high outside the hours that were studied, etc.

The board and residents also expressed concern regarding the safety of school children and others accessing the Wawa on foot - how will they safely cross the road and make their way to the store through the parking lot, especially given how close the last gas pump is to the driveway?

Residents and I expressed a concern for the safety of our residents because of the potential to worsen the ingress/egress from Eagle Fire Company, both for the fire fighters as well as the ambulance. Both of these are life-saving services, and a delay of a few seconds could mean life or death. Although a pre-emption device would allow fire trucks to get through the intersection, the traffic engineer had no solutions of how to get volunteer firefighters into the fire house.

We briefly discussed concerns about noise, air, light, and water pollution, and Mr. VanLuvanee's response was that they will comply with all laws.

As I stated, no decision was requested. Mr. Hammond stated that the traffic study would be submitted to the Boro and Township shortly.

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Wawa Presentation at March 6 Meeting

Many residents have asked me to keep them apprised of the proposed Super Wawa at the intersection of Route 202 & Sugan Road. Wawa will be presenting their updated proposal to the Board of Supervisors on March 6 at 7 PM.

As you may be aware, Wawa presented a sketch plan to the Solebury Township Planning Commission on October 9, and residents provided a lot of feedback. A summary of that meeting appears here. Wawa will be providing updated plans prior to the meeting.

Since there are so many varying opinions on this topic, it would be helpful to the board to understand how you feel. Please share your thoughts by attending the meeting on March 6, emailing me, and/or the rest of the board.

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P&R Non-Resident Fees

As mentioned in the Feburary 6 meeting summary, the BOS voted unanimously to implement a non-resident fee for people participating in the Park & Rec field programs (see below for the prior post).

Following that meeting, some of the sports organizations expressed concern over these fees. Last night we had a discussion on the topic. A few members of the sports organization and a few members of the general public attended and participated in the discussion.

The main concerns from the sports organizations were that the additional fees would create a financial burden to non-Solebury residents. This might also mean that some people would no  longer participate. A decrease in enrollment would harm the sports programs as it might mean that there aren't enough participants to form a team.

On the other side, residents stated that it wasn't fair to ask Solebury residents to continue to subsidize the boro. They didn't think it was right that the New Hope Boro Council ignored requests to meet and reach an equitable agreement. Some mentioned that even their friends in New Hope agree that the Boro should pay their fair share.

The board also shared some of their thinking:

We have a responsibility to safeguard the tax dollars of ALL Solebury residents, many of whom are on a fixed income. Although most residents are supportive of the P&R programs, they feel that New Hope Boro should also pay into the program.

The decision to implement a non-resident fee was not done lightly. The board made more than 10 attempts to ask NH Boro Council JUST TO TALK TO US. Other than one meeting in which they provided no recommendations or data, they have refused to engage.

Supervisor Mark Baum Baicker reached out to the heads of the sports organizations prior to our last meeting to discuss the possibility of a non-resident fee. He also informed them that he was planning to make a motion on this (though some stated last night that they did not realize the vote was taking place on February 6).

We are very open to reaching an agreement with New Hope, but in the meantime, we feel that implementation of a non-resident fee is reasonable (like out-of-state tuition).

The board asked the audience to solve the problem. After some discussion, the board as well as all residents in attendance agreed that:

we don't want to harm the sports programs

New Hope Boro Council's failure to pay their fair share is wrong

New Hope Boro Council's unwillingness to engage in discussion was wrong

We decided on the following actions:

The supervisors voted unanimously to waive the non-resident fee for those with financial need. The heads of the sports organizations promised to help ensure that this waiver was not abused.

Supervisors Mark Baum Baicker and Noel Barrett will work with the heads of the sports organizations to inform them of how we arrived at the updated agreement we submitted to New Hope Boro Council (NHBC never responded to the proposed agreement).

With this information, the heads of the sports organizations will ask their members for help to petition the NHBC to pay their fair share.

