#NewtownPA Recognizes Council Rock LL Team For "Magical Season"

This is my personal summary of the December 11, 2024, meeting of the #NewtownPA Township Board of Supervisors (BOS).

Agenda Items, Discussions, Decisions, and More

• 2025 Budget Adoption
• Public Comment
  • Delancey Court Residents Vs. 413 Durham Rd Project
• NBCJMA Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) Presentation
  • View the Entire Presentation
  • Why is the Authority Pursuing a New WWTP?
  • Life Cycles Cost Comparison – BCWSA vs New WWTP
  • Comments From the Public
• Electric Vehicle Charging Station JMZO Amendment
• November 2024 Police Report
• Other Items of Interest
  • My Detailed Notes
  • Official Video

At the 11 December 2024 Newtown Township Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting, several knowledgeable Newtown and Middletown residents made comments regarding NBCJMA's (aka Newtown Sewer Authority) proposal to build a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant on Lower Silver Lake Road.

See the NBCJMA's presentation before the BOS...https://rebrand.ly/NBCJMApreso11dec2024 

Newtown resident Frank McCarron had concerns about the cost estimates and especially regarding the projected rate increases. Middletown residents - including Gary Sondermeyer and Peter Jordan - were concerned about the odor and were skeptical that there would not be any odor. Mr. Sondermeyer is an expert in these matters.

This Zoom meeting focused on environmental impact of proposed sewage treatment plant, Newtown-Yardley Road sidewalk proposal, gas leaf blower survey results. more..

Aqua Pennsylvania has completed a PFAS treatment system at its Hatboro well station in Montgomery County, the fifth facility updated to meet national drinking water standards. The new system removes PFAS —known as forever chemicals —from drinking water sources from two wells serving nearly 13,000 people in the Hatboro area.

Aqua Pennsylvania secured $5.5 million in grant funding through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) to construct the facility at no direct cost to customers.

“Aqua Pennsylvania is doing everything possible to ensure customers are not saddled with the cost of construction for PFAS removal,” Aqua Pennsylvania President Marc Lucca said said. “We have and will continue to aggressively seek grants and low-interest loans to keep these necessary improvements from becoming a financial burden for our customers.”

This is my personal summary of the November 26, 2024, meeting of the #NewtownPA Township Board of Supervisors (BOS). This is not a complete nor an official summary.

Access the 2024 BOS Chronicle for detailed summaries of all 2024 BOS meetings to date. Also, access the (UNOFFICIAL) 2024 BOS Voting Record.

Agenda Items, Discussions, Decisions, and More

• Public Comment
  • Sewage Treatment Plant Environment Concerns
  • Newtown-Yardley Rd Sidewalk Proposal
• Planning Commission Report
• Land Development
  • Newtown Artesian Water Company Seeks Waiver
• Engineer’s Report
  • Newtown-Yardley Rd/Tara Blvd Crosswalk
  • Business Commons Sidewalk Grant Adjustment/Amendment
• 2025 Budget Discussion
• Other Items of Interest
  • My Detailed Notes
  • Official Video
  • Video Transcript

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At the 26 November 2024 Newtown Board of Supervisors meeting, Township Engineer Dominic Cundari gave an update on the Business Commons sidewalk project.

As to using excess grant funds to extend the sidewalks with safety curbing along Newtown-Yardley Road, Mr. Cundari indicated he did a preliminary some preliminary specifications of what the cost would be I and that the next step would be to stay in touch with PennDOT "to see if we could get those funds approved ... from from the previous Grant and secondly ... to do some specifications for a bid package ... it would be it would be a separate project."

More...

At the November 26, 2024, BOS meeting, Swan Point, Middletown resident Bill Everett expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the proposed sewage treatment plant on Lower Silver Lake Road.

Mr. Everett spoke about the impact on Core Creek - the “Crown Jewel” of the Bucks County park system. He noted that the delay in Wawa construction was due to the need to drill a waste water tunnel in bedrock UNDER Core Creek. He recommended an INDEPENDENT environmental impact analysis.

At the 13 November 2024 Newtown Township Board of Supervisors (BOS) public meeting, Friends Village residents Tom Cadwallader and Kip Cherry as well as Terry Christiansen requested that the township pass an ordinance to ban gas-powered leaf blowers. Read more about that...

Newtown Township residents think such a Gas Leaf Blower Ban would be "Ridiculous" & "Overreaching" - Newtown, PA - Over 300 Newtown Township residents responded to my Gas Leaf Blower Ban Survey. Many were not in favor. Read what they had to say: https://rebrand.ly/BlowerSvyResultsArticle

Summary of 13 November 2024 BOS Meeting This is my personal summary of the November 13, 2024, meeting of the #NewtownPA Township Board of Supervisors (BOS). This is not a complete nor an official summary. Access the 2024 BOS Chronicle for detailed summaries of all 2024 BOS meetings to date.

