Police Racism Probe, Quarry, Town Center, Were All on New Hanover Supervisors' Table Thursday

Photos by Evan Brandt

Land development, and developments (or lack thereof) of racism in the township police department are the items to come out of last night's township supervisors meeting.

Gibraltar Rock

One long-standing land development that has captured the attention of New Hanover residents is the Gibraltar Rock Quarry.

Township Solicitor Andrew Bellwoar updated the supervisors, and the public, noting that the to the massive project.

township -- and Paradise Watchdogs/Ban the Qaurry -- challenged the issuing of mining permits

He said there was recently a five-day trial before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board and briefs from all sides were filed. In the meantime, additional well and soil tests are being required at the adjacent hazardous clean-up site where groundwater pollution has added to concerns about the quarry.

The site south off Hoffmansville Road is a proposed 241-acre rock quarry and crushing operation on 302 acres of land.

In 2015, Gibraltar Rock purchased 82 acres adjacent to the Good's Oil site, moving potential quarry operations even closer to the site of the groundwater contamination which ultimately resulted in a $2 million extension of the public water system to 27 homes whose wells had been contaminated.

Township Manager Jamie Gwynn's spreadsheet of various changes made to the Town Center project.

Town Center

Township Manager Jamie Gwynn said a request by Supervisor Marie Livelsberger -- for a review of all the various variations of the New Hanover Town Center project -- revealed a whole set of inconsistencies.

Town Center is proposed along Swamp Pike where the
New Hanover Airport was once located.

In fact, there were so many, that he had to put together a two-page spreadsheet, show how, since the project received preliminary site plan approval in 2007, the acreage, the number of housing units, the square footage of commercial property, the number of parking spaces and even the amount of open space, have been inconstant flux.

"The numbers keep changing," he said. "There are math errors," some of which seem to be driven by the fact that the developers are not always counting "flex units," which have commercial on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors, when they calculate the number of housing units.

The crowd at last week's joint meeting.

"Our consultants have to keep navigating all these changes in the plan," said Gwynn, noting that the plan is now on its eighth revision. The latest version, said Gwynn, has a total of 779 housing units and eight fewer acres of open space, among other changes.

More than 100 people attended a joint supervisors and planning commission meeting last week where requests for 28 variances from township requirements from developer R.P. Wynstone were reviewed.

Supervisor's Chairman Charles D. Garner Jr. urged residents to stay involved and said Gwynn's analysis shows the complexity of the issues with which the township is contending.

"It's difficult for the five of us to get our arms around something that has been around for this long," said Garner. "We all know that this is an important project and I urge people to attend meetings where it is formally discussed."

Romig Road

The supervisors also approved a two-year extension for the preliminary approval granted t the project at 2481 Romig Road, but only after a robust discussion of stormwater issues.

I would give you the basics on this, but I can't find it anywhere on the township's most excellent website. And since everyone in the room seemed to know what it was but me, they never bothered to say how many acres, how many units or any of that quasi-important stuff.

What was clear is that neighbors of the project are worried about what impact the project will have on their wells, on stormwater and, of course, on traffic.

You'll all have to wait for The Mercury story on this one after I get the lay of the land.

NAACP and Investigation of Racism in the Police Dept. 

Tyrone Robinson, standing, reads a statement from the 

Pottstown chapter of the NAACP regarding its

involvement of the investigation of the police department

Yes, I admit, I "buried the lead," as they say in my business. But I had to keep you reading didn't I?

For those of you who have been asleep for the last five months, New Hanover made headlines in a bad way in when a Sept. 12 expose in Philly Voice magazine reported accusations of racism by Police Chief Kevin McKeon and Sgt. William Moyer.

The township launched an investigation and hired an outside attorney to conduct it, but almost immediately confirmed the results may never be known.

This is due to both the confidentiality of personnel matters, and of investigations. The only thing likely to become public is if disciplinary action is taken.

