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Health & Fitness

Road Program and C-R Amendment Commonalities - Coincidence?

It seemed after years of very little road maintenance and repaving that Newtown Township was planning to actually use some of the state provided funds they had received to get back to working on the roads. The Minutes posted for the  April 22, 2013 meeting of the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors stated, “The project could start at the end of June and will require 60 days for completion.  Mr. Nawn made a motion to authorization the advertisement for the 2013 Road Program and to start the process.  Dr. Lambert seconded the motion.  Mr. Wood asked if the entire proposal should be incorporated. Mr. Catania commented they should start with the 2013 schedule.  The Chair called for the vote and the vote was unanimous.  The motion carried.  Mr. Catania stated this was an excellent job by Mr. Sharretts and Ms. Nelson and a very efficient report.”

 After the request for bids was made, The Supervisors discussed the possibility of a 2013 Road Program.  However, their next conversation resulted in their not accepting the one bid the township had received.  That bid was significantly more than expected and so, the Supervisors determined that the Township Manager, Public Works Director and Engineer would revisit and readvertise so that some road work could happen in 2013.

The Public Notice for bids has not yet occurred and we are now getting into summer with no plan to repair any roads. As part of the original discussions, George Sharretts, Newtown's Public Works Director, offeredthat the roads to be repaired within the first 5 years of the program would be posted on the Township Website. 

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 I had not reviewed this information until I received some information after posting about the proposed C-R Zoning amendment. The road information and the C-R zoning amendment have some incredible commonalities.

 The C-R zoning amendment proposes to rezone residential and commercial areas in the township including homes on West Chester Pike and in the Newtown Heights neighborhood among other residential areas.

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The Road Program proposes to repair and improve within the first two years both Smedley Land and School Lane(Home to Supervisor Nawn).  What are the odds that the roads stated to be in the poorest condition in the township are also roads that would benefit commercial developers if the C-R zoning amendment is adopted? The Supervisors will not only be creating commercial zoning where there are residences, but will be repairing and improving the roads presumed to benefit that commercial/residential space.

IT’S A TWO FOR ONE—THE DEVELOPER GETS BOTH ZONING CHANGE AND IMPROVED ROADS.  COINCIDENCE?

As I was encouraged and provided information to look further into the proposed road repairs for 2013, here is what I learned about the roads that were specified to be included: 

Hansell Road which is home to Supervisor Candidate and Planning Commission Member Tina Roberts-Lightcap is road number 1.

Boulder Circle Lane(actually Boulder Creek Lane) which is home to John Weaver, Newtown's elected auditor, is road number 2.

Reese Avenue -Paul Coy, Newtown Township Landscape Inspector/Arborist is road number 3.

Mansion Road - Jane Rowan - Newtown township Environmental Advisory Council is road number 4.

Smedley Lane - a continuation of School Lane and part of the C-R zoning amendment is road number 5.

In 2014, the road at the top of the list is School Lane.  It is home to Supervisor John Nawn and is also included in the C-R Zoning amendment.

Are these roads really the Newtown Township's roads that are in the poorest condition or is there another reason why they are at the top of the road program list? 

If you have a road that you think is in poor condition and should be repaired before these, comment to this post or send an email to Township Manager Trio at Triom@newtowntwpdelco.org.

Come to the Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday, June 24, 2013 at 7:30PM.  The hearing for the C-R zoning amendment is scheduled to take place.  You can urge the Supervisors to VOTE NO to the C-R amendment and you can question them about the road program.

 

 

 

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