The Sanatoga Post

Cone-like barriers and mounds of gravel are intended to block passage of vehicles on both sides of the Pruss Hill Road bridge in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township

SANATOGA PA – Pruss Hill Road in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, which has become a favorite thoroughfare for drivers traveling from the township’s west side to U.S. Route 422 and destinations east, will be indefinitely closed between Schaeffer and North Pleasant View roads, township Roadmaster John Fogel has told the Board of Commissioners.

Although a detour is established and marked with small orange signs, the open-ended nature of Pruss Hill Road’s future is causing concerns among both longer-distance motorists and residents of homes along the township’s eastern border with Limerick, particularly inside the Woodgate housing community.

A recent engineering study conducted on the bridge that crosses Sanatoga Creek in front of the Pruss Hill Pond dam has determined it to be structurally unsound. Local motorists can travel most of the road’s length up to closure points on either side of the bridge, but at those points cone-like barriers and mounds of gravel piled in the roadway are intended to block passage.

Repairs of guard rail damage along the Pruss Hill roadside, caused by motorists' accidents there, have been expensive for the township

Neighbors who live closest to the choke points say they’ve deterred most traffic, but haven’t stopped all of it. “It’s been more quiet, that’s for sure,” one man who asked not to be named said Friday (Sept. 30, 2011). “Most people have stopped coming by. But you can see where a couple just plowed right through,” he said, pointing to several sets of tire tracks that go up and over the gravel mounds.

The bridge was officially closed two weeks ago, on Sept. 16, when highway department crew members erected large “road closed” signs. Commissioners, Pottsgrove School District administrators, fire chiefs at the Sanatoga, Ringing Hill, and Pottstown fire companies, and even Montgomery County officials reportedly were notified of the situation.

Not affected residents, Woodgate home owner P.J. McGill claims.

“I see no mention on the (township) website about why and for how long Pruss Hill Road will be closed,” McGill, of Rivendell Lane, complained Friday to Manager Rodney Hawthorne in an e-mail that was copied to The Post. “Possibly a notice from the township to those who use Pruss Hill regularly would have been nice,” he wrote.

As of Friday at 4 p.m., there was no alert regarding the closure posted on the website’s home page, where the township’s most urgent notices are usually placed.

Hawthorne and some commissioners were unavailable for much of Friday as they attended the fall conference of the county Association of Township Officials, for which Lower Pottsgrove served as host.

Keeping up with repairs to winding and hilly Pruss Hill Road has been an expensive endeavor for the township in recent months.

• Commissioners agreed in August (2011) to pay $7,500 for Sanatoga-based Traffic Planning and Design Inc. to determine how to make the bridge and roadway more accident-free;
• That cost was prompted by the township’s nearly quarterly repairs or replacements of roadside guard rails severely damaged by crashes there; and
• In June (2011), the township spent a portion of its annual road resurfacing funds to repave a majority of the two-lane highway.

Extensive flooding of Sanatoga Creek during an exceedingly rainy August and September, punctuated by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, also seemed to create problems for the bridge and roadway, nearby property owners said.

A few drivers have attempted to go around barriers and over the gravel just to save themselves time. Tire marks on the mounds demonstrate their attempts, local residents claim

Related (to Pruss Hill Road and its bridge):

• Bridge Damage Closes Pruss Hill Road ‘Indefinitely’
• Commissioners OK Pruss Hill Road Accidents Study
• Bridge, Guardrail Study Proposed For Pruss Hill Road
• Stop Sign May Be Answer For Pruss Hill Road Crashes
• Pruss Hill Road Guardrail Now Repaired
• Use Caution Driving Pruss Hill Road
• Car Upended On Pruss Hill Road

POTTSTOWN PA – Showing how parents, relatives and caregivers can increase a child’s student achievement through vocabulary will be the subject of a discussion Oct. 10 (2011; Monday) from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School, 1329 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA. The session is open to all adults in the Pottsgrove School District, and their families and friends.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

The free workshop, titled “The Power of Words,” is intended help adults increase each child’s achievement in school and as a life-long learner, the district said in an e-mail distributed Wednesday (Sept. 28).

Advance reservations are encouraged by Oct. 6. To reserve a seat or for more information, call Doriann Parker at 610-323-0903, Ext. 3208, or send her an e-mail, here.

