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| Photos by Evan Brandt |
Township Supervisors approved the preservation of more than 33 acres of a beloved dairy farm and are poised to enjoy the preservation of another 455 acres of open space in the coming months.
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The location of the Suloman Farm is marked by
the red circle in the lower left portion of the map.
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The retail dairy store, on about 1.16 acres, was not part of the preservation said Township Solicitor Andrew Bellwoar.
The remaining 33.4 acres will remain with the Suoman family, but a conservation easement costing $700,000 will ensure it remains a farm no matter who owns it.
"You can't buy better milk anywhere," said Planning Commission Chair Susan Smith in endorsing the move.
The money for the conservation easement comes from the .15 mill open space tax on earned income approved by voters in a townwide referendum in 2006, said Bellwoar.
The farm was identified in the township's Open Space and Recreation Master Plan as a property worthy of preservation and consists of a total of five parcels.
The second and larger open space effort underway concerns the Laughing Waters Girl Scout Camp, located south of Route 73 between New Hanover Square Road and Fagleysville Road.
Part of the property is in Upper Frederick Township, but the majority of the property is in New Hanover township, said Township Manager Jamie Gwynn.
Montgomery County has already agreed to put up $2,767,000 toward the $3,917,000 price of the conservation easement and another $1,150,000 grant is being sought from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
In cooperation with the Girl Scouts, Natural Lands and Montgomery County, DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn, will be hosting local state legislators and inviting the press to tour the camp on May 2 according to information provided by state officials.
The idea is to highlight the importance of the camp's preservation and promoting the Governor’s Restore PA initiative which would assist in helping to preserve large important conservation areas such as the camp, as well as many other essential infrastructure needs across the state.
The township supervisors voted unanimously Thursday night to endorse the effort to preserve the camp from development.
Route 663 News
On the state grant front, Gwynn said the township has already received a $125,000 grant from PennDOT to install a signal at the intersection of Route 663 and Route 73, the western side of that dog-legged intersection.
A traffic control signal will be installed at the intersection of routes 73 and 663 next to Saldutti Car Corner. That hill will be reprofiled to increase sight distance and widened to put a left-turn lane facing west on Route 73 to turn onto Route 663 at that intersection.
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The western intersection of Route 663 and Route 73
where a traffic signal is planned.
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He thanks the township's traffic consultant Sandy Koza for writing the grant application. He said a third grant application is still pending for the remaining $138,000, although he warned that the project will probably end up costing more than the estimate as construction costs are rising.
Without the third grant, New Hanover will turn to the funds it has collected from developers for the impact their residential projects have on township roads.
More improvements are coming to the heavily traveled road. During the same meeting, Township Public Works Director Dennis Flynn told the supervisors that he has been contacted by PennDOT and they intend to repave one of two sections of Route 663 this summer.
They will wither repave the section from Swamp Pike Route to Route 73; or the section from Route 73 to Hill Road.
And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting"
Keeping Things Open
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