Lower Makefield police to benefit from building project

Lower Makefield Township police detectives will have a lot more room fairly soon after the board of supervisors voted 4-1 at its Dec. 21 meeting to approve a $211,966 renovation at the township building on Edgewood Road.
The contract awarded to low bidder S.J. Thomas will involve work on a large part of the building’s second floor resulting in space for offices, interviews, storage and other functions for detectives, who are squeezed in the space they have now. The contract with S.J. Thomas also allows for an amount not to exceed $5,000 for potential changes.
The contract price is above the $200,000 budgeted for the work but well below bids received several weeks ago in the mid-$300,000s, township Engineer Andy Pockl said.
Supervisor Daniel Grenier was the lone no vote after suggesting the township should instead do a comprehensive study of the space and other needs of all departments.
Police Chief-Interim Manager Ken Coluzzi said he agreed such an analysis is “long overdue” but would take a long time.
“In the meantime, this is a great fix for a great price,” Coluzzi added.
In other news from the Dec. 21 meeting, several residents strongly encouraged the township to consider purchasing 6.4 acres near the Delaware Canal and the border with Yardley Borough. The parcel, if acquired, would combine with 3 adjacent acres Lower Makefield already owns to form 9.4 acres of continuous open space.

Property owner Joe Jennings, who attended the meeting, has expressed a willingness to sell the 6.4 acres to an entity that would preserve it from development. Yardley Borough Council sent a letter to its neighbor in late November urging Lower Makefield officials to strongly consider acquiring the land.
“It needs to be opened up to the public,” Jennings said.
Lower Makefield Solicitor David Truelove said the supervisors are weighing whether to pursue a purchase, conservation easement or some other method of preserving the land as open space. Residents at the meeting suggested the 9.4 acres would make a really nice passive recreation park.
“This board looks constantly at opportunities,” Truelove said. “The township would be constrained on how much it could spend. There would have to be an independent appraisal of the land and at some point (if the matter moves forward), a meeting of the minds with Mr. Jennings on price and other things.”
The supervisors also voted unanimously to approve matching funds of $26,100 for a PA Small Water and Sewer grant application that, if approved, would help fund Phase Two of the Maplevale drainage improvement project scheduled to start sometime in the spring.
Phase One should be completed by the end of January, Pockl said.

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