The event coincides with Lower Pottsgrove’s McPrincipal Night, also scheduled for Oct. 10 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at McDonald’s Restaurant, East High Street, Pottstown PA.

Illustration from Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School

SANATOGA PA – The August 2011 warrants of Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township – which provide details on where the municipality’s revenues came from during the eighth month of the year, and on what and with whom it spent money – were made available Friday (Sept. 30, 2011) on the Resources Page of The Sanatoga Post.

• Find them, and all other warrants archived by The Post as Adobe Acrobat documents, here. Most take about a minute or less to download over a high-speed (DSL, cable, or FIOS) Internet connection.

The August warrants were approved Wednesday (Sept. 28) by the township Board of Commissioners during its second monthly meeting, which had been postponed from Sept. 22. Warrants are printed and can always be viewed for free at the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA, during regular office hours Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Post supplies these materials exactly as received from the township, and makes no guarantee expressed or implied that they are complete, accurate, or faithful reproductions of the actual documents. The Post has had no hand in their creation or submission. Before taking any action based on the contents of any documents offered here, The Post strongly suggests you consult with appropriate professionals for advice.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Sept. 28):

• Lower Pottsgrove August 2011 Warrants Now Online

CELEBRATING OUR DIFFERENCES – Multi-cultural diversity is the theme of a “Hands Across The World” display (above and below) completed Thursday by Pottsgrove High School students and faculty members. The project, led by high school librarians, gathered ethic and cultural treasures shared by students and the staff, then colorfully assembled them behind a yards-long hallway display window. “Celebrate Humankind,” librarians Tweeted Thursday afternoon (Sept. 29, 2011) on Twitter, the social media network, as the display was finished. And to those who helped put the project together, they added, “You are amazing!”

Photos from Pottsgrove High School via Twitpic

NORRISTOWN PA – Montgomery County’s emergency radio system is in an official state of emergency, The Pottstown Patch online news service reported Thursday (Sept. 29, 2011).

As many chiefs of police from county municipalities crowded Wednesday (Sept. 28) into its Norristown meeting room, the county Board of Commissioners passed a resolution declaring an “actual emergency exists” in the county’s aging public safety telecommunications infrastructure.

Commissioners’ Chairman James Matthews described the declaration as a “band-aid” that gives the county “the ability to immediately respond to any shortcomings in the system.” Those shortcomings apparently are multiplying, The Patch reported.

Lower Pottsgrove (PA) commissioners, who were asked to endorse the purchase and installation of new township police department radios to coincide with a county proposal that would upgrade the entire dispatching system, have so far decided not to decide. They officially took a wait-and-see approach before committing to buy anything. It is not yet know how, if at all, the county board’s resolution changes their opinions on the issue.

• Read a story by author David Powell, titled “Solution For ‘Emergency’ Would Cost Taxpayers Over $50 Million” and published Thursday in The Patch, here.

Related (to Montgomery County emergency communications):

• County Declares Radio System In ‘Emergency’ Straits
• Township Defers Radio Decision, Hoping For Alternatives
• Township Holds Off On Police Radio Upgrade Decision
• Police Radio Discussion Possible In Township’s Meeting
• Township Likely Faces Costs As Dispatch Radios Change

HARRISBURG PA – Amanda Holt, a piano teacher who lives in Lehigh County, is pushing state lawmakers to fix the way Pennsylvania’s legislative districts are drawn. She even drew her own version of the state legislative district maps — meticulously plotting out all 203 House districts and 50 Senate districts — while keeping existing county and municipal borders whenever possible.

Analysts praise her plan, The Pennsylvania Independent online news service reported Thursday (Sept. 29, 2011), but said they doubt it will hold much sway with the Legislative Reapportionment Commission that’s tasked with reconfiguring congressional and state House and Senate districts to conform with 2010 Census requirements.

he way the maps are redrawn later this year could affect who represents Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick PA townships, and the borough of Pottstown, at federal and state levels during the next 10 years.

• Read a story by reporter Eric Boehm, titled “Woman behind a different kind of redistricting plan” and published Thursday by The Independent, here.

