Whatever happened to these Newtown Township issues?

On Monday, March 25th at the 7:30PM Newtown Township Board of Supervisors Meeting held at the township building, an undoubtedly packed house will attend a hearing for a petition to vacate a portion of Paper Mill Road.  This issue, which residents had honestly and hopefully thought was resolved, is back on the agenda.  A developer and his wife, Scott and Margaret Brehman wish to take away a valuable township asset and in their latest attempt, have petitioned the Township Supervisors to give up a portion of the road.  They seemed to believe and were assured, as offered by Mrs. Brehman to her neighbors, that having purchased the property from a local Republican party politico, Fred Dewey, that making this portion of the road their own would be no problem.  It would also seem as though they may have had reason to believe this could all take place.  That is because Manager Trio took a meeting with them to indicate the steps the Brehman’s would have to take to have the portion of the road requested vacated.  Frighteningly, they may have been successful had it not been  the Paper Mill residents’ diligence in stopping this travesty.   

Previously, when Mr. Brehman publicly asked to have the road closed, the residents of Paper Mill Road came out in force and convinced the Supervisors to turn down the Brehman’s request. This was not due to Supervisors directing the township solicitor to fight this request.   It was due to the residents of Paper Mill Road proving that the Brehman’s claim that this was not a township road was not valid.   In June, 2012, it may have seemed as though this issue was finished.  But it is now back and the Supervisors have not indicated that they will give this issue the same resources they have provided to fight BillBoards.  Supervisors were willing to spend taxpayers' money to take resident Ralph Douros to court after his house was burned down by an arsonist because he wasn’t clearing the damage quickly enough for them. But, they will not commit legal resources to fight the developer who wants to take part of the Paper Mill Road in order to make his property more valuable.   Why is that? Hopefully, at Monday’s hearing, the Supervisors will say NO to the Brehmans and will commit to whatever it takes to fight the Brehman’s request.

Having thought this issue was done, it occurred to me that there were other issues that residents may have thought were resolved that could, and in some cases, should be back on the Township officials’ agenda.  Here is a list and the question, “Whatever happened to…?”

•  The Cats at the Newtown Square Grille Barn and the Barn itself.  Are the cats gone? What is the Barn's status?
• The Walking Trail at Springhouse.  Why haven’t the Supervisors required the developer to finish this development?  There was to be a walking trail.  It’s like many other issues in this township, it would seem to me, selective enforcement.
• The outstanding issues of hundreds of thousands of dollars that Kelly and Close Engineers have invoiced the township, but the township and/or the Municipal Authority have not paid.  They know that they have been invoiced, but are not mentioned as payables in either the Township Budget or Financial Statements. Why is that? 
• The left arrow for the Traffic Light at Terrazza and Rte. 252. The township could make that turn easier especially since the Gradyvill Road Bridge is now not proposed to reopen until at least February, 2013.  They have approval from PennDot for the turn arrow.  It was on the agenda.  Why hasn’t this traffic arrow been put in place?
• The Commercial/Residential(CR)zoning ordinance amendment.  The Supervisors authorized advertisement of the hearing for this issue.  That was about a month ago.  The public notice of the hearing has still not been advertised.  Why is that?
• Supervisors asking the taxpayers to spend about $80,000 for their medical benefits.   Why is this still an issue? 
• Televising township meetings--why have Supervisors not made this a priority?

On Monday night, residents can attend the Paper Mill Road hearing to see the Supervisors take action on the petition to vacate a portion of Paper Mill Road. At the same time, residents will see if any of the other issues that were previously on the agenda reappear for action.  Maybe, too, having posted these questions, the Supervisors will offer some updates.  I urge ALL township residents to attend the meeting on Monday to ensure that Supervisors have a clear view of who they represent.