Appointments Galore at Pottstown Council

Photos by Evan Brandt

A WALL WE CAN ALL GET BEHIND: From left, Lynn Bialek, from the Birdsboro American Legion Post's auxiliary, Pottstown Council Vice President  Carol Kulp and Vietnam veteran Richard Herter with a display advertising The Wall that Heals, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Replica and Mobile Education Center. The wall will make a slow procession from Sunnybrook Ballroom to Daniel Boone High School on July 5, and will be on display there round the clock until July 8.

It was hard to take a breath at last night's borough council meeting without someone getting appointed to some board of commission.

Trenita Lindsay is Pottstown Council's

newest member.

First and foremost of those was the appointment of Trenita Lindsay to the Fifth Ward council seat vacated last month by Dennis Arms.

The vote was not unanimous.

Councilman Ryan Procsal said while he thought Lindsay was a fine candidate, that the financial background of Philip Smock -- the other applicant who showed up at last week's council meeting to be interviewed -- might better the serve the borough as it tries to figure out how to deal with the spiraling property assessment challenges eroding the tax base -- and Pottstown's primary revenue stream.

He and Weand voted against Lindsay's appointment, which was made by Councilman Joe Kirkland and seconded by Councilwoman Rita Paez.

The next appointment was to the single vacancy on the newly formed Land Bank Board.

In April, when the rest of the appointments were made, the board had voted unanimously to reject the appointment of Twila Fisher to the the Land Bank board.

The director of economic development for The Hill School who head's up the schools Hobart's Run initiative, Fisher was among those consulted on the formation of the board.

However, twice former council member Sheryl Miller, who was also involved in the formation of the board, spoke out against Fisher's appointment, saying it is a conflict of interest for Fisher to serve because Hobart's Run is involved in the purchase and renovation of property, the Land Bank could be used for its benefit.

However Councilman Ryan Procsal said he had spoken with Fisher and was convinced it would not be a problem. Council President Dan Weand noted she had served on a previous land bank board in Berks County.

The 4-2 vote to appoint here came only after Councilman Joe Kirkland had proposed the appointment of Madison Morton to the board, a motion that was defeated by the same 4-2 vote margin.

Then it was time to decide on two open seats on the board of the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority.

The board followed the request of Executive Director Sheila Dugan and appointed Pamela Gormesh to one of the seats. Gormesh had been previously interviewed by the board and recommended for appointment.

Three others applied for the second seat -- Gabrielle Davidheiser -- who also has already been interviewed, and Thomas Hylton and Steve Everett, who have not been interviewed.

That vote will occur in July.

Next, we move on to the planning commission where two applicants -- Hylton and Andrew Monastra -- were up for consideration for a single vacancy.

Procsal said he knew the planning commission members, and several members of council, were leaning toward Monastra for the appointment. But he noted that Monastra is already serving on the Land Bank Board and the Historic Architecture Review Board.

He also noted that Hylton came to last night's meeting to speak, reminding council that he had previously served for 12 years, many as chairman, and that he and Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. had penned the borough's zoning ordinance which "favors traditional towns."

Only Councilwoman Rita Paez ended up voting against Hylton's appointment. But the choice may have been moot. After borough council went into an executive session, Deb Penrod, planning commission chairperson, said she had that night submitted her resignation.

Penrod, who is on the Land Bank board as well as the Pottstown Regional Public Library Board of Trustees, said she has too many responsibilities and does not know as much about planning as Hylton and suggested Monastra would work well with Hylton.

When council came out of that executive session it laid the groundwork for one more appointment.

Council voted to change the provision of the borough manager's ordinance that requires the manager to live in the borough, leaving the matter "the discretion of council," as Garner described it.

Council also voted to extend Interim Borough Manager Justin Keller's contract, which expires at the end of the month, by another 30 days.

Expect to see Keller provided with a full contract to borough manager at the July meeting.

In non-appointment matters, council adopted the changes to the downtown parking scheme, introducing paying by smart phone.