But that dynamic was disrupted the following month when the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP showed up at the meeting and offered to help with the investigation, noting that some potential victims might be more willing to talk to them than to someone representing the township.

Last night, several members showed up and Tyrone Robinson read a statement from the chapter complaining, among other things, that while they had provided information to the township, the flow of information had been mostly one way.

Robinson said Township Manager Jamie Gwynn and Solicitor Andrew Bellwoar had visited the chapter in Pottstown once, and chapter members had been to the township twice.

"But the township has given us nothing," said Robinson. "We asked to see a video we were told shows something of the alleged effromm incident, and we wasked for two other documents. We received no response to our request of Nov. 13 for those things and no response to two follow-up calls" to Bellwoar.

In that same Nov. 13 "private meeting with two supervisors, the solicitor and the township manager, we reported that it had been brought to our attention that racial slurs were allegedly used by police officers. That is of great concern to the Pottstown branch of the NAACP."

Here is video of the full statement:

"We have read the New Hanover Police Department mission statement, and we expect the township to live up to those ideals," said Robinson.

Township Supervisors Chairman Charles D. Garner Jr. assured them that the board had not lost sight of the issue. 

And with that, click here to read the Tweets from last night's meeting.

When Harvey Came Calling, Stormwater Lessons

Photo from ABC News

Flooding in Texas as a result of Hurricane Harvey.

When it comes to flooding, pavement is the enemy.

Here in America, we love pavement, but pavement doesn't love us, particularly not when it rains.

Pavement, all development really, inserts an impermeable layer between the rain and the ground's ability to absorb it.

According to the Montgomery County Planning Commission, a one-acre parking lot can produce 16 times more water run-off than a one-acre meadow.

So stormwater that would have been absorbed from the soil by plants and trees is, if you're lucky, collected into retention basis to be released into area streams over a period of time.

If you're not lucky, or live in a community with poor planning, the water heads straight into the stream that is, in all likelihood, already struggling to handle the flow from the storm.

And soon enough, it overflows its banks and you're floating a boat down Manatawny Street or in Memorial Park.

In famously "un-zoned" Houston, they are now paying the price of paving as Hurricane Harvey dumps previously un-seen volumes of stormwater on a city that has paved over much of the prairie grass that would once have absorbed a significant portion of it.

CNBC Photo

Flooding from Harvey in Rockport, Texas.

Reading this excellent series of articles published last year by Pro Publica and The Texas Tribune Sunday as news of Harvey (sorry) flooded Twitter, I was reminded of the danger posed by development, and its ensuing pavement, and climate change, which is producing more frequent and more intense storms -- a combination that increases risk to life and property more and more every year.

As the series summarized: "Unchecked development remains a priority in the famously un-zoned city, creating short-term economic gains for some while increasing flood risks for everyone."

In the same way that increasing development near coastlines, or on the barrier islands geologists call "high speed real estate," increases the risk to life and property from increasingly more severe storms and flooding, paving and increased development in flood plains and even outside them along streams and rivers does the same.

Houston has done both and is now paying a price all U.S. taxpayers will share.

You can also read more in this Houston Chronicle series from 2016.

CNN Photo

Flooding in Houston is like nothing seen before.

Because when developers pave over a meadow or forest, they make money and the local tax base increases. But if it is residential development, it does not increase enough to cover the cost of educating the school children it houses, nor does it increase enough for municipalities to pay the clean-up costs for the flooding it causes.

That's when the U.S. taxpayer steps in, providing flood insurance and clean-ups where insurance companies will not because, as experts, they know it's a money loser.

And all too often, it isn't until the flood is your basement, that the risk is made evident. And that's when government is suddenly everybody's best friend, when it's in your own basement.

As the Dallas Morning News reported Saturday, Texas members of Congress are already asking for the federal storm aid they voted to deny the northeast after Superstorm Sandy hit just five years ago.

