NOI features content curated from articles published in local newspapers and other sources. The insights expressed here are solely those of John Mack and do not represent the opinions of any other person or entity. Subscribe here, if you are not yet a subscriber.
Underground Cable Work on LDR Begins
The Underground cables along Lower Dolington Rd (LDR) must be relocated to allow work to re-commence on the LDR trail, which has been stalled for more than a year. Currently, cable is being laid underground on LDR south of Frost Lane along Roberts Ridge Park. What about NORTH of Frost Ln? That’s the location of the trail, which ENDS at Frost Ln. THAT job was estimated to take 1 month after it began on December 5.
As owner of the popular Green Parrot in Newtown, all Bob Lutz intended to be on the evening of Nov. 15 was a gracious host. Then threats came against him and his restaurant. "Emails and texts, about 50 of them. Some of them were vile. Most of them anonymous," said Lutz.
The profane correspondence was prompted after word spread that he'd rented a private room in his restaurant to a conservative group that planned to watch the film "Whose Children Are They?" a polemic against American public schools.
Newtown Township Supervisor Elen Snyder called, warning Lutz that his restaurant would be picketed. “I was told it would be in my best interest to cancel the event," he said.
In the end, Lutz he decided not to show the movie because “he didn't want to divide the community, and that's important to him,” said Snyder.
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John Mack's Insights:
Snyder said she acted as a reasonable mediator, not a government intimidator. “I was not calling him in my capacity as a Newtown Township Supervisor. I was calling as a member of the community because the teachers were asking me if there was anything could do," she said. In the end, Lutz he decided not to show the movie because “he didn't want to divide the community, and that's important to him,” said Snyder.
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After being sidetracked by the pandemic, plans to build a pedestrian footbridge connecting Newtown Borough and Newtown Township over the Newtown Creek are back on track.
At the Dec. 7 Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Phil Calabro reported that the proposal is back on the table and beginning to pick up steam again.
“I had a meeting with Mike Sellers representing the Newtown Creek Coalition and he wanted me to bring it to the board’s attention and have it discussed again,” said Calabro.
“The good news is most of the cost of the bridge and the construction of it will be covered under grants and the only cost to us would be an engineering study, which would be a 50/50 split between the borough and the township. We’d be talking about maybe a $10,000 cost.”
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John Mack's Insights:
Regarding the cost - Even though state grants could help fund the project, they usually require municipalities to also contribute money, something that has several supervisors concerned, including Supervisor Mack who stated that “grants don’t cover 100-percent.”
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Richard Rezer, a traffic engineer at RVE, the Newtown Township engineering firm, presented traffic data his firm collected at Newtwon-Yardly Rd and Tara Blvd to the Board of Supervisors (BOS) at its December 7, 2022, meeting.
Mr. Rezer suggested that PennDOT would need to approve any speed limit change and he did not think the data would support this according to PennDOT’s formulas. There is some evidence, however, that lowering the speed limit on a township road - including Newtown-Yardley Rd - does not require PennDOT approval, and the engineering support for the Township to take action does not have to be as stringent as PennDOT’s formulas. Rather, the existing factors regarding pedestrian safety are sufficient to lower the speed limit from 35 to 25 mph.
The BOS approved a motion (not shown in this video) to have the engineers prepare plans to (1) lower the speed limit on NT-Yardley Rd to 25 MPH from Elm St in the Borough to Lower Dolington Rd (at Rick Steele's) and (2) install an overhead pedestrian-activated Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) at the crosswalk.
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John Mack's Insights:
Engineers should just collect the data asked for and supply opinions about how to apply that data only when asked for. In this case, I believe the RVE traffic engineer was not knowledgeable enough about PennDOT's role in lowering the speed limit on a township road to recommend that the speed limit NOT be reduced.
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In November the supervisors voted to deny Wawa's plan to build a combination gas station and convenience store on the Bypass citing several violations of provisions of the E30 ordinance allowing such use.
Wawa developer Provco is seeking to declare the township's zoning ordinance "unconstitutional" because it did not provide for a combination convenience store and gas station use prior to the development of the E30 curative amendment.
The Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to authorize its solicitor to defend the township’s decision to turn down Provco’s preliminary/final land development plan.
“If they are successful at the zoning hearing board or ultimately on appeal through the court system, they will have the ability to develop their property as they wish with a convenience store and gas station without having to comply with the E30 use ordinance,” Sander told the supervisors.
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Falls Township wants to recoup some of the roughly $3.5 million that its residents are paying to other municipalities in the form of an earned income tax as officials are considering enacting an EIT of their own. Falls is among the few remaining municipalities in Bucks County that haven't enacted an EIT. The Pennsbury School District also doesn't charge the tax. More...
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John Mack's Insights:
How much of this “Non-resident” EIT comes from from Falls residents working in NT?
According to KEYSTONE collections group, which collects NT EIT, the figure "would be $170,268.38." This equates to about 0.5 mill of RE tax should the township need to find other sources of income to offset this loss.
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