The changes will also increase  rates from 35 cents per hour to $50 cents per hour. However, Keller reported that the staff hopes to route payments through its own credit card processor, thus eliminating the potential for additional parking charges between five and 35 cents per transaction.

Also approved was the Hanover Square project that will convert the long-vacant former shirt factory at Cherry and South Charlotte streets into 27 market-rate apartments. (Yay!)

Council also approved a waiver of the land development ordinance for the first phase of a project at Maple Street Park that will rehabilitate the two tennis courts there, add a third and put up a new fence, stoage shed and modular classroom.

A second phase, which would encase the courts in an inflatable structure, cannot proceed without council approval.

Also approved were the changes Fire Chief Michael Lessar Jr. suggested to the fire code, absent the more strict requirements for sprinkler systems that had raised concerns of slowing rehabilitation of older downtown buildings and which council had removed from consideration.

And last, but definitely not least, council agreed unanimously to send a letter to this reporter's employer -- Digital First Media -- opposing the decision to close The Mercury building, which has stood at the corner of King and North Hanover Streets, since the 1920s.

The Mercury will continue to publish, but yours truly will likely be working from home, like so many other Digital First journalists must these days.

To learn more about why, read this and this.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Appointments Galore in Pottstown

In Pottstown, It's All In the Timing

If you want to get appointed to the Human Relations Commission, or the planning commission, or you want to try to make some changes to bike lanes going down your street, it's all in the timing.

As Council Dennis Arms rightly pointed out to borough council Monday night, "we say all the time we want people to apply to boards and commissions, and then they do and we ignore them."

He was talking about two last-minute applications for two vacant positions on the planning commission. Arms noted that although the applications were last minute, that the borough has never set a procedure or deadline for those appointments.

"It's all just willy nilly," he said.

Ultimately, he was halfway successful.

Council did to adopt a new policy last night of an application needing to be made within 30 days of it being announced.

But they did not apply this spiffy new policy to the two open positions they filled last night, one of which was to re-appoint Borough Council President Dan Weand to another four-year term on the planning commission. The other seat was filled by a man whose full name I did not catch.

A similar conversation unfolded when two people were appointed to the Human Relations Commission -- Marcia Levengood and Samantha Miller.

Council vice President Sheryl Miller wanted a one month delay because she did not think the Human Relations Commission had a quorum when it recommended those two.

But they did. One of the commission's five members resigned the day after they voted on the recommendation. It's really get hard to keep track.

Finally, council spent a great deal of time on the subject of proposed bike lanes for Roland Avenue that are part of the $2 million Safe Routes to Schools project.

At least two residents have come to council in recent months and said the lanes, and the pylons that will designate the bike lanes, are ugly and will lower the value of their property.

Assistant Borough Manager Justin Keller said he did know about these concerns until December of 2016, but residents had voiced concerns earlier. The problem is that they were voiced to a different assistant borough manager.

Staff and Councilman Joe Kirkland, who represents the Seventh Ward, met with the residents and they discussed changes. What no one seemed to know until Keller explained it to them Monday, is that all those changes were dependent on an OK from PennDOT.

And PennDOT said no.

Keller said the changes could not be made within the time frame of the grant that will help to pay for the project and, if the project were abandoned, that the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation would want the borough to return the $600,000 it paid for the design and engineering of the whole project.

The project will affect more than just Roland Street.

It will install bike lanes and change some roads to one-way all over the borough.

In the end, council voted 6-3 to approve the traffic ordinance which will make the changes to the road, as well as to appoint Traffic Planning and Design as the Construction Inspection Consultant for the project -- both PennDOT requirements.

Timing truly is everything.

Otherwise, here are the Tweets.

Monday Night's Council Meeting was a Quick One

Here, without further ado, is the "Storify" of the live-tweeting I did from the meeting.

Council Poised to Reduce Borough Tree Requirements

Photo by Evan Brandt

Street trees blossom in spring time on Beech Street in Pottstown.