"With the exception of Houston Rep. John Culberson, all Texas Republicans in Congress at the time voted against the bill. All but three are still in office today," the newspaper reported.

Everyone is happy to have government involvement after a disaster, but not always so much when it's preventing one.

Floodwater is famously filthy and so efforts to control flooding come from the federal government from the standpoint of clean drinking water.

Rainwater washing through streets and yards picks up a smorgasbord of lawn chemicals, car drippings, salt and grit left over from winter road treatments, 

After all, 1,000 square feet of those manicured lawns we all love requires 10,000 gallons of water

Manicured lawns are almost as bad as pavement when it comes
to sending storm run-off into the sewer system.

every summer. Each year, about 80 million pounds of pesticides and more than 100 million tons of fertilizers are applied to American lawns, and suburban lawns shed most of their water, absorbing just a small percentage.

As for the driveways, roads and parking lots that accompany that type of development, their contribution to stormwater run-off includes PAH's -- a chemical sealant based on coal tar called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a suspected human carcinogen.

As I reported in a series I wrote about water issues several years ago called Ebb and Flow, parking lots that are treated PAHs flush 65 times more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons into streams than untreated parking lots.

So under the authority provided in the Clean Water Act, the federal government, at least for now, is requiring municipalities to clean this filthy floodwater water before dumping it into area streams that ultimately provide drinking water to millions.

In Pottstown, that's a big potential cost given that, as Tom Hylton wrote in an essay published in The Mercury, 38 percent of the borough is covered by impervious surface.

Many kinds of coal tar-based pavement sealants
are adding suspected carcinogens to our drinking water.

That's to be expected in an urban setting that has been around for more than a century, but the requirement to clean its stormwater run-off is something new.

Pottstown faces two paths to deal with that requirement, engineering and/or planning. In other words, find ways to clean the water, or prevent it from getting to the streams in the first place.

The engineering side is already underway.

As The Mercury reported last month, the Pottstown Borough Authority is seeking funding for a $200,000 project to remove 52,197 pounds of sediment from Goose Run each year.

That will be accomplished with the installation of two sediment traps, one near Airy Street east of North Hanover Street, and one near Fourth Street, west of North Hanover Street.

And, perhaps more worrisome to those who insist on larger parking lots, the authority is also considering charging a fee for managing stormwater in the same way it charges for managing sewage.

And as aging infrastructure erodes and pollution control requirements increase, the price only escalates.

One 2016 estimate presented to the authority shows an annual cost of as much as $1.42 million to manage stormwater as soon as 11 years from now.

Rain gardens and street trees can absorb
a remarkable amount of stormwater.

As for the prevention side of the equation, one answer is a word often accompanied by expletives here in Pottstown -- trees, or, if you prefer, "green infrastructure."

According to American Forrests, a non-profit conservation organization, "in one day, one large tree can absorb up to 100 gallons of water and release it into the air, cooling the surrounding area."

And cities around the world are recognizing this cheap and easy way to keep their water clean, and their air cooler.

According to the EPA, the more than half million trees New York City planted in 2007 absorbs more than 890 million gallons of stormwater run-off each year, saving the city more than $35 million a year in treatment costs.

Trees and open space -- like the natural meadow the Pottstown School Board has voted to establish at the former Edgewood Elementary School -- absorb water. It's as simple as that.

But will Pottstown take that step forward, ignore political arguments that have undermined such efforts in the past?

Only time will tell. If experience is any teacher, it may require a big storm for the powers that be to see the light.

Grants Will Help Protect Schuylkill Water Quality

Silas Chamberlin, executive director of the Schuylkill River

Heritage Area, announces this year's grant recipients.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Schuylkill River Heritage Area.

The Schuylkill River Heritage Area distributed grants totaling $274,623 Thursday to nine projects aimed at improving water quality in the Schuylkill River and its tributaries.

