The Sanatoga Post

SANATOGA PA – Five busy intersections in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township are scheduled to be among 49 in the greater Pottstown area to receive a package of improvements that includes traffic signal upgrades and handicapped-accessible curb ramp installations. Construction could get under way in early 2012, the township Board of Commissioners learned this week.

One example of an ADA-compliant curb ramp, like those to be installed in Lower Pottsgrove

The work is part of what is being called the “Pottstown Area Signal Project,” according to Scott Exley, president of Bursich Associates in Sanatoga, the township engineering firm. It would occur at the corners of High Street and North Pleasant View Road, High and Heritage Drive, High and Sunnybrook Road, High and Armand Hammer Boulevard, and Armand Hammer and Industrial Highway.

An engineer under contract to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) in a memo said the construction would require some street and sidewalk excavation, and in limited areas placement of 17-foot-deep foundations for signage masts. Curblines and sidewalks also would be dug up to install updated ramps that comply with specifications of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

That work alone may take 18 months.

The entire project, however, is much broader in scope, Exley told board members during their meeting Monday (Aug. 1). It also includes significant modifications at and around the South Hanover Street bridge near Industrial Highway in the borough of Pottstown, as well as along River Road in North Coventry (PA) Township.

On Armand Hammer Boulevard, he added, the work will be coordinated with renovations to bridges on U.S. Route 422 near its Armand Hammer exit, as well as what is foreseen as the rebuilding of the interchange there, also slated to begin next year.

PennDOT’s plans for the 422 and South Hanover Street bridges have apparently caused Pottstown to reconsider its desire to re-open the now closed Keim Street bridge crossing the Schuylkill River, between Kenilworth and the borough, The (Pottstown) Mercury newspaper reported Thursday (Aug. 4).

Borough Manager Jason Bobst on Wednesday reportedly advocated that a small portion of the millions of dollars that could be spent on the Keim Street bridge instead be paid to lengthen Keystone Boulevard, along industrial sites near Riverfront Park, to connect with streets in West Pottsgrove. That would make vacant properties more available for development, Bobst said.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Aug. 1):

• Five Township Corners Due For Curb, Signal Changes
• Sanatoga, Ringing Hill Busy With Volunteer Training
• Next Move On Keim Street Bridge Possible Next Week
• Several Report Interest In Township Planning Vacancy
• Army Band May Return, Thanks To Impressive Crowd
• Whack Away At Unsightly Weeds, Township Pleads
• July Tax Payments Trickle In At A Rate Of $528 Per Day
• Tax Settlements: An Awful Lot Of Paperwork To Net $677
• Lower Pottsgrove’s June 2011 Warrants Now Online
• Bridge, Guardrail Study Proposed For Pruss Hill Road
• Township 2009 Sex Offender Law ‘Might Not Stand Up’
• Commissioners OK KenCrest ‘Temporary’ Grenhouse
• Commissioners Gather For First August Meeting

John L. Burkhardt

SANATOGA PA – Civil engineering and surveying firm Bursich Associates Inc., 2129 E. High St., Pottstown PA, has hired John L. Burkhardt Jr. as its new assistant to the president to help better position the firm with public sector clients.

Burkhardt is well-known in the transportation industry, with more than 30 years of experience. He began his career as special assistant to the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Highways, followed by business development positions at several eastern Pennsylvania planning and engineering firms.

“John is a seasoned veteran in our industry and will bring a wealth of knowledge to Bursich,” said President Scott A. Exley. “He possesses an in-depth knowledge of what it takes to be successful in the public sector side of our business.”

Burkhardt and his wife live in East Coventry (PA)Township. He graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover NH, and served in the U.S. Army Security Agency in Germany. He is a member of The Pennsylvania Society, member and past president of the Pennsylvania Highway Information Association, and a former board member of the Associated Pennsylvania Constructors.

Bursich, founded in 1972, is an engineering, planning, and land surveying firm that specializes in the design of roads and bridges, water and waste water facilities, land development, storm water management solutions, and land surveying throughout Pennsylvania.

Scott Exley

SANATOGA PA – Some news reporting is tailor-made for a joke fest, every line ripe with potential humor. But just as discretion is the better part of valor, it also makes for good journalism. So with Wednesday’s (April 6, 2011) interesting announcement from Sanatoga-based engineering firm Bursich Associates Inc., we’re playing this straight.

Bursich President Scott Exley wants to kiss a pig.

Oh, stop already.

Exley has agreed to serve as one of several candidates competing in a fund-raising event to raise money for programs at the Richard J. Ricketts Center, 640 Beech St., Pottstown PA, operated by the Olivet Boys and Girls Club of Reading and Berks County. The top three vote getters (every dollar counts) are obligated to kiss a pot-bellied pig named Maycie May.

