Hot On the Trail of a Regional Trail System

Fuzzy Photo by Evan Brandt

The Pottsgrove Trail, one of four major trails proposed in the study, would stretch up Pleasantview Road from High Street, then head northwest along Buchert Road, slide along the woods at the edge of the Pottsgrove High School property, through the Brookside Restaurant property and cross North Charlotte Street there near the entrance for Sunset Park and them up to Hollenbach Park on North Hanover Street, opposite Pottsgrove Middle School.

Years in the making, and years yet to reach completion, a plan to expand and connect trails throughout the greater Pottstown area and to the ever-more popular Schuylkill River Trail took an important step last night.

A public hearing on the Tri-County Trail Study attracted about 14 people Wednesday night and also revealed details about the proposals, including their eye-popping cost.

Michael Lane, the regional recreation director, outlined the plans that include four or five primary trail systems (depending on how you count them), each of which will be completed in segements as funding becomes available, and said it may be 10 or 20 years before the trails outlined in the study are actually built.

The highlighted section shows the first priority for the Coventry Trail.

The first he revealed is the Coventry Trail, which begins out of Kenilworth Park and stretch up along the township line between North and East Coventry before heading west to eventually connect with the trail system in French Creek State Park.

When complete, it could cost between $1.2 million to $1.7 million, said Lane.

Missing is a link between Kenilworth Park and the the Schuylkill River Trail, which will cross the river back into Montgomery County on the new Route 422 bridge now being built. From there, it will proceed along Industrial Highway in Pottstown to Riverfront Park on a section of the trail now also being built.

A second, and less expensive trail, is called the West Trail. It will proceed from the Schuylkill River
Trail through West Pottsgrove up Grosstown Road to Manatawny Street, where it will connected to Murgia Park, along Manatawny Creek and across from the intersection with Sell Road.

That section is only anticipated to cost $546,845.

There, it will connect with a third primary trail called the Manatawny Trail, which will stretch along the west bank of Manatawny Creek from Memorial Park, beneath Route 100 and along the Colebrookdale Railroad line.

The outlined sections show the priority segments of the West and 

Manatawny trails as proposed in the regional study.

A pedestrian bridge is planned to cross Manatawny Creek near Murgia Park as well as a smaller bridge to connect the two sides of Murgia Creek on either side of Goose Run.

The Manatawny Trail, with completed, could cost between $2.5 million and $2.7 million. The priority section of this trail would stretch from Memorial Park to under the Route 100 bridge to allow for safer pedestrian crossing of Route 100.

That section became a priority in the trail plan  after 24-year-old Donald Purnell was struck and killed while trying to cross Route 100 at Shoemaker Road as he was trying to get to his job at Wendy’s.

West trail will also have a connections to a trail through the West Pottsgrove Township Park behind the township building and into the Circle of Progress to connect with Sly Fox Brewery there. The Manatawny Trail will also connect to the Circle of Progress there.

The next trail is called the Pottsgrove Trail, and it is envisioned to stretch up Pleasantview Road from High Street, turn left near Buchert Road, after making its way through Gerald Richards Park, and reach Pottsgrove High School.

There, it will skirt the edges of the woods and make its way through the Brookside Restaurant property to emerge on North Charlotte Street near the entrance to Sunset Park in Upper Pottsgrove.

The sprawling and more conceptual Upper West Trail

The crossing of that busy road, which is also Route 663, will become safer now that PennDOT has agreed to lower the speed limit on North Charlotte Street to 25 miles per hour between Mervine Street and School Lane.

From there make its way to Hollenbach Park on North Hanover Street, opposite Pottsgrove Middle School.

This is also the point at which the Pottsgrove Trail will connect with the Walk Bike Pottstown trail
system now under construction in the borough, which will provide another connection to Riverfront Park and the Schuylkill River Trail there.

The final section is called the Upper West Trail and it is more conceptual now than the other trails, this given that it envisions a connection through New Hanover Township to the Perkiomen Trail in Green Lane.

The cost of that trail runs anywhere from $2.3 million to $4 million or $5 million depending on what kind of options are pursued, such as allowing equestrian access on certain portions.

The section of the Upper West Trail which has been prioritized

However, a small portion has been prioritized that would connect Murgia Park with the Goose Run Recreation Area in Douglass (Berks) Township. The route will depend on whether negotiations with Waste Management, which owns the Pottstown Landfill, results in allowing access through that property.

That cost is currently estimated at about $800,000.

Whenever possible, the trails use public parks, public properties and public right of ways in order to avoid private property.

Lane said that no trail would proceed through private property without those property owners first agreeing to negotiate.

A resident of North Coventry, who declined to give his name for publication, and Marc Kenline of Pottstown both said there should be more notification of private property owners who could be affected by the planned trails.

A 30-day public comment period continues through Sept. 2 and can be sent to lane in writing at Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee, 140 College Dr., Pottstown, PA 19464.