The Schuylkill River Restoration Fund grants were awarded to six projects that will focus on stormwater runoff, abandoned mine drainage and agricultural pollution. Also awarded were three land transaction grants that will assist with protection of a priority watershed parcel.

Locally, those projects include: 

• Montgomery County Conservation District, Perkiomen Township Basin: $30,000
  This project will retrofit an existing stormwater basin in Collegeville, Perkiomen Township. The project will implement stormwater Best Management Practices totaling 12,000 sq/ft and utilizing more than 3,000 native plants. Additionally, hundreds of residents will be educated directly through volunteer workdays and a resident workshop.
• Berks County Conservancy, Gehris Property: $4,000
  The Berks County Conservancy, in partnership with the Pine Creek Valley Watershed Association, will complete the fee simple purchase of the Gehris property in the Oley Hills of Berks County. This 51.18 acre parcel will go under conservation easement.
• Natural Lands Trust, Yoder Tract: $4,000
  Natural Lands Trust will purchase a 35 acre riparian easement of the Yoder tract located in Warwick Township, Chester County. This property is located on the headwaters of French Creek which is a designated Exceptional Value Stream and is connected to an additional 114 acre agricultural easement property receiving permanent protection.

The grant fund is administered by the Schuylkill River Heritage Area. This year, funds were provided by Exelon Generation’s Limerick Generating Station, the Philadelphia Water Department, The Coca Cola Company, Aqua PA and MOM’s Organic Market. 

About 35 people attended the award announcement, which took place at the Rice Farm in Kempton, the site of a recently completed agricultural improvement project funded through an earlier Schuylkill River Restoration Fund grant. That project included installing manure storage tanks and stormwater controls aimed at keeping manure and other nutrients from leaching into groundwater and being washed into streams.

Speakers included Schuylkill River Heritage Area Executive Director Silas Chamberlin, Delaware River Basin Commission Executive Director Steve Tambini, as well as representatives from the Philadelphia Water Department, The Coca-Cola Company and Exelon Generation’s Limerick Generating Station.

“The Schuylkill River Restoration Fund has become a model for the ways in which the non-profit, government, and private sectors can work together to improve water quality,” said Schuylkill River Heritage Area Executive Director Silas Chamberlin. “Over the past ten years, we have distributed over $2.5 million — and leveraged another $2.5 million — for 73 projects that protect and restore the Schuylkill River for recreational use and as a source of drinking water for 1.5 million people.”

Grant recipients were carefully selected by an advisory committee consisting of: Exelon Generation, Delaware River Basin Commission, Philadelphia Water Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Schuylkill River Heritage Area, Aqua PA, The Coca Cola Company and the Schuylkill Action Network.

“The health of our watersheds is the result of planning, policies, and projects at every scale,” said Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Executive Director Steve Tambini. “Today is about conservation leadership at the local project level. On behalf of the DRBC, I am pleased to be here with our partners to announce local grants for six projects and three land conservation transactions which will improve the water quality in the Schuylkill River and its tributaries.”

This year, fund donations came from Exelon Generation ($186,292), Philadelphia Water Department ($100,000), The Coca Cola Company ($25,000), Aqua PA ($7,500) and MOM’s Organic Market ($1,000). Any funds not distributed this year will be rolled over into 2016.

The Land Transaction Assistance Grants program, introduced three years ago, provides grants of up to $4,000 per project to pay for costs associated with property purchases and conservation easements on high priority lands for water quality and habitat protection.

Exelon has provided over $2 million to the Schuylkill River Restoration Fund since it was founded in 2006; the Philadelphia Water Department has contributed $600,000. Aqua PA has donated over $15,000 and MOM’s Organic Market over $1,700.

For the past several years, the fund has attracted new contributors. MOM’s Organic Market began contributing last year, and The Coca Cola Company joined this year with a first time donation of $25,000. The Schuylkill River Heritage area and the Schuylkill Action Network continue to seek additional contributors to further expand the fund.

