SANATOGA PA – Frustrated by what it said have been years of unproductive negotiations, and then surprised in recent weeks when those talks appeared to end abruptly, the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday night (April 21, 2011) to sue a real estate developer for its failure to pay for repairs to the crumbling Rupert Road bridge.
The Rupert Road bridge in Lower Pottsgrove, on its border with Limerick township
Commissioners authorized their special counsel in the matter, the Furey & Baldassari P.C. law firm in Audubon, to file a lawsuit in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas against developer DHLP LLC. It owns and markets a residential housing community surrounding the Raven’s Claw Golf Club, the west side of which fronts Rupert Road and which in part straddles the border between Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick townships. Homes there sell from roughly $350,000 to $450,000 each.
Its need for repair or replacment is evident at several portions of the structure
DHLP bought the community from an earlier developer about seven years ago, and with it assumed liability to pay for the bridge’s repair or replacement, according to township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway.
At stake for Lower Pottsgrove in the potential court battle is $375,000 or more it says it is owed by DHLP to fix the bridge. Beyond that, Holloway said, the township also plans to demand reimbursement for money spent since 2004 to make stop-gap repairs, as well as tens of thousands of dollars spent so far in attorneys’ fees and other costs.
Representatives of DHLP could not be contacted Thursday night for comment.
The Rupert Road bridge, built by the county in 1921, is one of six within the township identified late last month by a national transportation lobbying group as “structurally deficient.” Many area residents readily claim it is the worst of that lot, with cracked and scaling concrete walls and abutments, exposed and rusting steel reinforcements, and uneven pavement.
The bridge in recent years also has been subject to increasingly heavier traffic. It is crossed by residents of the decades-old Woodgate subdivision, located on Rupert Road’s west side; from the DHLP development, on its east side; and from drivers traveling Rupert from as far away as Boyertown to reach U.S. Route 422 at the Sanatoga interchange.
Holloway said the township has been “negotiating with DHLP for a number of years” over what it was due for the uncompleted bridge improvements that were part of land use plans approved in 2002 for the community’s original developer, Heritage Homes.
At various points in talks with DHLP after it bought the community from Heritage, Lower Pottsgrove received settlement offers of $300,000 and $375,000, respectively. They were declined, Holloway said, because neither was sufficient to finish the work. “The disrepair has been steadily increasing, while the price to fix it also has been rising,” board President Jonathan Spadt added.
Montgomery County still owns the bridge, which was built in 1921
Then, only weeks ago, DHLP went silent, Holloway charged. “Quite frankly, the conversation just stopped,” he said, between its lawyers and Furey & Baldassari, representing the township. “They (DHLP) have been non-responsive since,” Holloway claimed.
That prompted the recommendation to sue, which was discussed during a board executive session Thursday at 6:15 p.m. before the commissioners’ regular meeting began in the municipal building on Buchert Road.
The county owns the bridge, Holloway explained, but so far has chosen not to participate in the legal action. Instead, it will let Lower Pottsgrove proceed “for the county’s benefit,” he said. When filed, the suit likely will name other defendants as well, possibly including Heritage, which allegedly promised to draw plans for a new bridge but never delivered them.
Related:
- Township Plans $375,000+ Suit To Fix Rupert Bridge
- Report: Six Bridges In Township ‘Structurally Deficient’
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners meeting of April 21):
Now we’re talking. I knew this was the situation some time back. Been crossing that bridge for 31 years. Was aware that negotiations had taken place when Raven’s Claw expanded onto Rupert.
One could do well to make folks south-bound stop by placing a stop sign there, before crossing. Technically it’s a two-lane bridge, but because of the velocity cars approaching the bridge have, they are usually center-field rather than in lane when crossing. If speed could be controlled by a stop sign, then the bridge would allow two cars to straddle side by side. If they are speeding they typically middle-road the crossing.
In winter it would be dangerous for downhill (northbound) drivers to attempt to stop prior to the bridge, due to icing. Making the southbound (uphill towards 422) lane stop just prior to the bridge would make the most sense.
Loading of the bridge would decrease this way as well, and slow the deterioration a bit.
Attaboy, Lower, those attorneys can be useful …