New Cop in Lower, More Route 422 Work Coming

Photo by Evan Brandt

NEWEST ADDITION: Michael Tantorno's children hold The Bible as he takes the oath of office Monday night as Lower Pottsgrove's newest police officer as administered by District Judge Edward Kropp while his family, Police Chief Mike Foltz and township commissioners look on. He will fill the vacancy left by  Sgt. Bob Greenwood, who retired last week after 34 years of service.

Talk about burying the lead.

It wasn't until the very end of last night's Lower Pottsgrove Commissioners meeting that Township Manager Ed Wagner broke the big news.

For the past six years, residents and drivers on Route 422 have been dealing with the $307 million project to replace two bridges over the Schuylkill River, at Armand Hammer Boulevard, over the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks, as well as pavement and access ramp re-construction.

Well, far from being over, another phase is about to begin.

Wagner said he received notice from PennDOT that the roughly five miles from the Royersford to Sanatoga interchanges is the next area to be under construction.

The work is slated to begin this spring and will last into 2021, Wagner said.

Pavement will be repaired and replaced, as will bridge decking along with drainage repairs and the installation of rumble strips.

"Lane closures will occur on the non-peak hours," said Wagner in what could certainly be called cold comfort to those whose patience has already been frayed daily by six years of delays and construction.

But that's not all folks.

The construction of one of two new Route 422 bridges

over the Schuylkill photographed in 2014.

According to the web site set up by PennDOT to track Route 422 work, more is coming.

Design work is currently underway for work on 1.7 miles of expressway from the bridge over the railroad to the bridge over Park Road. 

A $60 million, four-year project, the site anticipates the project to go out to bid in the summer of 2020, while the work in Limerick is still going on.

This project includes two bridges carrying Pleasantview Road and Park Road over U.S. 422, and two bridges carrying U.S. 422 over Porter Road, Sanatoga Road and Sanatoga Creek. One culvert at Sprogels Run, located just east of Porter Road, will be removed and a new two-span structure will be built over Porter Road and Sprogels Run. The acceleration lane for the westbound on-ramp from the Sanatoga Interchange will also be improved as part of this phase.

The $35.6 million project on the section of highway from the Berks County Line, east through the Stowe interchange now underway is expected to be finished by this coming October.

And next month, final design is set to begin on the section of Route 422 from the Keim Street interchange to the Route 724 interchange.

This $40 million project will last three years with the earliest bidding date coming in summer of 2021, according to the site, which was last updated in November.

Parking Changes

In the headaches-for-drivers department, the township commissioners also authorized the advertisement of a change in parking restrictions on Hause Avenue.

After police conducted a safety study, the department recommended, and the commissioners agreed, that no parking restrictions should be extended from the intersection with High Street north past the curve in the road that makes it dangerous.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting:

More Route 422 Work Coming Our Way

Building, Tearing Down Bridges in W. Pottsgrove

Photo by Evan Brandt

West Pottsgrove Township Manager Craig Lloyd, right, explains to township commissioners Charles Valentine, left, and Pete LaRosa, center, how the Grosstown Road interchange on Route 422 will be changed during the eight months it is closed for construction.

As is so often the case, Wednesday night's West Pottsgrove township Commissioners' meeting was short.

But it was not over too soon to allow West Pottsgrove Police Chief Matt Stofflet a chance to provide a sweet summer tale.

Tuesday night for about two hours, volunteer township police officers drive around West Pottsgrove to give away free water ice.

"It was so much fun and so many people came out to talk," said Stofflet.

Photo from West Pottsgrove Police Facebook page
West Pottsgrove Police officers delivered free water ice
to the community Tuesday

"We had people from age 6 to people aged 60," he said.

It's the second year the department has connected with the community in this way, and it was even more successful than last year.

"We only got to about half the township, because so many people came out," Stofflet said.

He asked for, and quickly received, permission from the township commissioners to do it again in August to visit the half of the town police did not get to Tuesday.

