The Sanatoga Post

SANATOGA PA – Saturday (Oct. 23, 2010) was a fine day for doing just about anything outdoors: playing catch with the kids, taking a walk in the park or, at least in one case, taking a jump with your horse. Several jumps, actually.

The latter occurred at Flying Horse Farm, the boarding, training and instructional facilities for equine dressage and eventing located at 246 Rupert Rd., Sanatoga PA. One of the trainers there offered lessons Saturday to a young rider who paced herself and her animal through a variety of exercises.

• Watch a video of her drills, above, or see it at the YouTube user account of cadym2178.
• Read more about Flying Horse Farm and its owner-operator, Rebecca Diesinger, here.

Photo from Flying Horse Farm

To chase, or be chased.

POTTSTOWN PA – Carpe diem, or “seize the day,” the poet Horace wrote in Latin.

“Tackle the day,” students at Pottsgrove High School, Kauffman Road, Pottstown PA, are more likely to respond.

In a good morning greeting to their audience on Wednesday (Oct. 20, 2010), members of Studio 403 – the high school’s video crew – aired their parody of an animated Scooby-Doo cartoon chase scene that featured a long hallway, many doors, and the Pottsgrove School District‘s Falcon mascot running after, and running from, a student named Tara. It ends with Pottsgrove’s take on Horace’s ages-old admonition.

• Watch the video, above, or see at the YouTube account of user 999Hellkd.

Ooof, that's gotta hurt.

Thursday (Oct. 21, 2010) was one of those days, so it seems, for the Pottsgrove Falcon.

The costume mascot of the Pottsgrove School District usually can be found out along the sidelines of fields featuring athletic competition, as it cheers middle and high school students on to victory. In having a little disrespectful fun at The Falcon’s expense, though, the members of Studio 403 – the video crew at Pottsgrove High School, Kauffman Road, Pottstown PA – had their brave bird instead stand inside a hallway at students streamed past.

• Watch the results in a video, above, or see it at the YouTube account of 999Hellkid.

A proposal to use this alley, seen looking west toward Sunnyside Avenue, as an exit for the Bella Italia restaurant has been scrapped by Lower Pottsgrove

SANATOGA PA – Saying it wanted to continue a practice of being business-friendly, and acknowledging that municipal planning had consumed almost a year of discussion, the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners gave its blessing Thursday (Oct. 21, 2010) to the preliminary development plan for the proposed Bella Italia Restaurant on East High Street.

Commissioners went even further, though, in thanking developer Cilluffo Property Holdings LLC for its attempt to help the township work to solve problems involving the vacant land at 2209 E. High St., Pottstown PA, and its adjacent neighbors. “They’ve been more than willing to try and do the right thing,” Commissioner Michael McGroarty said of Cilluffo.

The decision came during the board’s second meeting of the month, at the Buchert Road municipal building.

In approving the plan, commissioners also decided to abandon the township’s hopes of using an alley that connects the property to nearby Sunnyside Avenue as a potential exit for restaurant traffic.

Instead, the board agreed, Cilluffo and the township will abide by a recent Pennsylvania Department of Transportation ruling that lets restaurant traffic enter and exit from East High Street through a driveway across from the entrance to the Sanatoga Village Center shopping plaza. Lower Pottsgrove sought to avoid that single access because of the potential for traffic congestion.

Months of attempts to get all five neighboring property owners to agree on how the alley would be used and maintained, an initiative advocated by the township, failed. “We wanted to be the good guys and help out,” company representative Mary Cilluffo said after the board’s approval. “Now we can’t wait any longer. It’s a matter of time and money.”

Had it not been for negotiations involving the alley, she added, “this project could have started months ago.”

As it stands, the Blue Bell PA-based company still cannot officially break ground for its dine-in Italian foods restaurant until other adjustments are made to the preliminary plan. All involved agreed they were minor, and Cilluffo is expected to return soon – possibly before year-end – to seek commissioners’ approval on its final development plan.

