Perkasie is holding a special meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 8 in borough hall, 620 W. Chestnut St., to work on an updated comprehensive plan. It will be a joint meeting of the borough council, planning commission and parks and recreation board.
The Bucks County Planning Commission, which is helping the borough prepare the plan, will discuss how it will use a visioning process to identify community concerns and issues.
Development of the new plan will take about a year and involve monthly meetings.
The second meeting, scheduled for September, will be town hall style and encourage public input.
Perkasie plans to answer the following questions as it revises its comprehensive plan: Where is the borough today? What are the trends for the future? Where does the borough want to be? How do we achieve our goals?
Instead of being open from 11am-8pm for recreational swim, the last week of August the pool is scheduled to be open from 4pm-8pm. Pennridge does not begin school until after Labor Day which is Monday Sept 3.
In light of recent events at the pool including midnight drinking parties, a near-drowing incident, and criticism from some residents about how the pool is being run; do you think our council should take more of an interest in this centerpiece of our town? Or should they just put blind trust in a management that has shown some serious lapses in judgment?
At least one councilperson thinks that council should have no business at the pool other than recreation and criticized 2 others via email for taking an interest in the pool, accusing them of "covert action" and "spying on employees". What do residents think?
The Summer Concert Series is every Wednesday from 7-9pm in Menlo Park. Bring you lawnchairs and coolers and enjoy some music! From the boro website regarding tonights performer:
A new addition to our summer concert series is an award-winning performer and the #1 Elvis impersonator in Pennsylvania, "Elvis" Brad Crum! Come and hear the soul and sound of a legend!
The meeting agenda can be found here . Council voted to deny changing N. 8th Street at Callowhill into a 1-way street after speaking with several neighbors and discussion at the past few meetings.
Council also voted to approve a paving project worth $212,000 to pave Third St from Market to Callowhill and Chestnut St from 5th to 7th.
There was discussion on the borough's workers compensation dilemma. They have been dropped by their current insurer because of excess of claims and Finance director Joe Berardi explained that after speaking with the borough's broker as well as another broker that the options are limited because of their claims experience. Manager Dan Olpere said that the best option would be to go with DVIT who also writes the liability coverage for the borough and several times mentioned an additional discount of $5,000 that would be gained by having another policy with them. Not once did anyone mention the cost. Well according to an article published the next day in the Intelligencer found here we will be paying an additional $20,000 next year for a total of $153,000. The residents are adults and should be told the whole picture not simply have sunshine attempted to be blown into our bottoms. Another indication of the failure of leadership that Perkasie Borough continues to have.
Council under direction of President Aigeldinger held a 2nd public discussion on the proposed zoning ordinance to comply with County demands and the motion passed 7-2. UN Agenda 21 foisted on our community for the sake of a few dollars. This is the same motion that failed 6-3 at the last meeting and the County sent a letter which did not clearly indicate how Perkasie's zoning ordinance on minimum size requirements for garden apartments constituted discrimination but council was bullied into a majority which approved it. In fact if you read the words of the Assistant General Counsel for HUD in 1995 he clearly states there are in fact minimum size requirements for dwellings that fall under HUD guidelines. So here we have a bureaucracy that on one hand says there must be a minimum size for dwellings but then attempts to force communities to do away with them using the carrot of grant dollars. Only Councilpersons Stottlar and Ryder did their research and understood that this was not a good move for Perkasie.
Part 1 of 3
Part 2 of 3 - Discussion on putting security cameras at Menlo Pool. Do you want cameras at your pool? Or do you want better management? Also discussion on making part of N 8th Street a one-way. Several residents address council concerning drug crime in town and the Chief Gura responds. Will council show leadership and direct the police to initiate another Town Watch program among residents? Councilwoman Frei was a big part of this program back in the day and we are waiting for her to step up and show some leadership.
Council met last night in the wake of the police shooting and the near-drowning incident at Menlo Aquatics center. They wisely decided not to comment or discuss the shooting until all the facts were in and the Bucks County DA issued a report. The incident at the Aquatics center received a little attention with council members agreeing to visit the pool on a future date to review procedures especially the lazy river which is where the incident took place.
You can watch video of the meeting below in 2 parts, sorry for the sound quality the accoustics and PA system at borough hall leave a lot to be desired. What do you expect for $4.3 Million renovation?
Part 2 has an interesting comment from Councilperson Steve Pizzollo at the 20:13 mark. A resident had spoken up in public comment at the beginning of the meeting about an email sent by another resident concerning the near-drowning incident at the pool and serious concerns about the safety plan and employees of the pool- that other resident was unable to make the meeting. Pizzollo commented that if there were a problem at the pool that the room would have been packed and said "this one individual complaint isn't even worthwhile paying attention to"
In other business there was a tabling of the public hearing on the proposed zoning ordinance amendment related to the Federal Fair Housing act because a letter from the Bucks Co planning commission had only been received a few hours before the meeting. The county had previously stated that Perkasie needed to change its definition of "family" and also remove the minimum size requirements for garden and conversion apartments to comply with the Fair Housing Act and be eligible to continue to receive grant money.
Also the borough Master electric plan presented in May was approved. This sets a timeframe for advance purchases of power in blocks to help diversify the purchasing and hopefully help level prices in the future.
Council voted to spend $600 on upgrades to the bike path crossing at Callowhill Street. Even though it is state law that drivers have to yield to pedestrians in any crosswalk there was comment made that bikers often ride right across.
Next council meeting is Monday July 2. Please remember to sign up for our email group to have the agenda forwarded the Friday before the meeting, just enter your email in the box on the top right of the blog.
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