The truck comes from a vendor named Kona, out of Oaks not only was the water ice donated, so too was the officers' time, who undertook the task unpaid.

"We had a couple of people ask us if we were pulling over the water ice truck to give him a ticket," Stofflet said with a chuckle. "But it's a way to bridge the gap with the community, part of our community outreach," Stofflet said.

Speaking of bridges, the Old Reading Pike bridge over the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks has been removed, Craig reported.

But if you thought driving on Old Reading Pike is going to get any easier any time soon, think again.

Township Manager Craig Lloyd said starting today (Thursday) the road will be closed for several months near the Pottstown water treatment plant while PennDOT replaces a structurally deficient bridge that crosses an unnamed stream there.

"So you won't be able to get into Berks County on Old Reading Pike for a couple of months," he said.

And without further ado, here are the Tweets from the meeting.

Water Ice and Road Closures

Community Day, Route 422 Plans Coming Together

Photo by Evan Brandt

When the Oct. 14, 2017 date for West Pottsgrove Community Day gets closer, expect to see these reminders posted in prominent locations around town.

The commissioners workshop meeting last night lasted only about 30 minutes, but produce three things of interest to township residents, as well as drivers of Route 422.

First, as you probably already read in The Mercury, the next phase of rthe Route 422 rehabilitation begins this month and will, among other things, result in the speed limit from Stowe to River Bridge Road being reduced, and for the closure of the Stowe offramps at Grosstown Road at different points, sometimes for as long as 170 days.

Much depends on the weather, said Township Manager Craig Lloyd and Police Chief Matthew Stofflet.

Second, if you were confused by your trash bill, don't be. Although the new Waste Management bills break out the cost of recycling, West Pottsgrove residents always paid for recycling, the old bills just didn't show it, said Lloyd.

Lastly, the attractions for the upcoming Community Day in October have been more clearly spelled out, as you can see in the Tweets below.

Firm Says Expand 422/Sanatoga Interchange Project

A Google map of the Sanatoga Green interchange.

Having successfully obtained a $2.1 million grant to help cover the costs of doing half the work necessary to improve Route 422's Sanatoga interchange, a consulting firm said Thursday night it makes sense to expand the project to do all the work at the same time.

Delta Development Group made the case to the Lower Pottsgrove Township Commissioners, arguing they believe they can convince PennDOT that with Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick townships having collectively contributed nearly $1 million to the cost of the project, that the entire project should be done all at once.

"The iron is right to strike, now is the time," said Delta's Anthony Seitz.

"You guys have stepped up in a big way to do improvements on state roads," Seitz said of the $900,988 being contributed by the two townships.

The total cost of the westbound ramp project is estimated at about $3 million, and the money provided by Limerick and Lower Pottsgrove is the 30 percent match required by the grant.

But it makes sense from a variety of viewpoints, including economies of scale, purchasing and timing, for PennDOT to realize that its best to also improve the eastbound element of the interchange at the same time, said Seitz.

A car makes its way down the westbound ramp onto Route 422.

"The funding for the eastbound ramps is really, at this point I think, a negotiated discussion with PennDOT," he said. "We're talking with them at the highest levels. We have a meeting set up already."

In order to facilitate the continuance of those discussions, the commissioners voted unanimously to join Limerick in a 90-day contract with Delta to continue to advocate on behalf of expanding the project.

Township Manager Ed Wagner said the total cost of the Delta contract is $5,520 per month, but Lower Pottsgrove's full share is $5,000  the rest being paid by Limerick.

At the heart of the issue is the Philadelphia Premium Outlets off Evergeeen and Lightcap roads along Lower Pottsgrove's border. Westbound traffic leaving the outlets must make a left turn across oncoming traffic to get onto Route 422.

That left-turning traffic stacks up on the bridge over the highway and can block eastbound traffic from exiting Route 422 and making the left onto Evergreen Road.

The westbound work is made more necessary by the proposal to build a development on 51 acres on the the north side of Evergreen Road, in Lower Pottsgrove, that includes 508 housing units, a 100-room hotel and office space.

