The Sanatoga Post

The redesigned manard-style roof of the proposed garden apartments at Buchert Ridge Community helps the building comform to township height restrictions, the developer reported

SANATOGA PA – Lower Pottsgrove Planning Commission members got an advance peek Monday (Aug. 15, 2011) at what they said were both substantial and favorable changes being considered for revised designs to expand Buchert Ridge Community, 2011 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA. The retirement-age residential project was the controversial subject of a zoning board hearing only four months ago.

Planners were not asked to, and did not, act on any of the proposals introduced by developer J. Wilmer “Wil” Hallman and engineer John McMenamin of Hallman Retirement Communities. Responding to McMenamin’s request for comments, however, all said they were pleased with the redesigned roofline of a proposed four-story building of garden apartments that, as promised during the April hearing, would meet township height regulations.

A rendering of the proposed garden apartments was combined with a winter photograph, taken from Buchert Road looking northeast, to show the building as if seen from a distance

They said they were happy, too, with a proposal to add a new retaining wall and wide planting and grass area on the west side of the apartments nearest Sprogels Run. Properly landscaped, commissioners said, the area would further reduce the perceived height of the building as seen from nearby Kepler Road.

Planners also expressed satisfied surprise with substantial changes to a public bus turnaround on the property, suggested years ago by the township Board of Commissioners, that would be used by Pottstown Area Rapid Transit as the eastern end of its Sanatoga-to-Stowe route. The turnaround now features separate one-way entrances and exits for greater safety.

Most visible of all the proposals is the apartment building’s new roof line. Initial plans called for a gable-style roof that put the building’s height about 13 feet above Lower Pottsgrove’s stated limit of 35 feet, and required a zoning variance. Hallman’s revised plans transform it to a mansard-style roof that McMenamin said adheres to the requirement.

“We did bring the height down significantly,” the engineer said, without sacrificing any of the building’s 39 units. “It doesn’t look so massive now,” Commissioner William Wolfgang noted, and his board colleague, Ronald Dinnocenti, agreed.

Its earlier height was a chief objection during the April zoning debate among area property owners, who told zoning board members their real estate values would be diminished by the towering structure. Hallman later withdrew his height variance request from zoning board consideration, and the project was subsequently approved with several conditions.

“We’ve been telling people that we would conform, and we will conform” on height, McMenamin said.

The addition of a retaining wall and a walk-out area on the apartment’s creek side “gives residents there a place to congregate” in pleasant weather, he noted. It also creates “an additional buffer line that softens the height.”

Turnaround, with separate entrance and exit

Earlier designs for the turnaround would have had public buses use a loop entirely within the project, with a single, two-way entrance and exit. Township engineers raised concerns about whether the loop itself was big enough for some buses, and adequately addressed safety needs. The redesign enlarges the loop, improves driver sight lines, relies on separate driveways for buses to come and go, and also creates a more spacious waiting area for a stopped bus.

“That seems like it would work,” township engineering representative Chad Camburn of Bursich Associates said. “It nicely resolves a number of items.”

The project is still awaiting approvals from outside agencies, such as the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, on other parts of the expansion plan. “We can’t move forward without them,” McMenamin explained. “But we’re trying to do what we can to keep things going,” he said, which is why the plans were put on display Monday. Commissioners said they appreciated the chance to look.

Related (to Buchert Ridge Community):

• Planners Get Sneak Peek At Buchert Ridge Revisions
• Hallman Apartments At Buchert Ridge Get Zoning OK
• Buchert Ridge Added Sewer Capacity Gets Board OK
• PART Buses Play A Part In Buchert Ridge Building Plans
• Surprise: Height No Longer Zoning Issue At Buchert Ridge
• Over Objections, Commissioners Endorse Buchert Apartments
• Two Expansions Considered On Lower Pottsgrove Agenda
• Accusations Fly At Planners’ Meeting Over Buchert Ridge
• Applications Withdrawn; Township Cancels Zoning Hearings
• Lower Pottsgrove Hearings Set For Apartments, Lighting
• Walk Through These Rooms Without Moving
• Commissioners Warm To Energy-Saving Apartments
• Commissioners Get An Early Start Tonight
• Meeting Moved Up For Buchert Ridge Presentation
• Buchert Ridge Unveiling Final Phase

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Planning Commission meeting of Aug. 15):

• Planners Get Sneak Peek At Buchert Ridge Revisions

POTTSTOWN PA – A call went out Monday (Aug. 15, 2011) to parents across the Pottsgrove School District, in which Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis said he hoped to have “at least three or four” representatives from each elementary building – Lower Pottsgrove, Ringing Rocks, and West Pottsgrove – volunteer for a group that could reshape how and where the district provides education to its youngest students.