• NBCJMA – Facilities (aka Sewage Treatment Plant) Report
• Public Comment
  • Proposed Gas Leaf Blower Ban
• Engineer’s Report
  • Business Commons Sidewalk Project
• October 2024 Police Report
• 2025 Budget Amended
• Other Items of Interest
  • My Detailed Notes
  • Official Video
  • Video Transcript

[UPDATE 23 Nov 2024] The pausing problem persisted in the original Youtube video archive of the 13 November 2024 BOS meeting. After I again notified the Township Manager of this continuing problem, a new version of the video was uploaded to Youtube. Although this version solved the pausing problem, it is a lousy, low resolution image and the sound has been dubbed in resulting in loss of alignment with lip movement – you know, like lousy foreign film voice overs! What a shame that our township does not have an AV company that can “chew gum and walk at the same time”; i.e., produce high-resolution Youtube videos with sound properly synched to the image! WHAT A DISGRACE!!!

[UPDATE 28 Oct 2024] I noticed that the videos of the last two BOS meetings (10/9/24 and 10/23/24) pause for a second or two every 30 seconds or so. This was very annoying as some comments were missing. I complained again noting that there was no quality control to prevent what should have been a known problem from continuing. It appears that the company responsible for our AV system – Video Gold – began testing the system after I complained. Note that the township is paying up to $125,000 to upgrade our system and it should not be up to me to blow the whistle on these problems!

[UPDATE 27 Sep 2024] I complained about this and it appears that the video was updated so that now the sound is better BUT the resolution is again a problem. Lores again! In addition, the format of the video does not fit the full size of the Youtube screen! This just proves to me that Video Gold, which handles the township’s AV, is, in my opinion, incompetent and we should get a new AV company! To date, we’ve paid Video Gold $110,257.80 to upgrade the township’s AV and this is what we get? 

[UPDATE 25 Sep 2024] Finally, Newtown Township’s Youtube video resolution is now on a par with videos of other municipalities.  You can now read the names of supervisors on the nameplates! HOWEVER, the sound quality is awful! I can hardly hear what’s being said. Tell me what you think:

At the 13 November 2024 Newtown Township Board of Supervisors (BOS) public meeting, Friends Village residents Tom Cadwallader and Kip Cherry as well as Terry Christiansen requested that the township pass an ordinance to ban gas-powered leaf blowers.

"This would cut down on exhaust and noise and be safer for workers. The noise and the pollution are major, major problems,” said Cadwallader, president of the Residence Association at Friends Village.

“We’ve been cursed with a lot of leaf-blowing activity at our village and it has really brought it to our attention - the fact that these leaf blowers that use gasoline are creating a lot of noxious fumes, a lot of noise, are very hard on the workers and are more expensive to use than the electric and battery-operated leaf blowers," said Cherry, vice president of the association.

Mr. Christian noted how the noise of gas leaf blowers were a danger to seeing impaired pedestrians who use hearing to avoid cars when crossing road.

Representatives of the Newtown Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority (NBCJMA, aka Sewer Authority) were initially scheduled to present a Capital Project (i.e., sewage treatment plant) Update at the 13 November 2024 Newtown Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting. However, this presentation has been removed from the agenda for that meeting and will be rescheduled.

For some background on this project, read "#NewtownPA Sewer Authority Purchases Land for Sewage Treatment Plant" and links to further information therein.

Meanwhile, Warren Gromley, Special Project Manager, and Theresa Funk, Sewer Authority Engineer, gave the Newtown Borough Council an update on November 6, 2024. You can listen to this presentation on an excerpt from the meeting on Youtube here.

Here's my synopsis of the important points made:

• Cost estimate of $128 million, which includes the cost of 17 acres of land on 42 University Dr in Newtown already purchased (see above). 
•  Probably anywhere from two and a half to three and a half years during construction, the Authority would have to stay with Bucks County Water & Sewer Authority (BCWSA) and also pay off the debt incurred. That would probably mean a sizable rate hike to cover these additional costs. When asked what those increased costs might be, a 15% a year rate increase was mentioned.
• The plant itself is state-of-the-art similar to the Wolcott Wastewater Treatment Plant in Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas.

Just in time for Halloween on 27 October 2024, the “scary” Proposed 2025 #NewtownPA Budget was “hung” (i.e., advertised in the Bucks County Courier Times).

What makes the budget scary is the “budgetary maneuvering” of fund transfers, the terrible formatting, which makes it difficult to read and compare with previous budgets, the declining revenue and increasing deficit, the explicitly-stated need for increased taxes, and the double-digit salary increases! All this was already documented in comments made by residents. This article discusses some of these questions that need answers and some suggestions for changes.

