HBA Newswatch
February 25, 2008
DEVELOPERS WEIGH IN ON ROUTE 100
By Evan Brandt, ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
UPPER POTTSGROVE — The effort to figure out the best road configuration to allow Route 100 and State Street to handle traffic from the proposed Upland Square shopping center may be about to become more complicated.
Two men who control two parcels adjacent to the 700,000-square-foot project approached the township commissioners last week and expressed “serious concerns” about how their properties could be affected by changes to the roadways there.
Tim Specht, who said he controls four acres off Route 100, and Anthony Gambone, who said he owns property on State Street, both spoke to the commissioners.
“We have serious concerns on what ultimately is going to be done there,” said Specht.
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BOROUGH TO HIKE FEES FOR PERMITS
WEST CHESTER SAYS NEW RATES WILL COVER ADMINISTRATION COSTS
By ANNE PICKERING, Staff Writer
WEST CHESTER — Residents and developers alike will face sharply increased permit fees relating to conditional-use and liquor-license transfer applications following Borough Council’s vote Wednesday.
Residents will pay double what they paid last year, with the conditional-use fee rising from $200 to $400.
Developers filing a conditional-use application for a commercial property will pay $1,200 instead of $600.
The permit fee for liquor-license transfer applications will rise from $600 to $1,000.
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OFFICIALS PLAN SEWAGE SYSTEM ALONG ROUTE 401
TOWNSHIP SAYS SOLUTION NEEDED FOR ABOUT 80 HOMES WITH FAILING SEPTIC SYSTEMS AND POTENTIALLY 245 MORE HOMES IN SOUTHERN CORRIDOR
By DANIELLE LYNCH, Staff Writer
WEST PIKELAND — Township officials say a public sewage system is needed for homes with failing septic systems in the township’s southern end.
According to Township Manager Jeri Diesinger, 80 homes have failing septic systems. But the township is looking at a general area that includes about 325 homes on both sides on Route 401 from Byers Road east to Lower Pine Creek Road.
Homes in the Twin Hill and Pickering Meadow developments already have public sewage.
Officials are not considering a project to replace sewage collection for the entire township, Diesinger said. And just those residents living in the 80 homes with failing systems will have to pay for the remedy, he said.
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UPPER POTTSGROVE TRAIL HINGES ON DEVELOPERS' HELP
By Evan Brandt, ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
UPPER POTTSGROVE — Even if the township obtains the three parcels “crucial” to the establishment of a 4-mile trail system along Sprogel’s Run, another obstacle may remain.
They are not obstacles of water or earth or wood, but rather of paper, legal agreements and lawsuits.
Part of the trail system depends on plans by two developers who pledged, as part of their final site plan approvals, to build trails through their developments.
One is known as the Althouse subdivision, on which Danny Jake Corporation intends to build 22 homes on 17 acres of land near the intersection of Gilbertsville and Snyder roads.
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GREEN NEEDN'T MEAN SMALL
Builders say a desire to be environmentally sound does not diminish a craving for space.
By Dina ElBoghdady
Washington Post
The house Joe Monfredo built in Davidsonville, Md., has seven bedrooms, 61/2 baths and four fireplaces. It's almost five times the size of the typical new American house.
And it's good for the planet, Monfredo says.
"Green" and "big" hardly seem compatible concepts. After all, one is synonymous with conservation, the other closely linked with waste. Yet some eco-conscious houses these days are not just big, they're huge, and the relationship between size and greenness is not as clear-cut as one might think.
All else being equal, a small house is more eco-friendly than a large one. It uses less raw material, emits less greenhouse gas, and is more energy-efficient simply because it's smaller.
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ON THE HOUSE: RECESSION IS TRICKY TO PIN DOWN
By Al Heavens
Recession fears getting you down? Don't worry. We've been in one since December, PMI Group chief economist and senior vice president David W. Berson told a news conference at the recent International Builders Show in Orlando.
The good news is that Berson, who considers himself an eternal pessimist, believes the recession will be "short and mild."
The Federal Reserve's "expansionary monetary policy will make it so," Berson said, because there can be a lag of six to 18 months before a change in monetary policy affects the economy.
"If the Fed didn't start easing [monetary policy] until August, there won't be positive benefits until the third quarter of 2008, although we'll see the economy accelerate some in the second half in response," he said.
Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft wasn't willing to commit to a nationwide recession yet, but he acknowledged that there was a strong risk of one, and that regions such as the Great Lakes, with a "lousy economy and no employment growth" were already deep in recession.
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