Others in the running to put their mug close to a porker are Rich Broadbent, Acorn Display and Manufacturing; Rich Caputo, Fox Rothschild; Mike Fischetti, Carpenter Corp.; Stephanie Hackash, Reading Royals; Matt Langdon, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management; Dr. Kristine Leaman, All About Women; Lee Olsen, Olsen Design Group Architects; Al Ottinger, Action Coach; and Andy Weidman, Reinsel Kuntz Lesher.

“I have done a lot of strange things in the name of charity, but kissing a pig will top the list,” Exley said in a Bursich press release. “I hope to raise enough votes to smooch Maycie May and support some very deserving kids.”

Cast votes for Exley or any of the others by contributing to Olivet online, here, by no later than May 13.

The competition will culminate May 25 with what is called the annual “Steak and Burger Dinner” to be held at Alvernia University in Reading PA. By the dinner’s name, it should be noted Maycie May will not also be on the menu.

Founded in 1898, Olivet is a chartered member of the Boys and Girls Club of America, with several locations in Berks County in addition to its Pottstown program. The organization serves thousands of underprivileged boys and girls throughout the area through a wide range of activities.

Bursich is an engineering, planning, and land surveying firm founded in 1972 and headquartered on East High Street in Sanatoga. The firm specializes in road and bridge design, water and waste water facilities, land development, storm water management, high-definition laser scanning, and land surveying.

Photo from Bursich Associates

The Building of America gold medal

SANATOGA PA – Expansion of and upgrades to the White Horse Village retirement community in Delaware County, to which Sanatoga-based Bursich Associates Inc. provided a variety of construction-related services, has won a gold medal award from the national Building of America Network, Bursich Director of Business Development Brian Fraley announced.

Bursich’s role on the project team was to provide complete land surveying and site development for renovations and new villa residences on a portion of the village’s 96 acres. It incorporated a combination of innovative storm water “best management” practices and sensible site layout, despite complex local, county, and state permitting, Fraley said.

“It’s always fulfilling to be involved in a project like White Horse Village that provides a valuable service to the community,” Bursich Senior Project Manager Nick Feola added. “We were thrilled to be a part of the team that helped to expand and upgrade this facility for its residents.”

The network represents a 15-year “compilation of the nation’s most important and unique new construction and renovation projects,” as selected by publishers, editors and consultants of five different building and design trade periodicals. Submissions can qualify for up to 12 different network awards.

Bursich is an engineering, planning, and land surveying firm founded in 1972 and headquartered on East High Street in Sanatoga PA. The firm specializes in road and bridge design, water and waste water facilities, land development, storm water management, high-definition laser scanning, and land surveying.

Bursich offices on East High Street.

SANATOGA PA – Work by Bursich Associates’ engineers in surveying Collegeville PA property, on which the Wegman’s Supermarket at the Providence Town Center shopping complex was built, earned the firm its second consecutive award in the 22nd annual plat competition conducted by the Pennsylvania State Society of Land Surveyors, Bursich Director of Business Development Brian Fraley announced Wednesday (March 23, 2011).

Competition participants are judged by the society on the quality of their submitted plats, or plans, for a property that consist of maps drawn to scale and showing property lines, topography, streets and roads, and other information used by municipalities and contractors. Bursich won a similar award last year, also related to Providence Town Center.

“Receiving this award for two consecutive years is a testament to the quality of our surveying and drafting team,” said Dane K. Moyer, Bursich vice president of operations. “This is a great honor for all of us.”

Bursich is an engineering, planning, and land surveying firm founded in 1972 and headquartered on East High Street in Sanatoga PA. It specializes in road and bridge design, water and waste water facilities, land development, storm water management, high-definition laser scanning, and land surveying.

Chad Camburn

SANATOGA PA – Pennsylvania-licensed engineer Chad E. Camburn, who most frequently represents civil engineering firm Bursich Associates Inc. on behalf of Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township during the municipality’s Planning Commission meetings, has been appointed as secretary and executive committee member of the board of directors of the Homebuilders Association of Berks County, Bursich announced Monday (Feb. 1, 2011).

Camburn has been a board member since 2009, and was re-appointed to a new term this year that runs through 2013. The association promotes and is an advocate for the county’s building industry and tradespeople.

Serving on the board, Camburn said, offers an opportunity “to assist in the smart growth” of Berks County communities,” Camburn said.

His employer, Bursich, is an engineering, planning, and land surveying firm founded in 1972 and headquartered on East High Street in Sanatoga PA. The firm specializes in road and bridge design, water and waste water facilities, land development, storm water management, high-definition laser scanning, and land surveying.

SANATOGA PA – Sanatoga’s Berean Bible Church would like to keep its gymnasium at 2675 E. High St. constantly ready for worship services while continuing to operate its youth recreation programs. To do both, church leaders indicate, their building needs more space – about 11,000 square feet of it – that they hope to add to the gym on a 12.33-acre parcel at the west side of Skytop Road.

