Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Graf Engineers, Traffic Planning and Design, and Boucher and James were awarded contracts Monday night for preliminary work for the future recreation community center at Stump and Horsham roads.
An engineering firm from Lansdale, a traffic planning firm from Pottstown, and a landscape architect from Doylestown—the last two being current Montgomery Township-contracted agencies—were awarded contracts Monday night by supervisors for the planning, development, and construction of a future community recreation center at Stump and Horsham roads. According to Dan Sokil of The Reporter, Graf Engineers, in Lansdale was awarded a $106,000 contract for site engineering. Traffic Planning and Design, based in Pottstown, is the contracted township traffic engineer. TPD will contract $20,000 for traffic studies related to the project, Sokil wrote. Finally, Doylestown landscape architectural firm Boucher and James was awarded a $12,000 contract …
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Montgomery Township also boosted its bond rating to AA+, which allows it to borrow a $10 million bond to help fund construction of a proposed community center
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Thursday, January 31
Montgomery Township Solicitor Frank Bartle informed the public Monday that — while it has been a suggestion at the behest of few residents — a referendum on the November 2013 ballot on whether a township community center should be built is not possible, according to The Reporter. Bartle told the public Monday that a binding referendum must be laid out by statute, which indicated “what matters need to be by binding referendum.” “This is not one of those matters,” Bartle said in the article by Dan Sokil. A public library question was the issue of a previous referendum vote, but that was subject to a referendum by state law. The potential community center is not an issue subject to a referendum by state law, according to the article. …
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Township Manager Larry Gregan outlined the township's potential plan to fund a $9.6 million community center, which includes boosting its bond market rating to AAA
Township Manager Larry Gregan Monday night laid out the township’s plan on how it’s going to potentially pay for a project that the township estimates will cost $9.65 million. First, it will borrow $5.3 million in bonds, at a 2.5 percent interest rate, for 30 years. Second, it will look to finance a 2012 open space loan of $5.5 million at a locked-in 2.5 percent interest rate for 30 years. The loan, at present, is a 20-year loan at 2.5 percent, with a 7-year reset. The township will soon begin talks with Standard & Poor to boost its bond rating from AA+ to AAA. “We are looking to take advantage of the all-time historic lows in the municipal bond market. (Market rates for bonds for AAA and AA rates) dropped in half — an average of 4.6 to 4.…
Kimmel Bogrette Architecture + Site presented Monday night proposed plans for a community and recreation center at Stump and Horsham roads. Township Manager Larry Gregan outlined the potential financial plan to pay for it all
Montgomery Township Supervisors have a vision for a regional community and recreation center at Stump and Horsham roads, presented a public meeting Monday by contracted firm Kimmel-Bogrette Architecture + Site. The vision is this: a 39,000-square-foot, two-story facility with a gymnasium with two full basketball courts, two flex-space community rooms with a kitchen, a child watch area, a weight/cardio room, a youth lounge, a cafe, two exercise rooms, a suspended walking/jogging track, three multipurpose studio spaces and a senior citizen activity room. Things the vision doesn't include: a pool, library space and a skate park. The township plans to fund the proposed project for 21 years without any need for a tax increase. "On Nov. 8, we …
Monday, December 10, 2012
A feasibility assessment report for the proposed Montgomery Township Recreation and Community Center outlines the center's potential come 2014 and beyond
Montgomery Township will hold the first of many public meetings this evening at 7 to discuss and review the proposed township community and recreation center to be constructed at Stump and Horsham roads. In preparation for the meeting, the township has released the facility needs assessment and feasibility study report conducted by Kimmel Bogrette Architecture + Site. You can read the report at this link. One of the major aspects of the study — the center will be financially successful if it draws users from beyond Montgomery Township. The first year of operation will be 2014 or later, according to the report. What the feasibility study showed was that the population of Montgomery Township alone, at around 25,000 individuals, was too small…
Friday, September 7, 2012