Pottsgrove’s Elementary Redistricting Committee “will meet throughout the fall and bring recommendations to the school board by early next year” on how kindergarten through fifth grades might be re-configured to make better use of building space and avoid potential overcrowding, Landis wrote, in a letter district spokeswoman Beth Trapani said was distributed Monday.

Parents interested in serving on the committee are asked to call Landis’ secretary, Barbara Paolucci, at 610-327-2277 Ext. 1011, or send her an e-mail (here) by no later than Sept. 9 (2011; Friday).

Although committee membership will be limited, all “parents will have several opportunities to learn about (its) suggestions, and to make comments of their own via public meetings and our website,” Landis added.

The letter puts into motion a decision last Tuesday (Aug. 9) by the district Board of School Directors to consider what Landis called “adjusting the elementary attendance boundaries.” The committee would be asked to study elementary enrollment patterns across Lower, Upper and West Pottsgrove (PA) townships and recommend whether attendance borders, the man-made lines that determine which children attend which schools, should be altered “to balance enrollment numbers across the three.”

Landis also suggested the committee explore the possibility of significant change in the district’s elementary organization, by creating two schools (West and Ringing) for kindergarten through second grade only, and opening a Grades 3-5 Center at Lower. Among the advantages, Landis told school board members, could be reduced staffing costs in future budgets.

First-grade capacity problems became evident in June and grew in July at West Pottsgrove Elementary, Grosstown Road, Stowe PA. By comparison, both the newly reconstructed Ringing, on Kauffman Road, Pottstown PA, which is anticipated to reopen after the district’s winter holiday break, and Lower, on Buchert Road, Pottstown, have extra classroom space available.

During the school year that begins Aug. 29 (Monday), Landis reported Lower projects its enrollment as 677 students, compared to its capacity for 730; Ringing, 344, compared to a capacity of 550; and West, already filled to its capacity of 450. One intent in renovations at Ringing, Landis noted, “was to provide capacity at the elementary level to ease potential overcrowding at the other two … schools.”

Committee recommendation for changes, if any, would not be implemented until the 2012-2013 school term. Already named to the committee are school board members Philip Keogh, Patricia Grimm and David Faulkner, and district office administration, principals and teacher representatives.

Related (to Pottsgrove School District redistricting):

• Landis Calls For Pottsgrove Redistricting Volunteers
• Touchy Pottsgrove Redistricting Now Being Considered

Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ meeting of Aug. 9):

• Landis Calls For Pottsgrove Redistricting Volunteers
• 32 Personnel Positions Affected By Pottsgrove Approvals
• Pottsgrove High Appointments ‘Give District Some Time’
• Touchy Pottsgrove Redistricting Now Being Considered
• Pottsgrove Teacher Named Western Center Principal

Related:

• What’s Your Take On Growing The Local Economy?
• Survey Now Looks For Local Business Owners’ Opinions
• Wanted: Your Opinions On Where And Why You Shop
• Study To See If Townships, Borough Can All Prosper

Get one of these? Consider yourself "selected"

LIMERICK PA – It’s arrived.

Grand opening week for the Costco Warehouse Corp. wholesale store in the Gateway At Sanatoga shopping center, 14 W. Lightcap Rd., Limerick PA, is upon us, and apparently none too soon for some potential shoppers. Google, the Internet’s largest search engine, indicates thousands of people have searched for information on the event in the past month alone.

• The official opening is Wednesday (Aug. 17, 2011) at 8 a.m. Commuters who regularly travel U.S. Route 422 and enter or exit at the Sanatoga interchange between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. may want to reconsider and instead use either the Armand Hammer Boulevard (to the west) or Limerick-Linfield (to the east) interchanges to avoid possible traffic congestion. Drivers can anticipate an increased police presence in the area to ensure safety.