Berean Bible Church, 2675 E. High St., Pottstown PA

Township officials anticipate church plans may come before the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Zoning Board of Appeals during its February (2011) meeting, because they require zoning variances for lighting and landscape buffering. The variances were unanimously endorsed by the township Planning Commission in a Nov. 15 (2010) vote.

With a congregation attendance of between 300 and 500 people for some services, particularly on religious holidays like Christmas and Easter, it takes a lot of manpower to set up and then remove seating and other items when the gym is used for worship, Administrative Pastor Bill Neitz told planners. That happens up to three times weekly, because the gym also doubles as the site of church recreation programs to which area children are bused.

Expanding the gym, Neitz explained, allows the church to be more efficient, reduce its workload, and keep kids occupied too. Adequate parking for 224 vehicles already exists, and no additional spaces would be needed, planners learned. Current lighting at the parking lot, however, doesn’t meet township standards for an R-3 residential district, in which the church is located.

Berean could install another five pole lights to satisfy the law, at a cost of about $5,000 each, according to its engineer, John McMenamin, but developer Wil Hallman, whose Sanatoga Ridge Community housing complex for senior citizens is built at the southwestern edge of the church property, said several of its residents object to increased lighting.

Adequate lighting, or the lack of it, caused some concern for township engineering representative Chad Camburn of Bursich Associates.

Neitz noted the church has not encountered a safety or security issue in its 30 years of operation. Camburn, however, said he was reluctant to recommend board endorsement of a variance to permit less lighting unless the church agrees to indemnify the township from potential litigation, as well as to install more lights under specific circumstances. McMenamin said Berean could consider both.

The church also will seek a waiver of the zoning requirement of a 15-foot landscape buffer. Township Assistant Manager Alyson Elliott said that, if approved by the zoning board, specifics of some kind of buffer between the church and nearby residences could be addressed by Berean representatives and township staff members.

SANATOGA PA – Workers at a Sanatoga company helped engineer a holiday smile last week on the faces of dozens of children.

Employees of Bursich Associates Inc., the civil engineering and surveying firm located at 2129 E. High St., Pottstown PA, delivered two large bags filled with nearly 40 toys last Thursday (Dec. 9, 2010) to the annual toy drive of the Homebuilders Association of Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Conshohocken PA. This is the third consecutive year in which Bursich participated in the event.

It also made a financial contribution, company Director of Business Development Brian Fraley reported.

The gifts will benefit recipients in need, selected by the North Penn Boys and Girls Club in Montgomery County and the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Bucks County. Bursich, founded in 1972, operates offices in both counties, as well as in Berks County.

“The harsh reality is that there are many children in Bucks and Montgomery counties that will not receive a single present during the holidays. Supporting this toy drive is our way of helping to change that for as many … kids as possible,” Fraley said.

Photo from Clipart.com

PASSING ON HIS KNOWLEDGE – Nick Duchan, director of land surveying for Bursich Associates, 2129 E. High St., Sanatoga PA, was a guest speaker Nov. 10 (2010) to dozens of students during the annual Career Round Table presented at the Reading-Muhlenberg Career and Technology Center and organized by the Homebuilders Association of Berks County. Duchan discussed land surveying and engineering as a career option. The event each year schedules experts in various fields to offer hands-on knowledge to students intended to help prepare them for future trade careers. Bursich, founded in 1972, is an engineering, planning, and land surveying firm.

Scott Exley

SANATOGA PA – A Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township businessman is among six judges who selected finalists for this year’s outstanding land development and revitalization projects in Montgomery County, which will be presented today (Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010) with county Planning Commission awards for their accomplishments.

Scott Exley, president of Bursich Associates Inc. of Sanatoga, helped determine three 2010 winners of the county’s Land Development Awards. They have been announced as the Colorcon global headquarters and technology center in Lower Salford Township, an office building at 125 E. Elm St. in Conshohocken Borough, and the St. Luke’s Hospital Upper Perkiomen Outpatient Center in Upper Hanover Township. Joining Exley as judges were Planning Commission Board members Dulcie F. Flaharty and Pasquale N. Mascaro.

The county also will present its 2010 Revitalization Awards to Hatboro Lofts in Hatboro Borough, and Historic Souderton Downtown in Souderton Borough. The revitalization entries were judged by county Community Revitalization Board members Kenneth E. Davis, F. Lee Mangan, and Stuart L. Rosenthal.

Collectively, the presentations in both categories are known as “The Montgomery Awards.” Winners will receive their recognitions this morning at 10:30 a.m. in Conference Room 202 of the county offices at 1 Montgomery Plaza, Norristown PA. “They are dedicated to raising planning and design awareness in our communities, and honor developers, consultants, organizations, and municipalities for their commitment and contribution,” county Communications Director John Corcoran said Friday (Nov. 12).