Pottsgrove Punts on Crossroads Apartment Decision, Debates What to Do With a $2.3 Million Surplus

Photos by Evan Brandt

At top, an artist's rendering of the site plan lay-out proposed for the 51-unit Cross Roads development as apartments, instead of townhouses. Below, a look at the proposed design for the buildings.

Members of the Pottsgrove School Board got a thorough review of the newly controversial Crossroads apartment proposal in Upper Pottsgrove Tuesday night, but declined to make a decision.

Instead, after hearing from the developer and two Upper Pottsgrove Township Commissioners, the school board decided they should wait for the township to take action, since planning and development issues are primarily in their purview.

The school board is only involved because it is part to a 10-year-old legal settlement over the development which is now being implemented. The only question before both boards is whether to let Delaware Valley Development Co. build apartments instead of townhouses.

Rendition of a project now under construction in Reading, which

school board member Al Leach called "beautiful.

Last week, residents of Turnberry Farms, motivated largely by school board member and neighbor Al Leach's request for opinions on the development's Facebook page, turned up at the township commissioners meeting to voice objections.

There were few in the audience of Tuesday night's school board meeting.

After hearing from the developer's representative, the board voted to table the vote on whether to support the request to build apartments until its Nov. 15 meeting.

In other significant news, the board also undertook a discussion about what to do with a $2.3 million budget surplus resulting from the 2015-2016 budget.

Business Manager David Nester explained the surplus had several causes, including lower than expected fuel, pension and health costs, as well as $400,000 more from the state than expected and an accounting decision about which budget year to place $750,000 in money from the state to reimburse for construction.

The decisions are not yet final, although the board did vote to "re-commit" $375,000 in the PSERS retirement fund that was not used as expected last year, to be used for the same purpose this year.

The board has to spend or assign at least $1 million of the money or the surplus will exceed 8 percent and, by law, the district would lose the option of raising taxes in the upcoming budget for the 2017-2018 school year.

A motion by School Board President Rick Rabinowitz to put $1.5 million of the money into the district's capital reserve fund was tabled by the board.

There was also discussion about "returning" the money to the taxpayers, although the idea of sending small refund checks was soon discarded in favor of simply putting it toward keeping taxes down in the coming budget -- IF that's the option the board chooses to pursue.

Other members said considering the district's "unacceptable" standardized test scores that perhaps the money should be spent on programs to improve the educational program.

More in more detail in upcoming editions of The Mercury.

In the meantime, here are the many, many, many Tweets from the meeting:

UPDATED WITH FULL VIDEO: Residents 'Cross' About Cross Roads Housing Project

Photos by Evan Brandt

The remnants of the crowd at the Upper Pottsgrove Commissioners meeting Monday night as discussion of the Cross Roads development began to wind down.

Residents worried about a proposal to build apartments for those earning "workforce" wages off Route 100 crowded the Upper Pottsgrove meeting room Monday night to ask questions and propose reasons why the project should not move forward.

The site, located on the east side of Route 100 near the intersection with Moyer Road, has a long complicated history that goes back to 2002.

The short version is the developer at the time, Richard Mingey, had proposals for developments on two properties on either side of Route 100 which at different times, numbered as many as 500, or 300.

The township commissioners at the time resisted the proposal and Mingey sued the township arguing its zoning was flawed because it did not allow for affordable housing. The township and Mingey settled and as part of a "curative amendment" that has the force of a court order, the project was reduced to one side of the highway and 51 townhouses.

Commissioner Herb Miller said he visited another site operated

by Delaware Valley Development Co and was impressed. This was

one of two photos passed around as an example of their work.

Mingey may have won the battle, but he lost the war when the housing market collapsed and the curbs and wires visible in a field on the right from northbound Route 100 is the evidence that remains of that failure.

Now a new company, Delaware Valley Development Co., has taken over the project. It applied for and obtained tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. This provides a tax incentive for housing that meets the needs of those who make between $30,000 and $60,000 a year, roughly.

Although reported, this was all flying under the public radar for the most part until the developer asked the township to change the project from townhouses to "flats," or apartments." The commissioners agreed because it would improve the aesthetic layout of a project they had to allow anyway.

Because the Pottsgrove School Board was also a party to the settlement, the township asked the school board if they would approve the change.

School board member Al Leach posed the question to the members of the Facebook page operated for the benefit of residents of the Turnberry Farm development and, well, the rest is history, or at least news of the moment.

About 30 people attended the meeting and none spoke in favor of the project. Many asked questions and some said the township should reject the development, while commissioners and Township Solicitor Charles Garner Jr. explained why they could not (or would not, depending on your interpretation.)

This is another photo presented Monday night as a site built and

run by Delaware Valley Development Co.

The residents of Turnberry Farms -- which is home to roughly 450 souls, presumably some of them children, and was built between 1995 and 2002 by Rotelle Builders -- said the proposed 51-unit project would over-burden the schools, causing school taxes to go up.

They said their homes are already worth less than they paid for them, and that allowing rental units at the location three miles away would lower their property values even further, and bring crime and other social problems to the township.

As of now, no formal plan has been submitted and the matter will like be discussed at the next Pottsgrove School Board meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Pottsgrove High School.

A note about the Tweets below: In an effort to get as many interested people as possible involved, I shot live Periscope video of about 40 minutes of the meeting, which reached nearly 90 views. However, while Periscope is nice because its live, its also persnickety. and is only on line for 24 hours.

UPDATE: Thanks to a tech-savvy resident of Turnberry Farms, the video was uploaded and I have since managed to upload it to YouTube, so here it is:


And Here are the Tweets