• A by-invitation-only preview opening of the store, limited to only a few hundred people who received printed announcements titled “Please be our guest” during mid-July, will be held Tuesday (Aug. 16) from 6-8 p.m. Only those presenting invitations are expected to be allowed inside. Hors d’oeuvres will be served (lucky you!).

• Costco is a membership-only discount store, meaning customers there must first purchase a membership to shop there. A membership sales tent has been open on the parking lot outside the store for the last three weeks, and three different levels of membership are being sold there daily. For information about how the program works, call 800-774-2678.

• Costco has an accompanying gasoline station, on the parking lot located west of its main building. Manager Scott Riekers reports that, although the store itself isn’t open yet, the gas station has been operating from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. since last Wednesday (Aug. 10). National studies indicate prices for gas sold by wholesalers such as Costco and BJ’s Warehouse usually are among the lowest available in most markets but, again, sales are limited to members only.

Related (to the Gateway At Sanatoga project):

• Sanatoga Costco Preps For Grand Opening This Week
• Big Check’s In The Mail, But Not To Lower Pottsgrove
• Limerick Costco’s Tentative Opening Planned For Aug. 17
• Costco Open By Aug. 28 (Maybe); Surest Sign: Hiring Now
• Buying Spree: Gimme A Steak, Those Shoes, That TV
• Structural Steel On Its Way Up At Limerick Costco Site
• Costco Construction Still Aiming For A Spring Opening
• Contractor Agrees To End Night Work At Sanatoga Gateway
• Sanatoga Gateway’s Overnight Noise Near An End
• Beep!-Beep!, No Sleep For Residents Near Gateway Site
• Pipeline Being Moved At Sanatoga Gateway
• What Gateway At Sanatoga Marketing Says About Us
• Before Demise, Limerick Homes Get Firefighters’ Farewell
• Ground Clearing Begins At Sanatoga “Gateway”
• Developer Sets New Costco Date: Spring 2011
• New Activity Stirs For Gateway At Sanatoga Project
• Costco Approved Without Traffic Improvements (WhatsThe422.com)
• Sanatoga Gateway Endorsed By Limerick Planners (WhatsThe422.com)
• Sanatoga Project Faces Limerick Zoning Decisions
• Sanatoga Shopping Project On Limerick Zoning Agenda
• More Web Searches Seek ‘Sanatoga Springs’
• Board Approves Interchange Mapping Costs
• Sanatoga Springs Promotion In Flux
• Townships Agree To Interchange Planning
• Township Interviews For ‘Bigger Picture’
• Missing Walks Latest Bridge Complaint
• Trying, Trying Again At The Interchange
• Just One Speaker At Sanatoga Springs Hearing
• The Overlooked Users Of Sanatoga Springs
• County Suggests Cooperation On Sanatoga Springs
• Improving The Odds At The Interchange
• More About … Sanatoga Springs (No. 1 In A Series)
• Trial Balloon: An Inter-Municipal Agreement
• Lobbyists Court Lower Pottsgrove
• A New Arrival In “Sanatoga Springs”

Sunnybrook Ballroom

SANATOGA PA – With luncheon and dinner menus now set, its kitchen and wait staff ready, and all fixtures in place, the Sunnybrook Restaurant at Sunnybrook Ballroom – the conference, banquet and entertainment facility on 50 Sunnybrook Rd., Sanatoga PA – is ready for its official opening Wednesday (Aug. 17, 2011), its website reports.

The restaurant and its accompanying Chummy’s Lounge promise “superior service and hospitality in a relaxing and congenial atmosphere,” according to Sunnybrook Management Partners Inc., the facilities’ for-profit operator. It leases the restaurant and tavern spaces from the non-profit Sunnybrook Foundation, which owns the building.

Chummy’s has been open for several months, primarily on weekends and during special events. It currently operates Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday from 11 a.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. It will be closed Mondays.

The restaurant, however, makes its by-invitation-only preview opening tonight (Monday, Aug. 15) to invited guests of the foundation and partnership, from 5:30-8 p.m. With its regular opening Wednesday, the restaurant will operate Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. It also will be closed Mondays.

• See the restaurant’s lunch menu here, and its dinner menu here.