Related:

• Commissioners OK Italian Restaurant’s Plans, Without Alley
• It Could Be Awhile Before Sanatoga Pizza Oven Fires Up
• Alley To Sunnyside Ave. ‘Elephant’ In Restaurant Plans
• Restaurant, Doctors’ Office Return To Planning Board
• Owners Ask For Restaurant Variance Extensions
• Planners Hear More About Proposed Pizza Restaurant
• Pizzeria Owner Has History Of Restaurant Development
• Restaurant, Ringing Projects Win Conditional Uses
• Ringing Rocks, Restaurant Hearing Topics Tonight
• Pizzeria Planned Next To Sanatoga Rite-Aid

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Oct. 21):

• Commissioners OK Italian Restaurant’s Plans, Without Alley
• Township Considers Using Area Law Firm For Delinquents
• It Could Be Awhile Before Sanatoga Pizza Oven Fires Up

POTTSTOWN PA – Declaring that it wants to recoup more of what Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township is owed by property owners behind in paying their sewer, trash collection and tax bills, the township Board of Commissioners agreed Thursday (Oct. 21, 2010) to invited a well-known area firm to make a presentation on its services next month.

At Manager Rodney Hawthorne’s suggestion, commissioners said they’d like to talk with representatives of Portnoff Law Associates Ltd., a firm that specializes in delinquent tax and user fee collections for municipalities and school districts. The Norristown PA attorneys currently work for more than 70 taxing districts in Pennsylvania, including the borough of Pottstown.

“It costs us nothing to engage them, and they have a collection rate of between 50 and 70 percent,” Hawthorne told commissioners during their second meeting of the month, in the municipal building at 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA.

Both the township and the Sewer Authority now rely on their own solicitors to do some of the collection work involved. If retained by the commissioners, Portnoff would assume those duties, Hawthorne indicated.

The presentation could be scheduled for the board’s Nov. 4 (2010; Thursday) meeting, he said.

Photo from Clipart.com

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Oct. 21):

• Commissioners OK Italian Restaurant’s Plans, Without Alley
• Township Considers Using Area Law Firm For Delinquents
• It Could Be Awhile Before Sanatoga Pizza Oven Fires Up

PHILADELPHIA PA – Warburg Pincus, a private equity investment firm headquartered in New York City, apparently likes what it sees in the local banking business. It intends to buys 10 percent or more of the stock of National Penn Bancshares Inc., the company that controls National Penn Bank, according to an advertisement placed Friday (Oct. 22, 2010) in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

The east side of National Penn Bank's branch office in Sanatoga on South Sunnybrook Road.

National Penn operates one of its many branch offices at the corner of East High Street and South Sunnybrook Road in Sanatoga village, as well as others in Pottstown, Gilbertsville, Boyertown, North Coventry, Douglassville, Royersford and Phoenixville.

The proposed $150 million stock purchase is no surprise to the Boyertown-based bank, which announced its agreement with the investors earlier this month (Oct. 6). “We are excited to have Warburg Pincus join us as a significant shareholder,” National Penn President Scott V. Fainor said. Warburg Pincus would be the banking company’s largest shareholder, controlling a total of 16.4 percent of its outstanding shares, The (Easton PA) Express-Times newspaper reported earlier this week.

Money from the firm’s stock purchase would be used to speed up the bank’s ability to repay U.S. Treasury loans, Fainor said.

The Fed, whose announcement in The Mercury was published as a legal notice in a newspaper of public record, has the power to approve or deny Warburg Pincus’ plans. Consequently, the notice added, it is seeking written comments on the proposal by Nov. 11. Those interested in commenting can address their letters to The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, 10 Independence Mall, Philadelphia PA 19106.

The Fed is the central banking system of the United States, and its Philadelphia bank supervises banking activities in portions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. It “considers a number of factors” – including public comments – “in deciding whether to approve” a request like that of Warburg Pincus, its notice said. It may even conduct a public meeting or formal notice on the request if there is sufficient interest, it added.

The firm’s specific fund that would make the purchase, Warburg Pincus Private Equity X LP, is valued at $15 billion and was opened during 2007. Its declared stock ownership also includes shares of MBIA Inc., a provider of financial guarantee insurance; consumer insurer Primerica Inc.; Sterling Financial Corp., a bank holding company in Spokane WA; and Webster Financial Corp., another bank holding company in Waterbury CT.

