L. Pottsgrove Sets Aug. 26 Meeting on New Building

Photos by Evan Brandt

The days may be numbered for the current Lower Pottsgrove Township building at Buchert and North Pleasantview Road, shown above. Township Commissioners are moving steadily forward with plans to build a new complex at East High Street and South Pleasantview Road where one home was taken down to make room, shown at right.

Residents and taxpayers are invited to get a peek at the concept drawings for a new Lower Pottsgrove Township building at a special meeting set for Monday, Aug. 26.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the meeting room at the township building at 2199 Buchert Road.

Commissioners approved the meeting unanimously Monday night as Commissioner Ray Lopez informed them that drawings and initial cost estimates are now ready.

The drawings and estimates are being prepared by Alloy 5, a Bethlehem-based architecture and engineering firm that has also done work for Upper Pottsgrove Township.

Lopez, who heads of the commissioners' infrastructure committee, stressed that no decisions have been made and that the planning remains in the conceptual stage.

The current township police facilities is located in the

lower floor of the township building.

Nevertheless, said Commissioners Chairman Bruce Foltz, it makes sense to get input on the concept from both the other commissioners and the public.

As it is now conceived, the new building would be one story that takes up 16,000 square feet, more than twice the size of the current building, which is 7,500 square feet and was built in 1990.

The police department would be housed in a separate section connected to the administrative section by an enclosed lobby, said Lopez.

The police portion would have more space than the administrative portion, the opposite of the current arrangement, due largely to new requirements for police facilities, the growth of the department and the inclusion of several holding cells.

The move began in earnest in 2017 and early 2018, when the supervisors agreed to enter into a contract to buy three parcels of property at the corner of South Pleasant View Road and East High Street for a combined cost of $377,000.

By this April, the commissioners had assembled four adjacent parcels at  2258, 2270 and 2272 E. High St., as well as 2255 Brown St.

And in April, the home at 2258 E. High St. was demolished at a cost to taxpayers of $69,900.

And come Aug. 26, the public will get its first inkling of what a new building may cost.

Stricter Code Enforcement

Township Commissioners Chairman Bruce Foltz also warned homeowners that the township has hired a new part-time code enforcement officer who will focus solely on property maintenance issues.

"Property maintenance in the township has really gone downhill," said Foltz. "With junk cars, weeds, and abandoned homes, so be warned, we're going to start getting more strict and really clean things up around here."

• Also, the township has officially asked PennDOT to install "dry standpipes" on bridges where Route 422 crosses Porter Road, Sanatoga Road and Park Road. Eric K. Linsenbigler, the township's assistant emergency management coordinator, explained that the pipes would make it simpler and more efficient for fire companies to get water to emergency incidents on the by-pass. The Sanatoga Fire Company has agreed to maintain the stand-pipes and now it is up to PennDOT to decide whether to install them.
• In other news, James Day and the Fish Fry will perform Aug. 11 at Sanatoga Park bandshell starting at 6 p.m. Says Township Manager Ed Wagner.

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

Meeting on New Township Building Set