Housing advocates criticize state foreclosure prevention program
In 2022, the Pennsylvania Homeowner Assistance Fund (PHFA) launched a program to help homeowners clear mortgage and utility debt. The program, dubbed the Pennsylvania Homeowner Assistance Fund (PAHAF), offers individual grants of up to $50,000 to homeowners financially impacted by the pandemic. But of the more than 24,600 homeowners who applied for a grant, nearly 16,000 are still waiting. Initially, an outside vendor — Innovative Emergency Management (IEM) — was operating the program on behalf of PHFA. But after about a year the organization decided to take the program in-house, saying the move would enable it to “better leverage” its “deep knowledge of Pennsylvania’s housing market and its broad network of mortgage lenders, community partners, and housing counseling agencies on behalf of eligible applicants.” The move prompted the agency to stop taking new applications, and required every homeowner who had applied to re-register, a fact advocates say hasn’t been effectively communicated. And while grants are going out the door, it’s not happening quickly. Read more here.
Source: PlanPhilly; 6/30/2023

Auditor general warns 22% of municipal pension plans are in distress
Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor issued a warning for municipalities to make required contributions to their pension plans, after a recent report from the department showed 22% of municipal pension plans are in some state of distress. DeFoor warned that municipalities are legally obligated to make the required contributions to their pension plans. If they do not, he said, the burden will fall to the taxpayers in the form of higher taxes or difficult choices in funding community projects and personnel. To find a municipality’s most recent pension audit report, visit the auditor general’s website.
Source: PA Auditor General; 6/5/2023

Manufactured-home communities aren’t just in rural areas
A Philadelphia Federal Reserve report found that about half of Pennsylvania's manufactured-home communities are in urban areas, particularly in suburbs outside midsize and large cities. In the five-county Philadelphia area, Chester County has the most at 77 communities. Trends in lot vacancy suggest that demand for these homes is strongest “on the outskirts of larger urban areas, where they may represent a more attainable option for lower-income home buyers,” according to the report. The communities, including many just outside Philadelphia, provide unsubsidized affordable housing in areas that have lower poverty rates than the state overall, unlike formal subsidized housing developments, which are more likely to be in economically distressed areas. Pennsylvania’s 2,288 manufactured-housing communities — home to an estimated 55,900 households — are present in every county except Philadelphia. The city’s collar counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery have a total of 129, and more than 20% of them have 100 or more homes. Read more here.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer; 7/3/2023

PA receives $1.16B to expand high-speed internet
Pennsylvania is receiving more than $1.16 billion from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to expand high-speed internet access across the state. It represents the single largest federal investment in broadband internet infrastructure in Pennsylvania history. Senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman announced the funding Monday as part of President Joe Biden’s “Internet for All” initiative.
Source: Central Penn Business Journal; 6/26/2023

Middletown zoners approve conversion of commercial building to apartments
The Middletown Township Zoning Hearing Board approved a five-unit apartment complex in a commercial building at 266 Hulmeville Road. The building was purchased in 2012 by Healthcare Building Solutions Realty, and an existing apartment, along with the rest of the building, was refurbished. The office space part of the building housed the business, but since the pandemic that space is not utilized because most of the employees are working from home. Michael Maginniss, attorney for property owner Albert J. Hornung, said the renovations would add four more one- and two-bedroom apartments that would rent for $2,000 to $2,500 per month. Some residents of the area opposed the plan, saying they would not benefit from the apartments. Hornung said that if the plan was not approved, he would most likely sell the building, opening the property to future commercial use that may have a negative impact on the neighborhood. The zoners eventually voted unanimously to approve the plan for the apartments, allowing for a multi-family use in a C-Commercial district and for a side yard setback of just over 11 feet where 15 is required.
Source: Bucks County Courier Times; 7/1/2023

Council Rock approves budget with tax increase
The Council Rock School Board approved a final 2023-2024 budget with a 2% property tax increase. The $267.9 million budget does not include any staff or educational program cuts. The tax increase equates to 2.69 mills, or $102 more in annual taxes for a resident with a property assessed at the district average of $38,060. Total millage increases to 137.1573, or $5,220 in annual taxes for the average property. The hike is well below the maximum 4.1% allowed under the state's Act 1 Index.
Source: Bucks County Herald; 7/1/2023

Falls Township moves meetings due to building renovations
A $30 million-plus project to renovate the Falls Township Municipal Complex will displace public meetings for several months. Falls Township will hold supervisors, zoning hearing board and planning commission meetings at the Middletown Township Municipal Center at 3 Municipal Way while the work is underway. Falls Township will continue to stream and broadcast public meetings from the temporary space. The township will move all operations and offices, aside from public meetings, to the office building at 430-450 Lincoln Highway while renovations are underway. The relocation is expected to last more than a year.
Source: Levittown Now; 6/28/2023

Neshaminy School Board votes to sell Heckman elementary school
The Neshaminy School Board recently voted to begin the process to sell the vacant Oliver Heckman Elementary school for $3.2 million to Erin Development Company. The school sits on 8 acres at 201 Cherry Street in Middletown Township and Langhorne Borough. It was built in 1966 and closed in 2016. Neither the school board nor the developer commented on plans for the site. Pennsylvania law requires the district and the developer to petition a Bucks County Court of Common Pleas judge to approve the sale.
Source: Levittown Now; 6/28/2023