I want to thank everyone for participating in the discussion. Each person presented their opinions and listened respectfully to those that had differing opinions. Because of this, we were able to reach consensus on a plan of action.

POST FROM FEBRUARY 6 MEETING SUMMARY:

In several prior

posts

, I wrote about the BOS' attempt to work with New Hope Boro to come to an agreement on cost sharing for shared services, including EMS, the library, fire, and park & rec. Unfortunately, other than one meeting last fall, New Hope has thus far been unwilling to work with us. We were able to reach a fairer agreement on EMS by going directly to Central Bucks EMS.

Last night, Supervisor Baum Baicker made the following statement:

Last Fall we approached New Hope about the inequities in the way we split the costs for our shared services. This involves fire services, ambulance, the library, and Parks & Recreation. We met with representatives of the New Hope Borough Council in October in what was to be the first of a series of meetings to address these concerns. We came prepared with numbers, concepts, etc., but New Hope brought nothing. They cancelled the scheduled follow-up meeting and have not responded to any of our subsequent requests to continue the discussion.

In November, this Board voted to rescind the existing agreement under which New Hope contributed $1,500 annually for Park & Rec. The agreement was adopted in 2006, with a five-year term that ran through the end of 2011. That token fee was left unchanged for another six years, despite efforts on the part of this Board—and Helen can attest to it--to revisit the issue a few years ago that were turned away by New Hope.  We gave notice to New Hope in November that if no new agreement was reached by January 31, 2018, we would need to adopt non-resident fees for our sports programs.  The January 31 deadline came and went with not a word from New Hope, so it is time to address this issue.

I am proposing that we set non-resident fees of $50/child/sport to a maximum of $150/household. This will apply to all non-Solebury residents, whether they live in Lambertville, Doylestown, New Hope, or elsewhere. If we have the same number and breakdown of registrations in 2018 as we had in 2017, this would produce $10,750 of revenue. Since I am proposing that we apply this prospectively and not to registrations already submitted for 2018, the actual dollar amount produced will undoubtedly be lower than $10,750. This fee schedule would be for 2018 only, with future fees dependent upon any cooperation from New Hope.

I realize that even a modest non-resident fee schedule impacts the players and their parents. But the New Hope Borough Council has given us no other reasonable option. By the same token, I don't like that the fee schedule I am advocating yields less revenue than any reasonable agreement with New Hope should produce. But we must be mindful of the impact on families; by limiting the non-resident fee to $50 per registration and $150 per household, we are doing our best to keep the fees from becoming unduly burdensome. We value our kids and the positive impacts our sports programs have on their lives. And we don't want to discourage continued participation by New Hope's kids. As we said months ago, it's up to New Hope to decide if they feel the same way about their kids that we feel about ours. I thus would encourage the parents of New Hope kids who participate in our sports programs to contact their Borough leaders to urge them to cooperate with Solebury to develop a cost-sharing arrangement that is fair to Solebury, New Hope, and the kids from both communities.

The rest of the board agreed with Mark's statement and passed a resolution to adopt non-resident fees of $50 per child with a maximum of $150/family/year. Any child who has already registered in 2018 will not be charged retroactively.

The board members reiterated their support for Solebury's P&R program. At the same time, we have a responsibility to safeguard how we spend our taxpayers' money. We remain open to proposals from New Hope and are hopeful that this will be a short-term measure.

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2018 Priorities

On January 9, the BOS had a public work session in which they discussed priorities for 2018. The following list are the top priorities, in no particular order, followed by the lead on each item. Note that though the list is long, many of the items are ongoing from prior years.