The restaurant continues to look for and hire customer service help, it noted Monday. “Experience is a must for servers, kitchen and bar staff,” it said. Openings are available for servers, kitchen help and cooks, banquet servers, bussers, hosts and hostesses, and bartenders. All positions are said to be part-time.

• Find its online job application here.

WASHINGTON DC – A girl no older than 5, emboldened by her parents, ran from the audience Saturday (Aug. 13, 2011) at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and confronted the day’s guest speaker there with an innocent smile and a burning question. “In space,” the youngster asked U.S. astronaut Dr. Anna Lee Fisher, “how do you go pee-pee?”

“Well, I knew someone was going to ask!,” said Fisher, who laughed along with the crowd. “And it’s a very important question,” one, she explained, with two very different answers: diapers, and suction. “We practice with both a lot,” Fisher noted, “because in space you don’t want to make a mistake.”

U.S. astronaut Anna Lee Fisher talked Saturday in Washington DC

A physician by training, Fisher was the featured attraction during an event-filled day at the museum, which showcased an exhibition on American innovation in its historic building on F Street NW in the nation’s capital. She spoke for a half-hour about her career and eight-day shuttle experiences during 1984, and her later work with the International Space Station, and then answered audience questions.

She never hesitated with what could have been an embarrassing inquiry by her young admirer.

On the launch pad, Fisher said, while waiting in a space shuttle for hours before lift-off, is where specially made flight diapers prove their worth. Mothers, she claimed, can thank scientists of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for that modern convenience of child-raising.

“They made them with super-absorbent stuff for us first,” the astronaut proudly boasted, because after that length of time, no matter how empty a bladder may have been, “by then you just gotta go!”

Once in space, though, the diapers are abandoned. Then NASA – which has an abbreviation for everything, Fisher said – relies on sanitary plumbing known as the WMS, or Waste Management System. “It involves a vacuum. I’ll let your imagination take it from there,” she said, still smiling.

Although space shuttle flights have ended, Fisher said she remains involved in programs with both the space station and the shuttle’s successor. One of her most recent assignments, she reported, was to participate in a panel taste-testing new meals to be added to the space station menu. They included sushi, for the station’s Japanese partners, and Russian dishes too.

Her verdict? “They’re pretty good.”

Editor’s Note: When The Post takes a road trip, its readers go too. “Travels With The Post” is a series that reports on places and activities beyond our usual coverage area, but most often within a drive of three hours or less.

Other Travels With The Post:

• In Space, A Whole New Meaning For ‘Potty Training’
• Masonry Details Matter In Downtown Columbia PA
• State’s Annual ‘Fun On The Farm’ Show Opens Saturday
• Above The Boardwalk, Life Never Seen In Sanatoga
• Postcard Road Trip: Chester PA Old Court House
• Postcard Road Trip: Wyomissing PA Public Library
• Sweet Treats Franchise On Rebound
• On The Road: Area Residents Take On New York
• Garage Sale Bargains For 50 Miles
• On Independence Day, An Unlikely Lifeguard

POTTSTOWN PA – A Montgomery County sheriff’s department bomb disposal squad Thursday detonated an explosive device found in a home at the Village Condominiums, Village Lane and North Pleasant View Road in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, after emergency responders successfully evacuated nearby residents, local news media reported.

An aerial view of the Village Condominiums, superimposed on a map showing its entrance off North Pleasant View Road

An unopened military ammunition canister – one of three said to be in the  condominium home garage of a deceased man whose sister was cleaning his estate – was bulging on its sides and may have contained military flares or smoke grenades. The woman suspected a problem and called police, who in turn called the sheriff.

The canister was X-rayed by the bomb experts, determined to have some kind of potentially explosive material inside, and then was safely transported to the nearby and wide open soccer fields of Gerald Richards Park. The disposal unit detonated it there.

During the course of the discovery, transport and detonation, police exercised caution and evacuated “15 to 20 people from about a dozen residences in the immediate area,” The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper reported. They were allowed back in to their homes around 3:05 p.m., and officials cleared the incident at about 4:30 p.m., it added.

“The only thing I know about him,” a neighbor of the deceased man told The Pottstown Patch online news service, “is that he used to work in corrections as a prison guard.”