In fact, PennDOT will not allow the project access to Evergreen Road until the westbound portion of the interchange is improved due to the increased traffic Sanatoga Green, as the project is named, would produce.

Ted Drauschak, managing partner of the firm proposing Sanatoga Green --  Castle Caldecott LLC --

The proposed Sanatoga Greeen development superimposed
on an aerial photograph of the 51-acre site.

was at Thursday's meeting and said the improvement of "the westbound ramp is very important to our project and to the community."

He said the township's Act 209 ordinance requires the payment of $1,200 per "P.M. trip" generated by his project, which means Castle Caldecott will be coughing up "roughly $700,000 to go into that fund."

(By the way, that works out to the addition of 583 "P.M. trips" per day, if those figures are accurate.).

Further, Drauschak noted that one of the firm's partners owns the three acres of property on the southwest corner of the intersection where a right-of-way is needed for a new eastbound ramp.

"It's our intention to meet with the joint township committee this week and resolve that issue and hopefully find a way to accommodate the design and provide the land that's necessary for the ramp to be constructed through a mutual arrangement with the joint committee," Drauschak said.

"It's in our best interest to have both ramps constructed and we believe its in the township's best interests and the community's best interests to have both ramps constructed," said Drauschak. "So we intend to make the full contribution to that process."

He said the contribution goes into the Act 209 fund and the use of that money is at the township's discretion. "Hopefully the taxpayers will not be paying for that construction," Draushak said.

This was not the only subject discussed at last night's meeting.

To find out what else happened, check out the Tweets and video below.

Sanatoga Green Project Making Progress

This aerial photo shows the proposed Sanatoga Green mixed use residential, office and hotel complex super-imposed on the property it may soon occupy.

The proposed 508-residential unit; 6,000 square-foot of office space and 100-room hotel project proposed for 51 acres near the Limerick outlets continued to win approvals Tuesday night.

First there was the public hearing that proposed to add one more parcel to the "gateway zoning" district required for the proposed Sanatoga Green project to move forward.

Only the developers spoke and, not surprisingly, talked about the benefits of the change. It was subsequently approved unanimously by the township commissioners without comment.

Then came the news that the Commonwealth Finance Authority has approved $2.1 million in financing to upgrade the west-bound Sanatoga Interchange off Route 422.

The application was driven by the outlets located off Evergreen Road in Limerick, but was made jointly by Limerick and Lower Pottsgrove. There is a 30 percent match required for the $3 million upgrade and Lower Pottsgrove is responsible for 35 percent of that 30 percent match, said Township Manager Ed Wagner.

However, Wagner said both township's also applied for a grant from PennDOT, which may provide the whole match.

The financing is good news for the development of Sanatoga Green because without the capacity increases the upgrade will ensure, that project would not move forward.

Wagner explained that the upgrade to the west-side of the interchange will cost $5.5 million or more, but is less crucial because less local traffic comes from that direction.

It may be a year or more before either the interchange project, or the Sanatoga Green project, breaks ground.

In the meantime, another public hearing for the Sanatoga Green project -- this one for a "conditional use" to allow for construction on steep slopes -- has been set for 6:30 on Thursday, July 21.

And here are the Tweets from the meeting:

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.

In the Zone

Poorly focused photo by Evan Brandt

A small portion of the audience at Monday night's zoning hearing.

Monday's meeting of the Lower Pottsgrove Township Board of Commissioners began early with a public hearing.

The hearing was on a zoning change, that was ultimately adopted, but about which quite a few residents and property owners had reservations.

Although the issue dominated most of the meeting's Tweets, which can be read below, an article about that also appears in today's Mercury.

Later in the evening, another newsworthy event came about when Commissioners Chairman Bruce Foltz announced that after polling the other board members, he had contacted the developers proposing a Family Dollar story in Sanatoga, "thanks, but no thanks."

Look for that Tweet near the bottom of the Storify reproduced here.

We'll be following up on that as well.

In the meantime, don't forget to click on the blue "Read Next Page" bar to make sure you see it all.