Deer Management (Helen/Deer Committee)

Police Contract (Dennis/Chief)

Land preservation program (many components)(Mark/LPC)

Prepare for quarry reclamation (Kevin)

Develop recommendations/education/actions for township and landowners regarding managing flood-prone areas, riparian buffers and natural landscapes (Kevin/EAC)

Actively work to maintain state bridges and roads (Dennis)

Support agricultural community (Kevin/Farm)

Preserve scenic roadway character (Dennis)

Remediate Tuscarora (Helen/Mark)

Continue to improve communications with residents (Robert)

Aquetong Spring Park (Kevin/Dennis/ASAC)

Shared Services Cost Sharing with New Hope (Helen/Mark/Dennis)

Minimize service outages (Robert/Dennis)

Proactive planning project for 202, etc. (Helen/Robert/STPC)

Implementation of P&R plan (Noel/P&R)

Associate members for advisory committees (Kevin)

Land use tools for controlling development in flood plain (Helen/STPC)

EV charging stations (Robert)

Re-evaluate fees from various township consultants (Mark)

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Short-term Rentals Ordinance

The BOS has been working on updating the zoning ordinance in response to the proliferation of short-term rentals that are often made available by websites such as AirBNB and VRBO.

The proposed ordinance also provides updates to definitions and requirements for Bed & Breakfasts, Hotels & Banquet Facilities.

The board voted unanimously to send the proposed ordinance to the Solebury Township and Bucks County Planning Commissions for their review.

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Resolution in Support of the 9-11 National Memorial Trail

The BOS voted unanimously to approve a resolution in support of the September Eleventh National Memorial Trail Project, Andrew Hamilton presented the proposal to the Board on September 15, 2017.  The Trail is a 1,300 mile multi-purpose trail routed on trails and roadways in various eastern seaboard states dedicated to the people who were lost to the September 11, 2001 tragedy.

The resolution endorses the concept of the 9-11 NMT and its passage through the Township of Solebury, on roads and trails and encourages our neighboring municipalities to do the same; and to support the use and designation of existing trails along the alignment of the 9-11 NMT; and to process the requested installation of 9-11 NMT signage in accordance with Township regulations and in coordination with the Solebury Township Public Works Department.

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P&R Non-Resident Fees

In several prior posts, I wrote about the BOS' attempt to work with New Hope Boro to come to an agreement on cost sharing for shared services, including EMS, the library, fire, and park & rec. Unfortunately, other than one meeting last fall, New Hope has thus far been unwilling to work with us. We were able to reach a fairer agreement on EMS by going directly to Central Bucks EMS.

Last night, Supervisor Baum Baicker made the following statement:

Last Fall we approached New Hope about the inequities in the way we split the costs for our shared services. This involves fire services, ambulance, the library, and Parks & Recreation. We met with representatives of the New Hope Borough Council in October in what was to be the first of a series of meetings to address these concerns. We came prepared with numbers, concepts, etc., but New Hope brought nothing. They cancelled the scheduled follow-up meeting and have not responded to any of our subsequent requests to continue the discussion.

In November, this Board voted to rescind the existing agreement under which New Hope contributed $1,500 annually for Park & Rec. The agreement was adopted in 2006, with a five-year term that ran through the end of 2011. That token fee was left unchanged for another six years, despite efforts on the part of this Board—and Helen can attest to it--to revisit the issue a few years ago that were turned away by New Hope.  We gave notice to New Hope in November that if no new agreement was reached by January 31, 2018, we would need to adopt non-resident fees for our sports programs.  The January 31 deadline came and went with not a word from New Hope, so it is time to address this issue.

I am proposing that we set non-resident fees of $50/child/sport to a maximum of $150/household. This will apply to all non-Solebury residents, whether they live in Lambertville, Doylestown, New Hope, or elsewhere. If we have the same number and breakdown of registrations in 2018 as we had in 2017, this would produce $10,750 of revenue. Since I am proposing that we apply this prospectively and not to registrations already submitted for 2018, the actual dollar amount produced will undoubtedly be lower than $10,750. This fee schedule would be for 2018 only, with future fees dependent upon any cooperation from New Hope.

