Upper Pottsgrove Township commissioners voted 3-2 to hire a construction manager for a new municipal complex — although where exactly the complex will be located is still up in the air. Chairman Trace Slinkerd was joined by commissioners Don Read and Hank Llewellyn in approving the contract with Boyle Engineering, while commissioners Cathy Paretti and Dave Waldt voted no. Read continued to indicate some of the commissioners want to build at the 36-acre site on the former Smola Farm, which was purchased by the township in 2008 as protected open space, even though Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Saltz ruled that building on the Smola Farm site would violate the state’s open space law. Although the majority of the commissioners have vowed to appeal that ruling, at least one other site seems to be under consideration — a 9.5-acre parcel at the corner of Gilbertsville and West Moyer roads. The Gilbertsville site was also purchased with $500,000 of open space funds and at the time of the purchase, Paretti argued that general fund money should be used instead, so that the new township complex could be built on that site and eliminate the lawsuit and the need to appeal. Last month, the commissioners’ majority partly followed that advice and voted to pay back the open space fund with general fund money, thus putting the Gilbertsville Road site in the running to be the home for the new township building, police station and highway garage.
Source: Pottstown Mercury; 12/18/2024