Related:

• Woman Submits Her Own Maps to Suggest Redistricting
• Congressional Redistricting Process Under Way In Harrisburg
• Audience Packs Congressional Redistricting Hearing
• Business Of Pennsylvania Redistricting Gets Started
• Is State’s Redistricting Already Less Than Transparent?
• Local Congressmen Attend State Redistrict Meeting
• Lower Pottsgrove May Again Be In Redistricting Battle

Logo from Stateline.org

Signage and the window curtain wall at the renovated Ringing Rocks Elementary School

POTTSTOWN PA – Tick-tock. The clock’s winding down on the official deadline – it’s Friday (Sept. 30, 2011) – when work on the Ringing Rocks Elementary School reconstruction and renovation project must be completed.

Otherwise its contractor faces financial penalties, and betting is good that builder E.R. Stuebner Inc. would rather not return cash to the Pottsgrove School District for a delay. In fact, to ensure that doesn’t happen, construction workers this week have been putting in late-night hours to ensure they’re finished on time.

“We’re in the home stretch,” district Business Administrator David Nester cheered Tuesday (Sept. 27), as he reported to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors on progress at Ringing. “We’re within shouting distance.”

It’s been a lengthier-than-expected shout. Originally, Stuebner and its subcontractors were to have been done by Aug. 17. But winter was snowier than usual and summer rainier than usual, and maybe the district should cut the companies a break, Nester suggested during the board’s Aug. 9 meeting. Directors were under “no formal requirement to do so,” he acknowledged, but they agreed with his assessment that “conditions were beyond the control of the contractor.”

Now, most said Tuesday, they’re anxious to have Ringing wrapped up.

That doesn’t mean the expanded and gleaming building will be ready for immediate occupancy; far from it. Once the deadline is met, the district and contractor will work through a “punch list” of items missed or to be corrected. Then the building must be furnished and restocked, and teachers will need time to set up their rooms. Ringing isn’t scheduled to open until after New Year’s Day.

Topping the punch list may be the state of the playing field just to the west of the building, under which lies piping and wells for its geothermal heating and cooling system. The field isn’t level, board Vice President Scott Fulmer pointed out during an Aug. 23 meeting, which could adversely affect soccer and other games played there. A later civil engineering report confirmed his observation.

“There’s been a meeting of the minds” about the field, Nester noted Tuesday, and indicated it would be fixed at no cost to the district. “But it’s rained a bit since then, again,” he added.

Related to the Ringing project, the board during its Sept. 13 meeting approved five separate change orders for work to be done, amounting to a net additional cost of about $63,000. It also approved invoice payments to three firms, including Stuebner, for their work. As of that date, the district still owed more than $706,000 for the completed building.

The building's west-side facade, gleaming in early-evening sun

Related (to Ringing Rocks Elementary School renovations):