And now what you've all been waiting for ... THE TWEETS!

Planners Back More Development at Upland Square

Photo by Evan Brandt

Ed Reitz, a planner from Douglass (Mont.), left, and Kurt Zebrowski, a planner from New Hanover, take a closer look at the site plans for the commercial expansion off State Street, opposite Upland Square, in West Pottsgrove.

Although Wednesday night's meeting of the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee lasted barely 30 minutes, it did manage to generate some news.

Plans for the development of nearly 20 acres across Upland Drive from the Upland Square Shopping Center and behind the recently constructed Citadel Bank building are moving forward.

Owned by the Gambone group, the first concept plan was submitted to the township in 2011.

That plan, completed by Kennedy and Assoc., included a 100-room hotel; 105,000 square feet of retail space; 11,000 square-feet of restaurant space; a 4,000 square-foot bank, a gas station/convenience store and a 918-space parking lot.

Some of uses have been pared down and the plan presented to the regional planners Wednesday night calls for two retails buildings, one of which will be a grocery story, several restaurants, including one that specializes in Chicken Wings, and a dentist's office, said West Pottsgrove Commissioner Dominic Gentile.

The current plan shows no development plans for the 

Upper Pottsgrove portion of the site, shown on the right.

The grocery store has previously been identified as Lidl, a German-based chain that offers food similar to the Aldi in Lower Pottsgrove at the Home Depot off Armand Hammer Boulevard.

Upper Pottsgrove Commissioner Elwood Taylor said his township has supported development at the site, but wants to ensure that access remains solely off Route 100.

"Upper Pottsgrove has been very supportive of development in this area from the git-go," said Taylor. "There was controversy int he comminity about expanding commecial development in this area and UP stood up and defended that decision and so we're excited to see this happen," Taylor said.

"Our concern is that access to the Upper Pottsgrove parcels be maintained through the new development," given that there are currently no plans to develop those parcels.

"The crux of the issue is State Street to the north is residential, and for the last 10 years, we have been very careful about not allowing State Street to become a throughway to a commercial center," said Taylor.

With those concerns expressed, the regional planners voted to allow Montgomery County Planner Donna Fabry to write a letter declaring that the project complies with the regional Master Plan, which targete commercial growth for that area.

And with that, here are the Tweets from an otherwise very short meeting:

Regional Planners Talk Traffic, Open Space

A new intersection and new townhouses in East Coventry; traffic in New Hanover; open space stewardship in 24 municipalities; a new plan for Coventry Mall?

All these subjects and more were on the table for discussion Wednesday night for the first Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee of 2016.

It was also the re-organizational meeting and East Coventry Supervisor Michael Moyer was selected as chairman.

If you would like to know about what happened, you need only read the Tweets below and become enlightened.

For Whom the Plan Tolls

So once again, tolls on Route 422, as dead an issue as you can imagine, was debated by representatives of the eight municipalities which comprise the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee during Wednesday night's meeting.

Forced to the floor for debate by a resolution from East Coventry Township and a pending one from Lower Pottsgrove Township, the planners tossed the issue back and forth until a compromise was reached.

In the end, everyone agreed on a single sentence which satisfied all the concerns expressed.

(You will have to read the Tweets to learn what it is! :))

Also discussed was another $200,000 in regional recreational grants from the state; a regional train and open space stewardship plan and a development project off Bleim Road in Lower Pottsgrove.

Read and learn, and look for full stories on these issues in upcoming editions of The Mercury.

Trail Plan, Road Plan and Comprehensive Plan

The monthly meeting of the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee, looked at three issues Wednesday nigt.

The first is a regional trail plan, a grant application for which was authorized by unanimous vote.

The second, a new road and bridge management computer system tool that was put together for free by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

The third, a review of the slow arc of the new regional comprehensive plan which should be ready for public comment by June or July at the earliest.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting.

Regionalizing Animal Control? Crowd Control?

Photo by Evan Brandt

The Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee is comprised of eight municipalities.

So a couple of nuggets out of Wednesday night's Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee (boy that's a mouthful):

• The TSC Tractor store is moving out of the old Giant Plaza on State Street because, according to Borough Council President Stephen Toroney, the roof is leaking and the landlord won't fix it.;
• The regional comprehensive plan, not to be confused with the Montgomery County Comprehensive Plan or the Pottstown Borough Comprehensive Plan, is almost ready for official comment, to be followed by public comment, to be followed by adoption, to be followed by preparing for the new comprehensive plan....;
• Toroney floated the idea of some kind of regional animal control officer, still early;
• Upper Pottsgrove Commissioners Chairman Elwood Taylor floated the idea of other township police departments in the region helping out with the Pottstown Halloween Parade as a way to keep costs down...keep talking....

Anyway, here are the Tweets from the meeting..

Comprehending the Region

Photo taken in the dark by Evan Brandt