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!

Building Bridges in Douglas (Montgomery), Literally and Figuratively

Photo by Evan Brandt

Justin Keller, recreational circuit rider for the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee, left, asks the Douglass Township Supervisors if they would like help with grant writing or planning for the township's open spaces and parks development plans.

I had a choice between at least three township meetings last night -- Upper Pottsgrove, Lower Pottsgrove or Douglass (Mont.)

I chose Douglass because A) Township Manager Peter Hiryak was kind enough to e-mail me the agenda ahead of time; B) the agenda for Upper and Lower, as shown on their respective web sites both seemed equally non-consequential; and C) I had not been to Douglass since Anthony Kuklinski was named the chairman of the board of supervisors.

The meeting was over in a half hour, but there were updates on how Douglass handled the Winter Storm Jonas; what regional recreation planner Justin Keller can do for Douglass and what's going on with the County Line Road Bridge project.

Read the Tweets and be updated:

Regional Recreation and Stewardship

Photos by Evan Brandt

This map shows the many factors which will go into an upcoming multi-regional greenway and stewardship study in Montgomery and Chester counties.

Well, the summer is over and that means that the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee has started meeting again and after two months of absence, they had some pretty good stuff stored up.

Justin Keller with his October events calendar.

First of all, it was the time for the one-year review of how the regional recreation effort, headed by circuit rider Justin Keller is going.

Judging by the successes, the grants and the plans -- the answer seems to be "pretty well."

He outlined a number of initiatives, including a new one at the West Pottsgrove Township Pool which sounds interesting, and said in addition to obtaining about $100,000 in grants this year, there is still nearly $173,000 pending (delayed because of the budget impasse).

He has also produced a monthly events calendar which is catching on and may also be used for long-term planning.

Also of great interest is an effort that involves not just the Pottstown regional planning committee, but several others throughout Montgomery County.

Montgomery County planner Matt Schelly outlines the 

multi-regional study to the Pottstown area planners.

Matt Schelly from the Montgomery County Planning Commission outlined how the Multi-Regional
Greenway and Stewardship Study will work, and the ways in which it will be helpful not only to municipalities, but to private property owners as well.

Of particular interest to me, a poor student of geology, was the many ways a particular type of soil, called diabase, had influenced the land use in the region.

Land uses, such as forest, agriculture, watersheds and ridge lines, important birding areas, will all guide a comprehensive look at a large region that will produce specific recommendations geared toward maintenance, stewardship and best practices.

Interesting stuff for the policy wonks in the room.

Anyway, you can read about it all, as I Tweeted it live, as if you were there in the room.

Recreation and Comprehensive Planning

Justin Keller

So this is why we employ professional photographers at The Mercury.

This photo at right was the best I could do, apparently, with my iPhone.

My apologies to Justin Keller.

Anyway, this fine fellow is the person who will be working to coordinate recreation activities for six of the eight towns who bought in to match the state grant that will fund his activities.

East Coventry and New Hanover pinched their pennies and decided against participating in the program.

(This despite the fact that New Hanover just purchased a huge new building as a recreation center this year, but hey, leaders know best.)

He is housed at the offices of the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation and I'm sure we'll be hearing more from him.

Wednesday night, he was introduced to the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee, through which the grant to pay is salary was obtained.

Here are the Tweets from that meeting.