SANATOGA PA – Recent jottings from a reporter’s notebook:

Where All That Concrete Pipe Went

Back in early June (2010), when crews began working to remove the mound of earthen fill on vacant acreage just west of the Turkey Hill convenience store – off the Sanatoga interchange of U.S. Route 422 – passers-by noticed and asked about concrete drainage pipes that were deposited on the property. After several weeks of grading, the pipes disappeared from public view.

They didn’t simply vanish, of course. They were used, as planned, underground as part of a drainage retention basin approved for the property at 3049 E. High St., Pottstown PA, by Lower Pottsgrove Township.

The basin, and the grass-lined swales that lead to it, are nearly invisible from East High Street, in part because the property slopes from south to north (from the highway at front, to a treeline at the rear). The basin is at the property’s northwest corner, and the swales that collect storm water run-off and funnel it to the basin partially line the north and west edges of the property.

• Watch a video, above, that shows the drainage retention system in different views, or see it at The Post’s YouTube account. What you’ll hear is nature’s muted silence; there is no other accompanying audio.

The land is owned, and being marketed, by Tornetta Realty of Norristown for future commercial use. The drainage improvements were part of its grading permit application. The grading is designed to raise the property to street level and make it ready for a buyer or tenant.

The gates, they are open.

Go Take A Hike In Sanatoga Park

When they visit Lower Pottsgrove’s Sanatoga Park on South Sanatoga Road, most folks go either to fish at its lake or to hear music at its bandshell. On some Sunday evenings during the summer, those fishing can also listen, giving them twice the return on their investment of township taxes.

Now the township Board of Commissioners is offering a third way to spend enjoyable time at the park. Visitors can walk the formerly gated grounds of the upper level, where its ball fields are located. Gates to the upper portion had been locked for some time; commissioners’ Vice President Bruce Foltz in June suggested they be opened. Other board members agreed.

Today’s Trivia

The cooperative effort of Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick townships to create a document that spells out the future of land use and other issues regarding the Sanatoga interchange of U.S. Route 422 is now being referred to as the “Sanatoga Joint Master Plan,” according to the Board of Commissioners’ minutes of June 17 (2010).

Back in the board’s February minutes, it was called the “Sanatoga Interchange Master Plan.”

See what you discover when you read?

Related:

• Notebook Worthy (of July 19, 2010)
• Grinding Stumps At Sanatoga’s Interchange
• Grading Permit Change Comes With Limits
• Grading Plan May Leave Gap In Sanatoga Land
• Talks Delay Take-Down Of Sanatoga Mound
• Huge Fill Mound On East High To Come Down
• Earthen Mound Could Grow Higher
• Still Piling It Up At The Interchange
• Sanatoga Soil Mound Concerns Its Neighbors
• Grading Gets Started Near Interchange
• Fill Piles At Sanatoga Exit

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