I realize that even a modest non-resident fee schedule impacts the players and their parents. But the New Hope Borough Council has given us no other reasonable option. By the same token, I don't like that the fee schedule I am advocating yields less revenue than any reasonable agreement with New Hope should produce. But we must be mindful of the impact on families; by limiting the non-resident fee to $50 per registration and $150 per household, we are doing our best to keep the fees from becoming unduly burdensome. We value our kids and the positive impacts our sports programs have on their lives. And we don't want to discourage continued participation by New Hope's kids. As we said months ago, it's up to New Hope to decide if they feel the same way about their kids that we feel about ours. I thus would encourage the parents of New Hope kids who participate in our sports programs to contact their Borough leaders to urge them to cooperate with Solebury to develop a cost-sharing arrangement that is fair to Solebury, New Hope, and the kids from both communities.

The rest of the board agreed with Mark's statement and passed a resolution to adopt non-resident fees of $50 per child with a maximum of $150/family/year. Any child who has already registered in 2018 will not be charged retroactively.

The board members reiterated their support for Solebury's P&R program. At the same time, we have a responsibility to safeguard how we spend our taxpayers' money. We remain open to proposals from New Hope and are hopeful that this will be a short-term measure.

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Police Commendations

     Chief Bellizzie presented commendations to several officers:

      Officer Megan Klosterman received an Official Commendation of Merit for life savings measures on a suicidal adult male. Officer Klosterman located the person in a vehicle containing poisonous exhaust fumes. Officer Klosterman secured the hazards and administered first aid saving this man’s life. Officer Klosterman, who was part-time on the STPD, recently left STPD to become a full-time officer in Upper Dublin. We wish her  well but are sorry to see her go.

 Officer Matthew Rice received an Official Commendation of Merit for live saving measures of a drug overdose victim, where Officer Rice administered Narcan to the unconscious victim saving her life.

Officer Gary Forrester received an Official Commendation of Merit in regards to a missing person’s investigation. Officer Forrester's thorough investigation provided a major break to four missing men who were reported missing.

Detective/Corporal Jonathan Koretzky received four Commendatory Citations: in regards to 1) a series of burglaries resulting in the in the arrest of a male subject who was charged with multiple counts of burglary, theft and related charges, 2) for a sexual assault investigation resulting in the arrests of two persons who were charged with numerous felonies, 3) for a sexual assault investigation resulting in felony charges of institutional sexual assault and related charges, and 4) for a homicide investigation resulting in the recovery of four bodies and the arrest of two defendants who were charged with multiple counts of homicide and related charges.

The supervisors thanked the entire STPD for their outstanding work and helping to ensure the safety of Solebury residents and also commended Chief Bellizzie for his outstanding leadership in general, but especially in the investigation of the four murders last summer.

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Update on Verizon FIOS

 Many residents have asked when Solebury will get FIOS, which would provide  meaningful competition to Comcast. Supervisor Kevin Morrissey has been  doggedly pursuing this option since elected, and his efforts finally  culminated in a meeting with Verizon representative Doug Smith.    Supervisor Mark Baum Baicker provided the following update:    On January 30, Supervisor Robert McEwan, Township Manager Dennis Carney, and  Mark Baum Baicker met with Doug Smith from Verizon. He wanted to go over the  "history" and provide us with an update as to where things now  stand. First, he made it clear several times that he has been looking into  every possible avenue for Solebury to access FIOS primarily as a function of  Kevin's persistence in pushing for answers. He said that about 10 years ago,  when Verizon was in the early stages of installing fiber for FIOS, virtually  every municipality in our area responded to phone and email messages from  Verizon, other than Solebury. He described us as a "donut hole,"  since virtually everyone around us has FIOS. By the time Kevin got involved a  couple of years ago, Verizon was starting to pale on FIOS--it apparently  wasn't making the inroads that they had projected, and the cost of installing  all that fiber was extremely high. Doug mentioned that he is trying to get  Solebury into some programs Verizon has to repair existing copper wire and/or  piggyback fiber to it. That way some Solebury residents might be able to get  access to some of their products. But it would likely be very limited, both  in terms of who could get it and what they could get. It is apparent that  wireless is where Verizon is headed. It was initially thought to be 3-5 years  away, but now it may be down to 2-3 years, beginning in the bigger cities and  spreading to the suburbs, exurbs, etc. Speeds and reliability would both  apparently be very high. He stressed that with the new corporate tax cuts,  Verizon will be saving huge amounts and Verizon already has plans to plow the  funds back into wireless infrastructure. So while nothing is imminent, it  sounds like there is hope that not too far down the line there could be some  very meaningful upgrades available.    Thank you to Kevin for his persistence in this matter.