• Hear That? It’s The Ticking Deadline Clock At Ringing
• Ringing Rocks Delivery Could Be On Santa’s Wishlist
• Pottsgrove Board Tours, And Likes, Progress At Ringing
• No Power For Ringing Library Computers ‘An Omission’
• Blasting A Possibility, But Not Yet, At Ringing Rocks
• Few Change Orders, So Far, At Ringing Rocks
• Rigs Arrive At Ringing Site To Drill Deep For Geo-Heat
• Exterior Demolition To Begin At Ringing Rocks
• Digging’s Done, Now Real Work Starts At Ringing
• Ringing Rocks Ground-Breaking Set For Thursday
• After Month’s Work, Pius Deemed Set For Ringing Pupils
• Ringing Rocks Bids Accepted, At $1.5 Million Less
• Final Words On Ringing Rocks: Okey-Dokey
• Ringing Rocks Gets Final Plan OK
• Borrowing Authorized For Ringing Rocks Project
• Pottsgrove Signs Pius Lease For Ringing Students
• Pottsgrove Authorizes Pius Lease For Ringing Relocation
• Call Goes Out For Ringing Rocks Construction Bids
• Board OKs Ringing Rocks’ Preliminary Plans
• School Vestibule Design OK; No Decision On Rocks’ Relocation
• Ringing Rocks Plan Approval Held Until May
• Ringing Relocation Decision Deferred Again
• Township Legal Move Saves District Time, Money
• Economic Tales, Exec Sessions, And Long Night At Pottsgrove
• Geothermal Now ‘Locked’ Into Ringing Re-Build
• How Estimated Costs For Ringing Shape Up
• Less Is More In School Project, Planners Learn
• Bids Sought For Ringing Project Asbestos Removal
• Ringing Relocation Decision Possible In Two Weeks
• Restaurant, Ringing Projects Win Conditional Uses
• Ringing Rocks, Restaurant Hearing Topics Tonight
• Pottsgrove Student Enrollment: Up? Yes. Down? Yes Again
• Green Discussion At Ringing Results In Red Faces
• Pottsgrove, Archdiocese Still Discussing Pius Lease
• Ringing Rocks Relocation Discussion Set For Tonight
• In The Ringing Rebuild, Whither Pius?
• Ringing Rocks Relocation Plan: Modulars At MS
• Ringing Rocks Construction Cost Hearing Tonight
• Planners OK Ringing Rocks Land Sketch
• District Sets Dec. 3 Hearing On Rocks Budget
• Pottsgrove Asks State Help To Pay For Ringing Re-Build
• As School Opens, Progress On Ringing Rocks’ Project
• Surprise Enrollment Spurs Demographic Interest
• District Assembles Ringing Rocks Planning Team
• District OKs Architect Negotiations
• Consensus On Ringing Renovations: $16M
• Ringing Rocks Proposals Aired Tuesday
• Ringing Rocks Re-Examined April 14
• Pottsgrove To Trust-But-Verify On Ringing Plans
• Ringing Rocks Plans Take Another Step
• No Shortage Of Ideas At Pottsgrove Meeting
• Weigh In On Pottsgrove Renovations
• Framing The Rocks Discussion
• Response Mixed To Pottsgrove Improvements
• District Invites Public For Study Results
• A Different Rocks, But Only As A Concept

Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ meeting of Sept. 27):

• Hear That? It’s The Ticking Deadline Clock At Ringing
• Committee: Pottsgrove High Needs Work, Not Renovation
• Area Company’s Donation Benefits Pottsgrove Students

POTSTOWN PA – Family Fun Night for Lower Pottsgrove Elementary School students, their siblings and parents will be held Friday (Sept. 30, 2011) beginning at 6:30 p.m., the school reminded area residents Wednesday (Sept. 28) by e-mail.

The evening starts off in the lobby of the school, 1329 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA, with refreshments, and will be followed at 7 p.m. with a “summer-themed” laser light show in the adjacent gymnasium.

All who attend are encouraged, no matter what the weather, to wear heir favorite beach gear as well. “Summer may be over outside, but we can still celebrate it inside,” the e-mail said.

For more information, call the school at 610-323-7510.

Photo from Google Images

POTTSTOWN PA – There’s good news across greater Pottstown PA, according to the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, about student obesity: it’s going down.

Body Mass Index (BMI) statistics included in the foundation’s latest newsletter, its Fall 2011 edition, indicate that more Pottstown area students who once were considered obese – grossly overweight given their comparative height – have been losing pounds during the past three years.

Fourteen percent of 29,450 students who live in the foundation service area, which includes the Pottsgrove, Pottstown, and Spring-Ford Area school districts, were deemed to be obese following screenings conducted during 2010. That compares to 17 percent during 2007, and means 883 students both dropped weight and dropped out of the obese category during the period.

The foundation actively promoted the newsletter’s release Wednesday (Sept. 28, 2011) in announcements on Twitter and other social media platforms.

There was improvement too, but less so, in the category of students considered overweight, the statistics show. They accounted for 17 percent of all students measured last year, and 18 percent of those measured during 2007. The 1-percent decline represents 294 students who got healthier.

Not surprisingly, the percentage of students who were said to be within a healthy range of weight rose during the three-year period from 64 percent in 2007 to 68 percent in 2010. “Physical activity makes a difference in Pottstown,” the foundation triumphantly Tweeted.

Potentially worrisome in the BMI statistics is growth in the number of student considered at-risk for being underweight. That category rose from 2 percent during 2007 to 3 percent last year. The newsletter did not comment on a cause.

Pennsylvania law requires student height and weight measurements to be taken at least annually. The state’s goal, under the law, is “to determine the pattern of growth for each child, so that his weight and height can be interpreted in light of his own growth pattern rather than those of his classmates.” BMI screenings became mandatory for children in kindergarten through 12th grade during the 2007-’08 school year and beyond.

Photo from Google Images