Out with the trash.

SANATOGA PA – The average cost of a bag of groceries – the paper kind, not the smaller plastic carriers – is estimated nationally at about $25. Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township resident William Wolfgang guesses his average cost of a bag of garbage is about $4. The groceries, Wolfgang recently told the township Board of Commissioners, surely are the better deal.

“Getting rid of garbage is just costing too much,” Wolfgang said during a board meeting earlier this month.

• Got something on your mind to discuss with commissioners? You get another opportunity tonight (Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010) when they meet at 7 p.m. in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA. The meeting is open to the public. Find its agenda here.

Trash recycling and collection bills were mailed Sept. 17, and were due to be paid just three days ago, on Monday (Oct. 18). Wolfgang wrote his check his early, and then did some quick calculations. “We’re pretty careful,” and the household is small “so we don’t throw out a lot,” Wolfgang explained Oct. 4. “I think that’s an awful amount to be paying for garbage.”

No one on the board disagreed.

Wolfgang’s solution, also occasionally proposed by others, was to charge individual households for the amount of waste they actually produce. That way each would pay its fair share and, Wolfgang expected, he would pay less. But several commissioners and Manager Rodney Hawthorne noted that keeping track of how much trash each household generated could become an accounting nightmare … and a smelly mess.

Hawthorne offered hope though. The township’s contract with garbage hauler J.P. Mascaro and Sons, headquartered in Audubon PA, is due for renewal during 2011. “It’s worth exploring,” he said of Wolfgang’s idea. “In fact, any and all options can be considered next year. We’ll put it all on the table then,” Hawthorne said.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Oct. 4):

• Minutes Of The Board’s Oct. 4 Meeting (Approved Oct. 21, 2010)
• What’s A Better Deal?: Groceries, $25, Or Township Trash, $4
• Township Plans No-Parking Zone On North Adams Street
• Lower Pottsgrove Opposes Firefighter Cancer Mandate
• The Marshal? Sorry, He’s Kinda Busy Right Now …
• Former Reporter Asks Commissioners To Support 422 Tolls
• Welcoming The Newest Of Lower Pottsgrove’s Finest
• Lower Pottsgrove Gives Gift Its Diesel Fuel Business
• Lower Pottsgrove Commissioners May Reward Bidders

SANATOGA PA – Hungry for Italian food? You won’t be able to find it yet on the 2200 block of East High Street in Sanatoga village, but a restaurant that someday hopes to offer it there is moving closer to being built.

Vacant land on East High Street next door to the former Rite Aid in Sanatoga could be the future home of Bella Italia Pizza.

A preliminary land development plan for construction of the proposed Bella Italia Restaurant and Pizzeria, 2209 E. High St., Pottstown PA, is scheduled to be considered and could be approved tonight (Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010) by the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners when it meets at 7 p.m.

This event has been added to The Post calendar.

The meeting in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown, is open to the public. An agenda is available for download from the township website; find it here.

The restaurant was first proposed last November (2009) by Cilluffo Property Holdings LLC to be built on a vacant lot just west of the former Rite-Aid Pharmacy. Its plans since then have endured scrutiny by the township Planning Commission, the Zoning Hearing Board, the Board of Commissioners, Montgomery County planners, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Each has offered opinions that modified the plans somewhat.

Cilluffo returned to the Planning Commission during September (2010) with all necessary changes made, and one remaining problem. It had not yet reached a legal agreement with its neighbors on the use of an alley at the property’s west side as an exit from the restaurant parking lot to Sunnyside Avenue.

Planning commissioners made it clear an agreement must be in place before final approval was granted. To lend some urgency to the process, however, they gave a qualified endorsement for preliminary or interim approval and sent it on to the township board for its determination.

Also on the commissioner’s agenda:

• An update on the bond issue proposed to be issued by the township Sewer Authority for sewer system upgrades and improvements;
• Consideration of contractors’ snow removal bids for the coming winter; and
• Correspondence from NCD Associates of Jamison PA regarding the township’s telecommunications and utility billings.

You can see toy trains like this set through Saturday in Frederick PA.