• Read a story by reporter Brandie Kessler, titled “Bomb squad removes explosives” and published Friday by The Mercury, here.
• Read a story by editor Teresa McMinn and reporter Joe Bruno, titled “Bomb Squad Called To Lower Pottsgrove Twp.” and published Thursday by The Pottstown Patch, here.

Photo from Trulia.com; map from Google Maps

POTTSTOWN PA – Lower Pottsgrove police are investigating the theft early Tuesday of a Pottsgrove School District utility vehicle that was used to cause about $500 in damage on the football field at Pottsgrove High School’s stadium on School Road, The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper reported.

Police told The Mercury they discovered the incident at around 3 a.m., finding that unknown perpetrators first crossed the field – enclosed by a fence – to reach a district maintenance barn. Once inside, they stole a John Deere-brand Gator utility vehicle and “drove it onto the football field, where they performed several donuts on the wet grass,” the article said.

• Read a story by reporter Phil Ellingsworth Jr., titled “Vandals damage Pottsgrove High School football field” and published Friday in The Mercury, here.

Officers are seeking help in solving this case. Anyone who may have additional information is asked to contact township police at 610-326-1508.

POTTSTOWN PA – Personnel actions recommended by the Pottsgrove School District administration were accepted Tuesday (Aug. 9, 2011) by the district Board of School Directors.

Approved for resignation:

• Christopher Shaffer, principal, Pottsgrove High School;
• Debbie Hampton, nurse, Lower Pottsgrove Elementary;
• Holly Kennedy, duty aide, Lower Pottsgrove;
• Laura Bausbacher, duty aide, Ringing Rocks;
• Tamara Claypoole, intervention tutor, Ringing Rocks, and elementary duty aide, Lower Pottsgrove;
• Jessica Martin, substitute teacher;
• Aileen Burke, intervention tutor, Lower Pottsgrove;
• Amber Martin, substitute aide;
• Kim Schwanbeck, substitute nurse;
• Chris Talley, substitute teacher and
• Judy Sidebottom, elementary grade coordinator, Lower Pottsgrove.

Approved for non-certified employment:

• Stacy Fiore, PT secretary for special education, replacing Laurie Bickert, $14.63 per hour;
• Christine Shuster, duty aide, Lower Pottsgrove, $10.75 per hour;
• Deanna Santangelo, FT nurse, replacing Debbie Hampton, $19.00 per hour;
• Melissa Barber, PT nurse, replacing Debbie Freedman, $19.00 per hour;
• Theresa Drumheller, PT nurse, replacing Gerri Skokowski, $19.00 per hour;
• Clara Fair, duty aide, Lower Pottsgrove, $10.75 per hour;
• Robin Gadsby, duty aide, Lower Pottsgrove, $11.89 per hour;
• Marie Boothman, duty aide, West Pottsgrove, $10.75 per hour;
• Hollie Kasper, duty aide, Lower Pottsgrove, $10.75 per hour;
• Peg McKelvey, duty aide, Lower Pottsgrove, $10.75 per hour; and
• Donna Haines, duty aide, Lower Pottsgrove, $10.75 per hour.

Approved for certified employment:

• Karen Wolfe, reading specialist, Lower Pottsgrove, replacing Kylie Friend, $54,331.

Approved for student teacher placement:

• Mary Stevens of Cabrini College, supervised by Robin Scouton of Lower Pottsgrove Grade 4 and Crystal Lloyd of Lower Pottsgrove kindergarten, from Jan. 18-May 4, 2012.

Approved for attendance at conferences:

• Jolyynn Kleinschmidt, instructional tutor;
• Marianne Harrison, reading specialist;
• Kay Vogt, elementary teacher;
• Mary Savarese, instructional tutor;
• Tracy Dise, instructional tutor;
• Melody Mikovits, instructional tutor;
• Judy Miller, instructional tutor; and
• Stacy Campbell, elementary teacher,

all to attend MCIU’s Foundations training. The cost of the workshop is $1,200. Substitute coverage is not required.

Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ meeting of Aug. 9):

• 32 Personnel Positions Affected By Pottsgrove Approvals
• Pottsgrove High Appointments ‘Give District Some Time’
• Touchy Pottsgrove Re-Districting Now Being Considered
• Pottsgrove Teacher Named Western Center Principal

Photo from Clipart.com