Can a New Building Sustain Edgewood Cemetery?

Photos and fuzzy videos by Evan Brandt

LIFESAVER: Pottstown Police Officer Gregory Fritz is congratulated by Mayor Stephanie Henrick after being presented with a Lifesaving Award for saving the life of an infant being born.

Wednesday was a busy work session for borough council, as it often is after Election Day.

Perhaps the most significant item was a presentation on making the maintenance of Edgewood Cemetery more sustainable by allowing a mixed-use building to be constructed along the Beech Street site of the cemetery.

But we'll get to that in a minute.

First, let's watch a presentation to Pottstown Police Officer Gregory Fritz, whose training and quick thinking saved a newborn from being strangled during birth.



Good work Greg.

From left, Justin Keller, Karen Lewandowski, Dan Weand.

Also on the docket was recognition of borough workers who have been in the borough's employ for everything from five years to the remarkable 40 years Public Works Director Doug Yerger was been there.

Receiving special recognition was Karen Lewandowski who is retiring after 20 years with the borough.

Here's the presentation made by Borough Council President Dan Weand:




Also reporting to Council was Peggy Lee-Clark, executive director of Pottstown Area Industrial Development, or PAID. Here is the video:




Among the more interesting items was the revelation that The Mercury building has been sold and the new owner, who, rumor has it, is April Barkasi, owner of Cedarville Engineering, plans to convert it into a "boutique hotel with a whiskey lounge on the first floor."

Lee-Clark said she hoped I would be happy there in my old building. I replied I've been known to drink a glass of whiskey from time to time.

There is no video of the presentation made by Andrew Monastra about making the maintenance of Edgewood Cemetery sustainable because, well,  I've met Andrew. There is no phone battery in the world that could have filmed everything he had to say...

Andrew Monastra talks with council about Edgewood Cemetery.

Here is the gist of it.

For the last two years, the historic cemetery on East High Street has been maintained, by hook and by crook, by volunteers sweat and willingness to beg for donations to pay the costs, said Monastra.

But it costs $25,000 a year "just to cut the grass" on the site bordered by Beech Street to the north, Edgewood Street to the west and Keim Street to the east.

Eventually, Monastra said, the volunteers will get tired and dwindle, as will the donations.

What's needed, he said, is a way to make the cemetery sustainable.

The idea, presented to him by investors Elliott Menkowitz and John Jones, is to take the part of the cemetery on which no graves are located, along Beech Street, and put a mixed-use building there.

The green rectangle at the top left shows the location of the

proposed building. 

Because about 60 percent of people now choose cremation over traditional burial, the plan would also establish a "columbarium/mausoleum," a pet cemetery and "scatter garden," where ashes can be scattered.

The mixed use building would put a commercial use in an area of town with a paucity of such uses and its location so close to The Hill School's Beech Street entrance would provide it with high visibility, said Menkowitz.

He said students and faculty at The Hill were polled and asked for things like a barber shop and dry cleaners. "But it would be open for everyone," Menkowitz said.

An artist's rendering of what the proposed building
along Beech Street might look like.

Not only would the proposed building generate tax revenue for the borough and school district, the for-profit entity that would run it would first drive those profits into creating a $500,000 endowment, whose interest proceeds could cover much of the cost of cutting the grass, said Monastra.

But the borough's help is needed because, legally, the cemetery is owned by no one. The borough would have to condemn it and take ownership "for like a second," and then convey it to the entity that could sub-divide it and allow the building to be constructed.

For its trouble, the borough would receive a $5,000 annual contribution (in addition to the property taxes) in the first three years; and then $10,000 in years four and five, said Monastra.

Council agreed informally to have staff look at the issues involved and explore the proposal with Monastra and Menkowitz.

And now, what you've all been waiting for -- the Mayor's monthly report!!!! (Warning, it's more than 7 minutes long. She had a lot to say.)



And not to play favorites, here is the November report from Borough Manager Justin Keller (which is only about three minutes):


And last, but not least, here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Edging Closer to Sustainability