Solebury seeks volunteers for comprehensive plan committee
The Solebury Township Board of Supervisors approved a resolution creating a comprehensive plan committee, charged with reviewing the township's comprehensive plan and recommending any appropriate revisions. Assisted by the Bucks County Planning Commission, the committee will review the existing comprehensive plan with a focus on revisions that consider changes in the township over the past 10 years, update demographic statistics and factors, and recognize modifications, if any, to the township’s growth and planning goals. The committee will comprise nine Solebury residents: one member each from the township's planning commission, environmental advisory council, land preservation committee, parks and recreation board, historical architectural review board, and farm committee. The three other resident members need not be members of any township committee. Click here for more information.
Source: Solebury Township; 6/22/2023

Penn Medicine agrees to acquire shuttered Brandywine Hospital from Tower Health
Penn Medicine has agreed to acquire the shuttered Brandywine Hospital in Coatesville from Tower Health, a deal that comes five months after the two organizations halted plans for a "strategic alliance." The health systems have signed a letter of intent for Penn to purchase Brandywine's 85-acre campus by the end of 2023, Tower Health CEO P. Sue Perrotty told employees. Berks County-based Tower Health shuttered the 171-bed Coatesville hospital on Jan. 31, 2022, as part of a larger effort to cut costs amid financial struggles and challenges. Penn Medicine's plans for Brandywine Hospital are unclear. Chester County Commissioners said they were pleased that Tower Health has agreed to sell the former Brandywine Hospital to Penn Medicine.
Source: Philadelphia Business Journal; 6/27/2023

Oxford Borough nearing completion of active transportation plan
Oxford Borough Council has been working for months on an active transportation plan with McMahon Associates, a civil engineering firm. Surveys and an interactive map are available on the borough website to give residents, shoppers and business owners a chance to identify areas to improve the ability to walk, roll, bike and access public transportation. So far, they have identified eight project priorities, but there is still time to add to the list. A draft report will be presented to council on Wednesday, July 12, followed by a revised draft on Aug. 4 and the final report on Sept. 11, then adoption on Sept. 25.
Source: Chester County Press; 7/3/2023

Kennett Township to bid out projects for Kennett Greenway along Chandler Mill
The Kennett Township Board of Supervisors authorized Township Manager Eden Ratliff to execute a change order related to the final design and engineering of the Kennett Greenway along Chandler Mill Road. The board approved a change order in the bidding documents to construct the Greenway from Oriole Drive to Hillendale Road — and two additional sections to be bid as bid alternates, from Round Hill Road to the scenic lookout area along the Bucktoe Creek Preserve, and from Round Hill Road to the Chandler Mill Bridge. The board’s authorization frees the township to proceed with the Greenway project to provide a multi-purpose path from the Falcons Lair neighborhood (Oriole Drive) to destinations on the Kennett Greenway. Further, the township will bid the last two alternate projects and decide whether to proceed with construction dependent on estimated costs. The projects along Chandler Mill Road form a major component of the 14-mile Kennett Greenway that will serve as a multi-purpose trail connector from the Borough of Kennett Square to Pennock Park, the Parrish Trail, Bucktoe Creek State Park, Stateline Woods Preserve and Auburn Valley State Park. The trail’s construction along Chandler Mill Road, which will call for the development of a six-foot-wide trail beside the road, is estimated to cost the township $5.2 million.
Source: Chester County Press; 6/27/2023

Local historian opens West Grove History Center to honor, educate town
The West Grove History Center reveals the story of the borough through relics and memorabilia collected by local historian and author R. Scott Steele. Steele, a West Grove native, has been building the collection for more than 45 years, and welcomed over 240 guests to the former contractor shop turned museum on Prospect Avenue during the two-day opening weekend. The collection includes memorabilia from local businesses, Avon Grove schools, the former West Grove hospital, and artifacts from other significant historical events, such as the 1947 robbery of the National Bank of West Grove. The entire collection has either been purchased by Steele or donated from other community members. Steele plans to open the museum for visitors free of charge on the first Sunday of every month. The West Grove History Center is located at 513 Prospect Ave. in West Grove. Read more here.
Source: Chester County Press; 6/27/2023

Kennett Square Borough gives notice that it may leave regional fire and EMS commission
Kennett Square Borough Council has passed a resolution giving formal notice that the borough will leave the Kennett Fire and Emergency Management Services Regional Commission effective Dec. 31, 2023. A special council meeting was held at Borough Hall on June 29, and the resolution was unanimously agreed to by the present council members. The Regional Fire and EMS Commission has been a contentious subject due to increasing costs of the services. Since 2018, Kennett Square Borough’s contribution has increased by 80% and is currently just under $458,000 for 2023. A review by Fitch & Associates estimated costs to rise to over $700,000 in 2024.The regional commission is an independent body formed in 2017 to lessen the burden on local governments by providing collaboration between municipalities, and combining resources and funds for the provision of fire, rescue and emergency services. Kennett Square Borough and the Kennett Fire Department are both part of the commission as separate entities. If Kennett Square Borough cannot find a resolution with the commission and leaves at the end of the year, the borough will be responsible for creating its own contracts for fire and EMS service providers and funding them accordingly.
Source: Chester County Press; 7/3/2023