The 311 W. Main Task Force is nearing the end of its purpose - to recommend a purpose for the former arts center to Lansdale Borough Council. The committee will make a full recommendation that fulfills the requirements laid out in its ordinance
All good things must come to an end. As 311 W. Main Task Force Chairman allegorically put it Thursday night, the task force is now at Fourth and Goal at the one yard line, with the game on the line. Next month, the 311 W. Main Task Force's purpose and efforts will come to a close as it is poised to recommend to borough council an elaborate and in-depth direction for the former performing arts center in the heart of Lansdale. That direction, based on opinions of members, is to renovate the building all at once and develop it into a film and performing arts center. Chairman Mike Sobel had asked each task force member to summarize their opinions on what should be recommended, based on draft findings in the business plan from consultant AMS …
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Kimmel Bogrette Architecture and Ballard*King and Associates Ltd. Recreation Facility Planning met with Montgomery Township supervisors recently to review potential ideas for the future community center
How would a new community recreation center in Montgomeryville fit you? Do you prefer small, medium or large? According to Dan Sokil of The Reporter, Montgomery Township Supervisors are mulling over those three sizes as it compares to options for the future community center at a 13-acre parcel at Stump and Horsham roads. None of the options call for a library, which was one of the top-desired amenities requested by residents at a prior public meeting. Along with supervisors and township staff, the brain trust figuring out the purposes and amenities of the center are Kimmel Bogrette Architecture + Site and Ballard*King and Associates Ltd. Recreation Facility Planning. Last week, the two firms met with supervisors at an evening public …
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Ballard*King & Associates Recreation Facility Planning and Kimmel-Bogrette Architecture + Site will meet with Montgomery Township Supervisors at a public meeting to update them on information received thus far on the project
At the start of their needs assessment and feasibility study on a future multipurpose community recreation center in Montgomery Township, Ballard*King & Associates Recreation Facility Planning and Kimmel-Bogrette Architecture + Site held a public information gathering session in July. Now, on August 22 at 5 p.m., the two firms will meet with supervisors in a public meeting to review the information they have gathered from that session. "The process started in July. We had a community meeting and a number of workshop meetings with the consultants. The meeting here was well attended, full house, and a lot of good comments were passed forward to the consultants," said township Manager Larry Gregan at Monday night's board of supervisors …
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Kathleen Arnold-Yerger informed supervisors about the popularity of e-books at Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library and her hopes for the future of the Bookmobile in the township
Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library has $9,000 more to its coffers, thanks to a contribution Monday night from Montgomery Township. Executive director Kathleen Arnold-Yerger was there to accept the check and she filled in supervisors and the public in attendance on e-books and her dream for the future of the Bookmobile. Arnold-Yerger said the library now has more than 11,000 titles for e-readers like Kindles and Nooks. "I think since last year we tripled the circulation with e-books. We can't keep up with the requests for e-books," she said. "You don't have to purchase them; you borrow your e-books from the library. You can choose to have it for seven, 14 or 21 days. That's up to you as a reader." On day 14, for instance, poof - …
Friday, July 13, 2012
Montgomery Township on Wednesday held a public input session for the needs assessment and feasibility study on the future community recreation center to be built at Stump and Horsham roads
A library, pools, meeting rooms and a skate park - such were the main wishes of Montgomery Township residents for the proposed community and recreation center at Stump and Horsham roads. On Wednesday, the township held a public input meeting as part of the needs assessment and feasibility study for the future center. The meeting was overseen by township Manager Larry Gregan, Ballard*King & Associates Recreation Facility Planning President Ken Ballard, and Kimmel-Bogrette Architecture + Site owner Martin Kimmel and associate John Trump. Kimmel told the packed meeting room that his firm's goal for the township is extraordinary solutions for ordinary budgets. "Part and parcel to everything we do is how can we fiscally manage community …
Jim Roberts
7:32 am on Tuesday, April 9, 2013
I guess the township is now competing with the local gyms, ymca, and coffee shops. All subsidized by the local taxpayers. more ›