NEWSPAPER: Correspondent, cont.

At the June Schwenksville Borough Council Meeting, resident Joe Hayes petitioned the Borough Council, in behalf of his mother Kathryn of 159 West Park Ave., to be officially involved in a legal battle involving
Smith Road, a shared road between the Hayes and neighbor John Derocco.  “Her attorney feels the Schwenksville Borough should be involved in getting this access straightened out,” Hayes explained. 

“Derocco in the last few years has created so many problems in blocking it   You people have a responsibility to the citizens of the borough and to keep that road open for your own benefit.”

    Borough Manager Tom Syder, Jr. explained to the council that it’s a paper road, not an ordained road, and neither deed covers it.  “They call that road Derocco’s road, Haye’s road, Lower Frederick’s Road, and Schwenksville’s Road,” commented Ms. Hayes.

    “What we have here is a shared road between three or four property owners for a while, and we need to look at how are all those agreements put together; what have the solicitors put together, what have your lawyers put together, and now what the judge is saying,” replied Council President Gilbert Williams, Jr.  “Depending on how this process works out, we might be involved, we might not, depending on what the judge decides.”

    Councilwoman Carroll Rosenberger replied, “The borough can’t do anything until it comes before a judge.  When a judge makes a decision, and we have this in writing, then we can make amends, make a decision or do something. We can’t do anything until that time.” 

    Hayes and his mother also requested financial help from the borough, saying Ms. Hayes has spent $2500 already on the legal battle and has another bill for $1800.  He insisted the Borough should be involved because they use the road, along with the police and utility companies.

    Snyder updated the council on the judge’s most recent decision that the road is open until the issue is further investigated.

    Gilbert urged Hayes to get the judge’s final order to Snyder who would pass it on to Borough Council and the Borough’s own solicitors.             

    In other business, the Council approved the Natural Resource Protection Standards following a public hearing on the ordinance.  The standards set forth regulations and restrictions on development to protect and preserve areas such as steep slopes, ponds, woodlands, streams, and wetlands.

    “The standards are quite frequent in other surrounding municipalities; we just didn’t have them here,” explained Borough Solicitor Loren Szczesny.  “It’s something we talked about that we thought would be a good idea.”

    Resident Wendi Rowley, an Open Space Committee member for Schwenksville, questioned the council if the restrictions would affect the Centennial Street Park.  Szczesny replied, “For some portions of that property where there are steep slopes, we may not be able to disturb too much of that area, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t put a trail or something there.  Our ideas for that property are that we certainly think we can develop something there, yes.”

    The council also adopted the state uniform construction code discussed at May’s borough council meeting.  The council had to make a decision on the state building code before the July 8 deadline for participation. 

   “Basically, the uniform code establishes a baseline of requirements and restrictions that need to be met,” Szczesny explained to the council.  “You can impose higher requirements if you choose to do so, but you can’t go lower than this baseline.” 

    He further stated that this meant LCL or another consultant of choice would carry out inspections instead of state Licensing and Inspections.

    A council member questioned where someone could find a copy of the code.  Snyder replied that there would be a copy of it in the borough and the inspector should have a copy as well.

    After the discussion, Szczesny distributed a draft of a separate ordinance to deal with property maintenance, an issue not covered in the uniform construction code.  This ordinance incorporates the borough’s most recent property maintenance code from 2003 and would strengthen its ability to enforce property maintenance issues.  There was no deadline for its approval, and it was noted that it would be discussed and decided upon at a future council meeting.

    In the Fire Company Report, Fire Chief James Keyser reported a recent trend of dumpster fires at the UniMart in Schwenksville.  Keyser said the dumpsters were overflowing when they were lit.  He questioned the council when they did the property maintenance order if it would cover dumpster overflows.  Snyder said he would have to look into it.  Council President Gilbert Williams, Jr. asked about the timing of the fires which were after midnight, concluding it might possibly be youth out after curfew and due to the oncoming summer break.

    The council is currently exploring the option of restoring the old post office located along the Perkiomen Trail through a loan from Ambler Savings and Loan.  Snyder reported that he is still working on proving the authenticity of the old post office as a historic building, which is a prerequisite to Ambler Savings helping in its restoration.  It would also be moved to the other side of the trail to open up more space for parking.

   A $300 increase to the price of the roof for the Meadow Park pavilion was authorized by council after a mis-communication between Tom Snyder, Jr. and the person bidding caused the bidding to take place at $1800 instead of the agreed upon $1500.  The galvanized roof will be blue with a 20 year vinyl coating.

    The Borough also approved $504 for a certified vegetation management service to spray the  poison ivy at Meadow Park.  Snyder requested the funds, explaining that using a less expensive, non-licensed person would increase the risk of pollution to the Perkiomen Creek and the exposure of playing children to the spray as well.  The licensed service chosen to perform the work was the Ehrlich Company.  When asked by the Council President how long the work was guaranteed for, Snyder replied that it depended upon the weather.

    Chief Tim Hoppes’ monthly call report included three traffic accidents, one alarm at a business, five assists to other police, one criminal mischief, nine information calls, one 911 hang-up, one juvenile, one public relations, one recovered property, one theft, and one traffic complaint.

    In the “Mayor’s Report,” Carroll Rosenberger cited one wedding and told council that the people on

3^rd Street

were asking when their steps would be put in.  Snyder replied that he was working on quotes right now.  Rosenberger expressed hopes that it would be done by the next council meeting.

   Snyder reported that the patching of problems streets has started.  The big hole in

2^nd Street

has been fixed.  The paving of half of

Main Street

is stuck in a “paperwork snaffoo between Penn DOT and Peco” but is being worked out and the paving should start in two to three weeks.  On

4^th street

,  the lights were repaired again after being disconnected.  Snyder asked Chief Hoppes if the evident tampering with the lights would constitute criminal mischief and the chief agreed. 

    A resident questioned Fire Chief Keyser if you needed to get a permit to burn in your own yard.  He replied that you do need to, every time something is burned.  The permit is $10 and available through the Fire Marshall.

    Resident Brian Smith of

3^rd street

questioned if the borough was responsible for the lights being put in at the Perkiomen Trail crossing at the bridge.  The council replied that it was outside the borough and that PennDOT and the Pekiomen Township were in charge of it.

    It was also announced that Ray Freed’s meeting with the Zoning Hearing Board about his addition to his property would be June 28th.