SANATOGA PA – These activities are among those scheduled for western Montgomery County residents (and anyone else!) for Oct. 22-24, 2010:

• These events have been added to The Post calendar.

Friday, Oct. 22

Learn how to use social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter for personal life and business, in a free workshop to be held Friday from 1-2 p.m. at Phoenixville Public Library, 183 Second Ave., Phoenixville PA. Presenter Ernie Tidball will show participants how to connect with business professionals, friends, acquaintances, and colleagues using social networks.

A toy train display and show with no admission fee will be held from 1:30-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday on the campus of the Frederick Mennonite Community, 2849 Big Rd., Frederick PA. The show is being conducted by members of the South Eastern Pennsylvania Garden Railway Society.

Musical performers “The Dark Side” will play Friday from 7:30-11 p.m. at Island Pizza, 3060 Limekiln Rd., Birdsboro PA.

A free fireworks show, open to the public, will begin Friday at 9:30 p.m. at Valley Forge Christian College, 1401 Charlestown Rd., Phoenixville PA, as part of the college’s 2010 Homecoming and Family Weekend.

Saturday, Oct. 23

The Phoenixville Farmers Market, located beneath the Gay Street bridge, Phoenixville PA, will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through November. The market can be reached from Taylors Alley.

The North Coventry (PA) Township Food Pantry, located in the basement of the township municipal building, 845 S. Hanover St., Pottstown PA, is conducting a food drive Saturday in partnership with “Make A Difference Day” in the Owen J. Roberts School District. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Owen J. Roberts Middle School.

The Boyertown Farmers Market, located at 100 S. Walnut St., Boyertown PA, will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. All markets are rain or shine. The market occupies the parking lot of The Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles, two blocks south of the intersection of Routes 562 and 73.

Meet favorite Star Wars movie characters Saturday from 1-3 p.m. during a Halloween observance at the Boone Area Library, 129 N. Mill St., Birdsboro PA. A costume contest, treat bags for kids, and refreshments are planned.

Toy train show, Saturday from 1:30-4 p.m., in Frederick PA. See Friday’s listing.

An artist’s reception is scheduled for Saturday from 4-6 p.m. to acknowledge a new exhibit of abstract paintings, “Sojourners — October 15, 2009 to Present” by Judy Lupas, at the Gallery on High, 254 E. High St., Pottstown PA. The exhibit continues through Nov. 13. Gallery hours Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 24

Get in costume and get down to Sanatoga Park on Sunday for Lower Pottsgrove’s annual Fall Festival, beginning at 1 p.m. in the upper level of the park, next to the Tot Lot playground, at 200 S. Sanatoga Rd., Pottstown PA. It’s free, and open to township residents and their guests. The festival features hayrides, a show prepared especially for children, games, and a costume contest.

Photo from ModelTrainSecrets.com

If approved, the zone would be 100 feet long.

POTTSTOWN PA – There’s a proven need to create a no-parking zone along North Adams Street for the length of 100 feet from its intersection with Buchert Road, according to a recently concluded traffic study conducted by Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, Manager Rodney Hawthorne has told the Board of Commissioners.

The study, which began after a North Adams Street resident complained about problems maneuvering around cars parked there, shows that vehicles stationed within the zone present a potential traffic hazard that could be avoided by eliminating parking, commissioners learned during their Oct. 4 (2010) meeting.

Hawthorne is writing an ordinance that commissioners would be required to pass to enable the no-parking zone. They seemed willing to support the law. If approved, signs would be erected to identify the zone and Lower Pottsgrove police would be responsible for enforcement.

The board is next scheduled to meet Thursday (Oct. 21) at 7 p.m. in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA. It is unknown whether the ordinance will be ready for the commissioners’ agenda.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Oct. 4):

• Township Plans No-Parking Zone On North Adams Street
• Lower Pottsgrove Opposes Firefighter Cancer Mandate
• The Marshal? Sorry, He’s Kinda Busy Right Now …
• Former Reporter Asks Commissioners To Support 422 Tolls
• Welcoming The Newest Of Lower Pottsgrove’s Finest
• Lower Pottsgrove Gives Gift Its Diesel Fuel Business
• Lower Pottsgrove Commissioners May Reward Bidders

Photo from Google Images