The fund was originally created under a Delaware River Basin Commission docket approved in 2004 and Exelon Generation’s desire to support restoration efforts in the Schuylkill River and its tributaries.

The Philadelphia Water Department’s contribution to the fund is leveraged by other watershed partners and is directed towards addressing stormwater management and pollution mitigation projects upstream of the City’s two drinking water intakes on the Schuylkill River.

A 'Storm'-Y Authority Meeting

Like the council meeting Monday night, Tuesday's Pottstown Borough Authority meeting was swift and packed with action.....

OK, not so much with the action. More with the: "this-is-how-you-run-a-water-and-sewer-system-" type stuff.

But still important.

One of the more interesting things going on at the authority (at least to me) is their decision to take on managing stormwater as well as wastewater and just regular old drinking water.

Last night they awarded a $56,00 contract to a Blue Bell firm to study the borough's aging stormwater system and come up with a master plan for maintaining it and, ultimately, dealing with more stringent regulations coming down from the federal level.

Of course, how that gets paid for may turn out to be a sticky wicket.

Read the Tweets from last night's meeting and you will see what I'm talking about.

No Tax Hike, No Sewer Rate Hike in West Pottsgrove

Fuzzy Photo by Evan Brandt

Board President Rock D'Emilio was absent, so the meeting was run by Vice President Pete LaRosa, seen here in white shirt, ran the meeting.

Add West Pottsgrove to the list of townships that are producing budgets that do not raise taxes or, in this case, sewer fees.

In December, the commissioners are likely to adopt a $3,062,788 general fund budget and a $1,114,375 sewer budget that will neither raise property taxes, thus keeping the 2.5 mills tax rate; nor the sewer rate.

One of the big cost items that the commissioners are trying to get ahead of is "inflow and infiltration," which is the penetration of the sanitary sewer system by stormwater or groundwater.

The other point of intense discussion had to do with the cost associated with helping to pay the township's share of capital projects at the Pottstown Wastewater Treatment Plant which, not so coincidentally, is tied to stormwater infiltration and inflow.

Here are the Tweets from Wednesday night's work session.

A Congress You Can Actually Support

If you're reading this, chances are you live in the Schuylkill River Watershed. Learn more about it this Saturday in Pottstown at the Schuylkill Watershed Congress at the West Campus of Montgomery County Community College.

Given up on the Congress in Washington?

The Schuylkill River meets

the Delaware at Philadelphia.

Well, who can blame you? Most everyone else has as well.

But how about the Congress right here in Pottstown?

Now THAT is something you can support because it represents the place you live.

Because, whether you live in Limerick or Leesport, Pottstown or Pottsville, Royersford or Reading, you all live in the same place -- the Schuylkill River Watershed.

The original waterworks in Philadelphia,

one of America's very first public water systems.

That's the 2,000 square-mile area that touches 11 counties and drains into the Schuylkill River, the Delaware River's largest tributary and a drinking water source for more than one million people.

Once a year, in March, in Pottstown, the Delaware Riverkeeper hosts a gathering of those who care for, improve and study this important river and the streams that feed it.

And Saturday is the day; and the West Campus of Montgomery County Community College is the place; and 8:30 a.m. is the time.

So take a break from the Sequester, and take in some information on stormwater.

Beautiful but invasive, 

purple loosetrife chokes out

native species.

Take a day to skip focusing on immigration -- unless it's on invasive species like purple loosetrife.

Don't listen to another C-SPAN speech on the war on drugs, and instead take a class in keeping pharmaceutical drugs out of our drinking water.

It's all here. No, literally, click on that link and you can find the entire day's schedule of events.

If you haven't signed up already, the cost is $60, but hey, that includes lunch. You can also get continuing education credits by attending many of the classes.

So get off your duff, climb out of your kayak, set your fishing pole up against the wall and amble down to Pottstown's community college campus and find out what's in the water that likely comes out of your tap.

Remember, knowledge is power.