Borough council is expected to vote Monday on a proposal to lessen the requirements for planting trees when a property is developed or re-developed.

Specifically, the vote would authorize Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. to advertise an amendment to the borough's sub-division and land development ordinance, known as a SLDO, and apply to the rules governing "open space trees" and "parking lot trees."

"This is the result of an ongoing theme at the planning commission," Garner told council during the Wednesday work session.

"We were calculating a large number of trees and then granting waivers and it was becoming problematic," he said.

Photo by Evan Brandt

Since council took responsibility for street trees away from the 

Shade Tree Commission in 2010, several trees,
such as this Bradford pear tree on 

West Second Street,
have been removed.

The number of trees required in the current ordinance "was a little bit extreme," said James Majewski, a senior project engineer with Remington, Vernick and Beach, which advised the planning commission.

Reviewing the tree requirements and making changes "was definitely time well-spent," Majewski said.

"This change primarily reduces parking lot trees and open space trees. Developers are still required to plant trees, but this change makes it a little more reasonable and a little more fair to those trying to develop their land," said Garner.

The change would reduce the number of open space trees required from the current level of one new tree for every 2,500 square feet to one new tree for every 8,000 square feet, said Garner.

Additionally, where the current standard requires one tree for every two parking spaces, the proposed new standard would be two trees for every eight parking spaces, he said.

Steve Toroney

The amendment would also result in more control over the species of trees planted, referring to the borough's current list of approved species; as well as the newer rules about locating trees, both of which were drawn up and are administered by Public Works Director Doug Yerger.

"This will create a lot more leeway then there is now," said Borough Council President Stephen Toroney, who sits on the planning commission.

Toroney, said the long-simmering issue came to a head when the school district presented its plans for the renovation of the three elementary schools.

"It was ridiculous. They were going to have to plant like a thousand trees," Toroney said.

Councilman Dan Weand, who is also the chairman of the Pottstown Planning Commission, added "where there was supposed to be open space and play space, there would have been a maze," "or Sherwood Forest," quipped Toroney.

"Also, its important to note that Pottstown has a lot more trees now than it used to. We've got pretty good tree cover now," Weand said.

Councilman Jeff Chomnuk said under the new guidelines, a space the size of the football field at Pottstown High School would require only six trees.

"It's definitely more workable," he said.

Business is Bustin' Out All Over Pottstown

Photo by Evan Brandt

This shows the location of the proposed new urgent care center at the intersection of Route 100, King Street and Shoemaker Road. They would like to begin construction as soon as possible.

The roller coaster ride of business news and revitalization efforts in the borough took an upswing Wednesday night when borough council heard about two proposals for two new businesses which want to put up new buildings in the borough.

One, known as Patient First, is part of a chain of 43 urgent care medical centers that has been in business for 43 years and promises to bring 50 jobs into the borough.

"We're looking to hire locally," said  Carl Wright, founder and president of The Wright Group, which will construct the building.at the site of the former Chinese Food restaurant across the parking lot from Ollies Outlet and Just Cabinets.

The Wright Group, which is also building the Hanover Square townhouses at the former Mrs. Smith's factory site, will lease the building to the urgent care company for 20 years or more.

"So we're talking about a long-term commitment," Wright said.

Patient First was founded 32 years by Richard Sowers, an emergency room physician who realized that many of those patients who came to the emergency room for treatment did not have life-threatening conditions and could be held instead by an "urgent care" practice, Wright said.

"It was a revolutionary idea at the time, but now they are everywhere," he said.

The business -- which operates nine similar centers in Greater Richmond, Va.; eight in Greater Hampton Roads, Tidewater, Va., and the DelMarVa Peninsula; 14 in Greater Baltimore; six in greater Washington, DC; three in eastern Pennsylvania; and four in central Pennsylvania -- will be open every day of the year, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

This (fuzzy) photo shows an existing Patient First building.

Councilman Dan Weand, who is also the chairman of the borough planning commission, praised the proposal.

