Politics & Government

Waiver Approved For Delco Vets Memorial Building Permit Fees

The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors approved to authorize a Stop Work Order on the memorial briefly until further detailed documentation was provided to the township in regards to the construction and materials for the memorial.

NEWTOWN SQUARE–Over 30 veterans attended Monday night's supervisors meeting in an effort to show support of the Delaware County Veterans Memorial Association's (DCVMA) waiver request on building permit fees for the memorial located on West Chester Pike/Rt. 3 and Alice Grim Boulevard in Newtown Square.

At a supervisors meeting earlier this month, Newtown officials approved to authorize a Stop Work Order on the memorial briefly until further detailed documentation was provided to the township in regards to the construction and materials for the memorial.

On Monday night, Township Manager Mike Trio confirmed that all the documentation has been provided to the township. According to Trio, Township Engineer Eileen Nelson is still looking over some of the plans and documentation but are "satisfied" with what was submitted.

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In addition, at the last supervisors meeting, representatives from the DCVMA were requested to attend Monday night's meeting to officially request for a waiver on building permit fees at the memorial.

Guy Fizzano, president of the DCVMA, and attorney Jack Nilon were backed by a handful of veterans seeking for a waiver request on the memorial at Monday night's meeting. 

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"The township itself was very active in the past and we hope the township continues to be active," said Nilon. "The memorial is getting there. It’s quite a project."

Supervisors Chairman Joseph Catania noted that waiving the fees would be dependent on the township's third-party contractor. Should the township's third-party contractor waive the fees for the township, the township would then also waive the fees for the DCVMA. 

"The board was inclined to charge the DCVMA exactly what the township would be charged for their inspection fees," said Catania. "Basically what that does is the township will be waiving the standard calculation of the fee. Whatever it costs us, we're going to pass to the veterans."

Catania said he couldn't say for certain whether or not there would be zero building permit fees from the contractor, but assured that the contractor would most likely agree to the request. "Whatever savings we’re charged–we can’t guarantee that it would be zero–but we’ll pass that along."

A motion was made by Supervisor John Nawn to amend the required building permit fees at the memorial site. The motion was seconded Supervisors Vice Chairman Dr. Ross Lambert and the motion passed unanimously.

Though Fizzano shared with the supervisors his gratitude for the board's decision to amend the required building permit fees on the memorial [approximately over $20,000 in building permit fees, according to Fizzano], he shared that he would "appreciate it if the township would work with us a little bit more."

Supervisor Ed Partridge addressed Fizzano and stated that if the DCVMA had any issues with the township to "feed that directly to the board so we can remediate that."


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