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January 2 Board of Supervisors Meeting Highlights

All municipalities across Pennsylvania held their reorganization meetings on January 2. The purpose of the meeting is to appoint various posts and is usually concluded in short order (our meeting was over in 15 minutes!).

Highlights:

We welcomed newly elected supervisor Robert McEwan and recently re-elected supervisor Mark Baum Baicker.

We made the following appointments:

Chair – Helen Tai

Vice-Chair – Mark Baum Baicker

Township Manager – Dennis Carney

Township Secretary – Catherine Cataldi

Township Treasurer – Michele Blood

.Deputy Tax Collector – Robert Carr

Appointment of Professionals and Consultants

In late December we received updated fee schedules for all our current professionals and consultants. Although we are appointing these professionals and consultants with their associated fee schedules tonight, we plan to undertake a review and if appropriate, we may opt to renegotiate or change out some of our consultants/professionals.

Curtin & Heefner LLP as Township Solicitor;

Terry W. Clemons, Esquire of Clemons Richter & Reiss as Township Land Preservation Solicitor and Solicitor to Appeals Board;

C. Robert Wynn Associates as Township Engineer and Township Floodplain Administrator;

McMahon Associates, Inc. as traffic consultants;

Simone Collins Landscape Architect as planning consultants on projects as directed by the Township Administration;

Land Trust of Bucks County, Heritage Conservancy and Bucks County Planning Commission as Township consultants;

United Inspection Services as Electrical Code Enforcement;

Building Inspections Underwriters as Building Code Official.

Tackett Planning as Zoning Officer.

Fire Marshall – Scott Fleischer of Pipersville, PA

Solebury Township Board of Appeals – C.  Robert Wynn, J. Peter Grover and William Tinsman

Appointment to Township Boards/Committees/Commissions

This year we were blessed by a plethora of volunteers requesting appointment to our various township boards. We did not have enough open positions to appoint all of them, but we are looking into creating "associate" member positions so that more volunteers may participate in an official capacity. If you interviewed for a position but have not heard back from us, we will be getting back to you soon. I am happy to announce the following appointments:

Chairman of the Environmental Advisory Council for 2018 – Eric Allen

Vacancy Board Chairman for 2018 – William E. Tinsman

Historical Architectural Review Board – Laurence Peseski for five (5) year terms;

Land Preservation Committee – Jackie Griffith, Jim Villeré Jr, Art Ross, Chris Brown and Alescia Dingle for one (1) year terms; Ralph O’Banion for two (2) year term;

Solebury Twp. Planning Commission – Dan Fest, and Peter Brussock for four (4) year terms;

Parks and Recreation Board – Dan Dupont for a five (5) year term;

Zoning Hearing Board – Joseph Pignitor for five (5) year term; Moira McClintock and John Francis as Alternates for three (3) year terms;

Farm – Stephen Phillips for three (3) year term;

Environmental Advisory Committee – Christy Cheever for term ending December 31, 2018; Bob McMahon as Associate for one (1) year term.

Thank you and congratulations to all our newly appointed and returning committee members. Your willingness to give back to the community benefits the entire community.

Announcement of Supervisor Committee Liaisons

Environmental Advisory Council – Kevin Morrissey

Historical Architectural Review Board – Robert McEwan

Land Preservation Committee – Mark Baum Baicker

Planning Commission – Helen Tai

Parks & Recreation – Noel Barrett

Farm Committee – Kevin Morrissey

Aquetong Spring Committee – Kevin Morrissey

Solebury Twp./NHS School District/New Hope Borough Committee – Noel Barrett

Thank you to the board for electing me as Chair for 2018. I appreciate your confidence and look forward to serving together with you this year.