"We had the pleasure of working with a well-prepared and congenial developer," he said.

"It's going to be a beautiful building," said Council President Steve Toroney, who also serves on the planning commission.

Eleven waivers were required to move the project forward. 

Council is set to vote on a preliminary/final site plan approval at Monday night's meeting.

A second new business is also poised to be approved Monday night.

Haggerty Steel, located outside Phoenixville, is looking to expand and to do it here.

"We're looking to grow, that's why we're coming to Pottstown," said Tom Haggerty, who was at Wednesday night's council meeting representing his company.

Haggerty Steel is a "fabrication and welding company," Haggerty said, adding "we would like to break ground in June."

Noting his company had just received its bank finances, Haggerty said "the next eight weeks are very critical, I would like to move in by October or November."

He said the company has eight permanent employees, and he would like to add more, but said that the company at times employs many more, depending on the size of the bids he wins for contracts.

"We're expanding so we can bid on bigger projects," he said.

Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. told council the company is looking to build a 9,000 square-foot building on an undeveloped 1.25-acre plot in the Circle of Progress, adjacent to the Pottstown Municipal Airport.

He said the planning commission recommended site plan approval for this project as well.

"We think you will be a great addition to Pottstown," Weand said.

Asked by Mayor Bonnie Heath about his experience working with Pottstown, Haggerty said "it's been very easy so far and the staff has been great. I found it very easy to do business in Pottstown."

Later in the meeting, Toroney praised the job being done by Steve Bamford, Pottstown's economic development point man and the executive director of Pottstown Area Industrial Development Inc.

"I want to thank him for the great job he's doing," Toroney said. "We've just seen two great things occuring here in Pottstown and Steve has been a big part of making that happen."

The Envelope Please ...

It's award season and as the Grammys, People's Choice and Oscar awards fill the screen, some other more local selections are being made as well.

Several citizens were tapped to serve Monday

Certainly less glamorous, but arguably much more important, empty slots on a variety of borough boards and committees were filled Monday by unanimous votes of borough council.

On the Planning Commission, council accepted the resignation of member Chris Huff and appointed Jim Derr, who also serves as the chairman of the Environmental Advisory Commission, to finish Huff's term.

Borough Manager Jason Bobst said Derr was the only person to apply for the post. The term will expire on Feb. 1, 2014.

Council also re-appointed Borough Council President Stephen Toroney to another four-year term on the planning commission, a post he will hold until Feb. 1, 2016.

Sue Repko

Sue Repko, recently named as the executive director of Pottstown's Mosaic Community Land Trust, was unanimously appointed to a five-year term on the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority.

Repko, who also writes the Positively Pottstown blog, hosted on The Mercury's Town Square blog site on the web, will serve until Jan. 1, 2017.

Two of three empty slots on the Historic Architecture Review Board were filled by council as well.

A seat which expires on April 1, 2015, was filled by code enforcement officer Bill Sharon, who was re-appointed.

A second seat, which expires on April 1 of this year, has been filled by Patricia Derr.

That seat had been held by former HARB Chairman Joseph Fay, who resigned in December in the wake of council's decision to removed HARB jurisdiction from the downtown area.

A third seat, which must be held by a real estate professional and whose term expires on April 1, 2015, has yet to be filled, although Borough Councilman Joseph Kirkland said he believes he has identified a candidate.

That seat was vacated by Stephanie Stranick, who was the board's Realtor and who also resigned over dissatisfaction with council's decision about HARb jurisdiction downtown.

Left unfilled is the council appointment to the board of directors of the Pottstown Regional Public Library. Councilman Jody Rhoads, who had held the post, submitted his resignation, telling council "it's just not going to work out.,"

Toroney has been unable to convince any other members of council to volunteer for the appointment.

If you would like to volunteer for a borough board or committee, contact Bobst and your name can be put on a list. He can be reached at 610-970-6511 or via e-mail at jbost@pottstown.org.

Or, you can write him an old-fashioned letter at 100 E. High St., Pottstown, PA 19464.