Selection of Township Property for the Construction of Municipal Buildings to Serve the Township (2020-2022)
After the decision in April of 2020 to sell the wastewater system to Pennsylvania American Water, the Township moved to fulfill the intended uses of the proceeds. The intent of the proceeds is to retire all debt, to secure the pension funds, and to solve the Township’s infrastructure (building) issues. The Township has completed the first two items, debt and pension fund restoration. In concert with the third intent of infrastructure solutions, this paper discusses the decision-making process concerning the selection of the municipal building site. The Township considered three major questions regarding the site: to repair or build, to use Township ground or purchase new, and to decide on the actual ground itself. The Township’s conclusion was to build, to use Township ground, and to use ground located at 370 Evans Road.
The First Major Decision: Repair or Build
The first major decision the Township needed to consider for infrastructure was to either build new or repair the old buildings. The Township completed a building study of the Township’s structures (the administration building as well as the police and public works building) at the end of 2018. The study concluded that it would cost $4,136,475 to repair and operate the standing buildings over ten years whereas a new facility at the same square footage would be $3,135,000 over the same operational period of ten years. The decision to construct new was based on the lower cost using the ten-year model as well as negating the threat of additional repair costs of the old buildings in the years beyond the ten-year model and that the projected operational costs of the new facility would be less than half of the old ones.
The Second Major Decision: Use Township Ground or Purchase New Ground
During the infrastructure (buildings) planning process the Township worked during the wastewater system sale closing period (a two-year, two-month process), the Township determined that it would save a considerable amount of money if the Township used its own property for the municipal building site. Essentially, the decision to use Township property was based on either spending $250,000 to $500,000 to purchase new land or to spend no funds at all. The other factor in the decision was the limited availability of suitable ground; there were not many choices. The ground the Township chose is a 1.6 acre plot of land within the 36.47 acre area of Township real estate known as the “Smola” property located at 370 Evans Road. The property lies off Farmington Road as the road crosses Highway 100 traveling West then turn to the right onto West Moyer Road; the site is about midway down on the left.
The Third Major Decision: Selection of Township Property
Given the decision to use Township property, the Township evaluated its real estate inventory against the criteria below.
- Central location
- Big Enough
- Easily Accessible
- Room Between Municipal Building and Residential Housing
- Least Disturbance to Residents
- Can Be Tied to the Township Trail Plan
- Room to Expand
- Support Municipal Buildings from an Engineering Standpoint
The Evans Road location best fits this criteria. Of the 48 properties the Township owns, only 3 sites were close enough to the criteria for selection: 370 Evans Road (34.47 acres, both sides, East and West, off West Moyer Road), and 1458 Chestnut Grove Road (15.84 acres). From a criteria standpoint, Hollenbach Park, Prout Farm Park, Heather Place Park could have been candidates, but they are all popular parks and have a lesser value as they relate to the criteria vs the top three contenders.
The current sites of the Township buildings—the Firehouse off Farmington Road and the Police and Public Works building—both have size and engineering issues (topography, ground) as well as housing of the Township staff during construction. Both these properties have potential resale values to offset construction costs or other uses that would benefit the Township. The rest of the Township’s properties don’t meet the size requirements or are heavily wooded.
370 Evans Road beat out Chestnut Grove from a central location, easily accessible, and from a tied to the Township’s trail plan criteria. The final selection of the 370 Evans Road site, West side, was better from an aesthetic and accessibility point of view than 370 Evans Road, East side.
Financial Considerations
In conjugation with retiring all debt after the closing of the wastewater system sale, the Township paid off the Open Space Fund’s current outstanding debt of $ 1,756,019. This payment avoided an additional interest payment of $247,817 if the debt had continued to maturity. This decision allowed the Township to establish its own repayment structure between the Open Space Fund and General Fund as well. Going forward, the Township could structure the $1,756,019 outstanding Open Space debt owed to the General Fund anyway the Board of Commissioners deems appropriate, for example, as one payment each year without any interest charges or any other reasonable method. It is appropriate as well that the Township credit the Open Space Fund debt with the value of the ground used for the municipal building. Given that the 370 Evans Road property cost was $450,000 @ 36.47 acres, the credit to the debt would be $19,742.25.
Legal Considerations and Engineering
Current and past Township solicitors have examined all of the available documents concerning the Evans Road “Smola” property and have determined that the Township has the authority to the use the property for municipal purposes, including municipal buildings, support facilities, and recreation amenities. After completing a positive engineering assessment, the Township decided to construct the current design of the municipal buildings utilizing the proceeds generated from the sale of the wastewater treatment facility (Third major Township decision discussed above).