The board will have a public work session on Tuesday, January 9 at 2:30 PM to discuss 2018 priorities. The next regular board meeting will be on Tuesday, January 16. All meetings are held at Solebury Township Hall - 3092 Sugan Road.

Thank you, and stay warm! Helen

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Aquetong Spring Park Presentation

The Solebury Township Aquetong Spring Park Advisory Committee made a presentation to the board on the park, including background and history, committee highlights, progress report and findings, and recommendations. While this park will be many more years in the making, the ASAC recommends a "soft opening" in 2018 so that the public may begin to enjoy and support the park. Thank you to the members of the ASAC for their thorough analysis and continued dedication: Dan Dupont, Barry Fetterolf, Frank Nassetta, Michael Richardson, Mike Zolkewitz, and Supervisor Liaison, Kevin Morrissey. Additionally, Township Engineer Bob Wynn made a presentation regarding the many dead and dying walnut and ash trees at Aquetong Spring Park. The presentation and tree information will be posted at the township website.

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Police Building Renovations - Bids Received and Accepted

As discussed in a prior post, the township is renovating the old public works building for use by the police department and file storage. Additionally, the vestibule for one entrance of the current police building needs extensive repair. In October, the board voted to put the project out to bid. We received several bids, and unfortunately the lowest qualified bid came in over budget. The original budget for this work was $465,000 plus a contingency of $35,000 for a total budget of $500,000. However, the lowest qualified bid came in at $522,975, without contingency, which is about 12.5% over our original budget.With a 5-10% contingency, the total could be as much as $550,000 to $575,000.

Having not been on the board when the project was originally discussed, Supervisor Mark Baum Baicker asked how the budget was determined and why the bids came in so high. The current police facilities are clearly inadequate and overcrowded, and I fully support the renovations, which are simple and not at all extravagant. However, I expressed disappointment and frustration that the bids came in so high, given that the architect Phillips Donovan knew what our budget was, and that a couple years ago, the public works building also exceeded the original budget by more than 30%. We discussed alternatives, including postponing the vestibule repair so that some costs could be postponed to 2019. I did not find this to be a viable solution as the vestibule is rotting and will only continue to worsen if we delay repair. Additionally, this does not solve the problem of being over budget; it just spreads it out. I asked if we could re-evaluate the designs and look for ways to reduce the costs. I also asked what we could do in the future to ensure that we do not continue to exceed our budget. After much discussion, we finally agreed to accept the low bid. The excess cost will come from the capital reserve fund, which would still have more than $700,000 after completion of this project. We also agreed to re-evaluate our process for estimating costs of construction projects and setting budgets.

