Chalfont Borough Council tabled Northern Neshaminy Greenway Trail’s construction at this month’s council meeting due to unrelenting push-back from determined Patriot Drive residents.
Previously, the council had stated the trail project would be put on hold after a similar situation occurred at the May 9 meeting. However, in the time between then and now, the council organized an easement agreement with Northeast Fitness Solutions Inc., giving the borough access to the land necessary for Trail B, the second half of the trail construction project.
On Aug. 8, the council voted 6-1 to accept the easement offered by Northeast Fitness Solutions Inc.
But council also voted 6-1 to table a scheduled vote to award a contract for Northern Neshaminy Greenway Trail Project construction.
Patriot Drive residents showed up to the meeting en masse to argue against the project’s continuation. Their properties lie adjacent to where trail would be laid.
Common concerns include privacy, flooding and displaced animals caused by tree removal. Similar concerns were voiced at the council’s May meeting regarding Trail A construction.
Recently, Patriot Drive residents also questioned whether the borough has the necessary permits to lawfully complete construction. According to Borough Manager Shawn Curran, the council applied for a joint permit with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in early May. It isn’t expected to be approved until Sept. 21.
Borough council applied for and, on April 21, received a grant for $249,971 to fund the Northern Neshaminy Greenway Trail project. It is scheduled to expire on June 30, 2024. This puts a soft time limit on the council to complete the project before the grant’s expiration date.
Part of the trail’s construction involved installing a double culvert over a portion of a nearby stream. This seemed to reverse the direction of the stream’s flow.
According to one resident’s research, that stream is subject to environmental protections in Pennsylvania’s Chapter 93 regulations. If true, altering a Chapter 93 stream is no small matter, requiring additional written permits from Pennsylvania’s DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers, in addition to approval from the Fish and Boat Commission.
If the borough fails to receive the necessary approvals and permits, it could be fined, one resident pointed out.
Council President John Engel responded that if the fines were based on previously done work, there was nothing the borough could do now to avoid them.
“My answer was not meant to be flip,” Engel later said in an email. “It was simply to say we would take responsibility for what we did, and if necessary make corrections and also that we would pay any fines assessed if they were valid.”
Brian Hensel, a Patriot Drive resident responsible for rallying many of his neighbors to attend the council meeting in protest of the trail, does not understand why the council wouldn’t apply for an extension to the grant instead of scrambling to do everything last-minute.
Hensel is not inherently against trails in the area. In fact, he and many other residents are willing to compromise with Trail A only being constructed, as the space for it has already been cleared and cannot be undone.
The majority of council, however, remains set on completing the project as it was planned and written back in 2010.
In an email after the meeting, council president Engel restated points previously made by the borough, such as that there are people from Patriot Drive who support the trail. In a different email, Engel said he had talked to three residents in favor of the project, all of whom wished to remain anonymous and declined to be interviewed.
Councilwoman Marilyn Jacobson, the only member of the council to vote against tabling the trail construction project, declined to give any further comment or answer any further questions regarding the subject.
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