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Although #NewtownPA Township is making progress dealing with pedestrian safety issues on major roads, many residents feel enough is not being done within residential neighborhoods. I summarized the issue in my blog post "Pedestrian Safety Issues in the Neighborhoods".

News of Interest is a monthly collection of important township meeting summaries and curated content focused on topics and decisions of interest to local Newtown area residents.

Newtown Township Board of Supervisors honors 2024 Little League World Series Team with proclamation and individual plaques.

Dennis Fisher, the chairman of the board of supervisors, read a proclamation into the record “celebrating the team’s accomplishments and their magical season.”

“This team should be recognized not only for its accomplishments on the baseball field, but also on the field of dreams - especially the dream of a community based on principles of mutual respect, understanding and support,” said Supervisor John Mack, “In their quest for the Little League World Series championship, these young boys came home big winners in the eyes of the Newtown community. This was evident to me when my wife and I joined Newtown residents at Chandler Field to give a huge welcome home to the Blue Dawgs.”

Why did Newtown Township residents Al Dufault & Charles Feuer cross Newtown-Yardley Road? They wanted to show the need for a new sidewalk along Newtown-Yardley Road leading from the crosswalk at Tara Boulevard to Elm Street in Newtown Borough.

At the October 23, 2024, Newtown Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting, Mr. Feuer got a commitment from the Township Engineer - and consensus of the BOS - to see if it possible to modify the Newtown Commons Sidewalk Project to include this stretch to connect the township with the borough as part of the Newtown Trail. View/listen to the discussion: https://youtu.be/tYc-UlUP8DU

Find the current plan for the Business Commons sidewalk project here: https://www.johnmacknewtown.info/UserFiles/image/Sidewalk_Project_Plan.jpg

October 27, 2024: Just in time for Halloween, the “scary” proposed 2025 #NewtownPA budget  has been “hung” (i.e., advertised in the Bucks County Courier Times).

The budget must be hung/advertised for 20 days before the Board of Supervisors (BOS) can take further action on it. The next meeting of the BOS is 13 November 2024.

It can still be changed – e.g., by adding a 2 or more mills tax increase for fire services – but in that case, the new version would need to be re-advertised for 10 days.

What makes it scary is the “budgetary maneuvering” of fund transfers, the terrible formatting, which makes it difficult to read and compare with previous budgets, and the salary increases ranging up to nearly 19%! 

A resident had several comments and questions regarding:

• Terrible Format of the 2025 Budget
• Declining Sources of Revenue
• Increasing Deficits

Read More...

At the October 23, 2024, #NewtownPA Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting, resident Frank McCarron commented on the proposed/draft 2025 budget. He was concerned about lack of funding for paid firefighters and did not understand why the budget surplus every year was much higher than anticipated.

This is my narrated version of the Powerpoint presentation I made at the 21 October 2024 Meet Mack Monday Zoom meeting.

Topics include:

• 2025 Budget - Some Questions
• Sewage Treatment Plant & Rate Increase Survey
• Crosswalk & Sidewalk Improvements Update
• Pedestrian Safety – Residents’ Comments
• Increased Fire & EMS Tax Millage Survey
• 2025 Road Repair Plan

This "drive by" on 22 October 2024, shows work being done on widening Lower Silver Lake Road and construction a sidewalk along the Wawa property. This is according to a Highway Occupancy Permit (HOP) approved by PennDOT on 5/7/24 (read “Provco/Wawa Submits Highway Occupancy Permit (HOP) to PennDOT"; https://sco.lt/7SexoO).

See the plans here: https://rebrand.ly/WawaHOPplan

On page 3 of the plan are shown two crosswalks - one across Lower Silver Lake Rd and one across the Bypass. A sidewalk - as seen in the video - has already been constructed leading to the latter with a ramp (shown at end of the video).

Assuming these crosswalks will be installed, they will actually lead to nowhere! That is, there are no sidewalks across Lower Silver Lake Road or across the Bypass from Wawa. How is it that PennDOT would issue a permit for such a plan?

I was told that, as part of the Land Development, Wawa is required to install sidewalks and, in this case, ADA ramps, at the intersections. This would allow for any future development across the street to tie directly into the sidewalk. - perhaps a Chick-fil-A or Apartment complex? I always thought the Crossing Community Church across from Wawa had an interest in selling its property along the Bypass. Looks like the plans are in place!

In any case, it seems to me that a crosswalk across the Bypass at that location would be very dangerous.

Scientists in Colombia say they have developed a novel food supplement that protects bees' brains from pesticides, keeping the insects safe from neurological damage caused by agricultural chemicals.

Bees, as pollinators, are considered essential for the preservation of natural ecosystems and food production.

The plant-based supplement developed at Colombia's private Rosario University in Bogota, in partnership with the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Arizona and Colombian Universidad Javeriana, allows bees to cope with neurotoxins commonly used in agriculture and avoid having their motor system and memory harmed by the chemicals.