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2017 Accomplishments

Chair Kevin Morrissey shared the major accomplishments for 2017: Realignment of Permit Fees- Updated building permits fees to lessen charges relating to homeowner maintenance projects. Ordinance Codes Automation- Implemented the online system to enable residents to review Township Ordinates through the use of the internet. Bond Offering – The Township initiated a General Obligation Bond Sale to refinance a Township bank loan. The result is a savings of excess of $214,000 as compared to the bank loan. Land Preservation- acquired an additional 34 acres Laurel Park Multipurpose Field – Authorized and started construction of a new practice playing field for use by Township sports organizations.  The Township is grateful for the very generous donations by John Feehan, Kathy Feehan and Ed McGahan toward the development of this field. Repair/Replacement in kind (RRIK) HARB process revision - Implement a new program that will enable residents in historic districts to process an application to implement a change to their property. 24hr. emergency care service -  Through an approved referendum the Township will  provide 12 additional hours of emergency care to the community.  The 2018 cost will be an additional $35 per household.   It is the opinion of the Board of Supervisors that this have the potential of saving lives. Mini Casino ordinance – Authorized an ordinance making it unlawful to install a “Mini-Casino” in the Township. Volunteer Firefighter reimbursement authorization- As a sign of appreciation, the Township agreed to donate $200 for each resident fire fighter that volunteers for the three fire companies that service Solebury Township (New Hope Eagle, Midway and Point Pleasant).   Farm Committee Strategic Plan authorization – The Board of Supervisors reviewed and endorsed the long-term action of the Farm Committee to support farming in the Township. Aquetong Spring Park 2018 opening- Developed and endorsed the plan to open Aquetong Spring Park by mid-year 2018. NHCS quarry- The Township as an intervenor prevailed in the quarry’s appeal to Environmental Hearing Board.  This has maintained the target end quarry reclamation date of mid-2019. Shared Services initiative - Initiated discussions with New Hope concerning the expense associated with shared services. Fracking study and resolution - a resolution calling upon the Delaware River Basin Commission to enact a ban on natural gas development, hydraulic fracturing, and related activities throughout the Delaware River Basin. River Road Trail completion – Trail was completed this year which will provide additional waling trails.  This connects existing to an trail to enable walking from  Magill’s Hill Park to Eagle Fire house. Police Facility Renovations bid authorization – Authorized the start of upgrades to the Police facility. Salt Building completion – As part of the municipal garage upgrade, a salt building was completed to provide salt for winter snow use. Audio recording of meetings - In an effort to increase transparency, all public Board of Supervisors meetings will be recorded and available to the public. Gerrymandering resolution – Endorsed a resolution to communicate to the State Government that the 2020 realignment of voting districts should encompass the resolution of the PA Gerrymandering problem. Deer Management - We are continuing to make good progress in responsibly managing the deer overpopulation in a cost-effective manner by working with state officials, the PA Game Commission, landowners and hunters Recycling expansion- Reestablished and reinvigorated recycling at schools and township parks Herbicides reduction-Ongoing efforts to reduce the use of harmful herbicides by both the township and other entities like PECO Addressing Penn East Pipe Issue-Intervene to FERC in opposition to the PennEast Pipeline. Additionally, educated public on concerns with PennEast Pipeline’s proposed route through Solebury. While Township mgr. conducted regular business including addressing  specific  resident issues managed over $27 million in Township budget  with expenses projected to be  1% increase from 2016. [note: our township expenditures is approximately $13 million; the $27 million includes both revenue and expenses]

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Resolution Urging Delaware River Basin Commission to Ban Fracking in the Delaware Watershed

Supervisor Mark Baum Baicker introduced and the Board unanimously approved a resolution urging the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to ban fracking in the Delaware Watershed. The Delaware River Basin commission is actively considering a fracking ban within the basin, but they propose to still allow for wastewater storage, disposal and discharge. Our resolution called for DRBC to:

enact a complete and permanent ban on natural gas development and hydraulic fracturing and all related activities (including drilling, fracking, wastewater processing and discharges from and water withdrawals for drilling and fracking operations) throughout the Basin.

Several residents spoke out in support of the resolution. The DRBC met today (12/13/2017) at 10:30 AM, and one of our residents, Ed Leydon, hand-delivered the signed resolution to the Commission. To learn more, click here.

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Township Advisory Boards

In late 2017/early 2018, the township Board of Supervisors will be interviewing residents to serve on the various Township Advisory Boards.

protect, conserve, manage, and promote our natural resources (Environmental Advisory Council)

foster the aesthetic values of the community and enhance the overall ambiance of the 2 historic districts (HARB)

promote Land Preservation (Land Preservation Committee)

plan, improve and maintain Township parks (Parks & Rec Board)

make recommendations on Land Development issues (Planning Commission)

render decisions on specific types of land use appeals and applications (Zoning Hearing Board)

make recommendations to protect agricultural land in the Township and support and strengthen our farming economy (Farm Committee)

Volunteering for one of these boards is not only a great way to give back to the community, but also a wonderful opportunity to meet some of your neighbors. If you are interested in being considered, please contact Cathy Cataldi at ccataldi@soleburytwp.org or 215-297-5656 and include a resume or description of your background.