Warrington residents gathered at the July supervisors meeting to discuss a pending road repaving project in Alou Village, one of the township’s oldest developments, and one that, according to Supervisor Michael Diorka, was “neglected for years.”
Alou Village is located off Valley Road along Triumphe Way, Monaco Drive and Lorraine Drive.
Warrington residents and taxpayers voiced concerns at the meeting that the township poorly communicated what was coming.
Carolyn Rosner, of Triumphe Way, said she recently found markings in various colors all around the sidewalks at her home and felt someone from the township ought to have visited the neighborhood to let residents know what was going on.
One resident questioned, “Why does all this work need to be done? It doesn’t seem like the slabs are a detriment to peoples walking ability.”
Officials noted that the residents will be notified ahead of time when the roads become paved before they are actually paved.
“Anytime we do any road work in any neighborhood, we always check curbs and sidewalks,” interim township manager Lee Greenwood said.
Curbs and sidewalks need to be repaired and, in some cases, replaced, before the roads can be paved, he explained.
The job was expected to be done last year, but there were changes to the board and the civil engineer and the budget was reopened at the end of February. The new engineer reanalyzed the original documents and recalculated the project’s budget.
The township has hired Carroll Engineering Corp., a civil engineering firm that offers wastewater engineering and surveying, as well as CKS Engineers, a consulting engineering firm specializing in services to local municipalities.
Many residents felt they needed clearer information and direction on how to proceed. For the curbs and sidewalks, residents were given the option to contract the work independently or have the township perform the job at the homeowners’ expense.
Initially, the residents’ deadline for letting the township know was Aug. 2.
The board realized the dates were too aggressive, so residents now have until the middle of the month to decide if they want the township to complete the work or hire their own contractors.
The roadwork will be done between September and November. The board does not have an exact schedule, as it is up to the contractor, but it is clear that the curbs and the sidewalks will be done before the roads.
Residents will not be required to pay for permits, but officials could not estimate what the township would bill the residents for doing the work as a baseline for the residents who are obtaining independent estimates.
Rosner advocated for a case-by-case approach.
“Every property in Warrington is different…a one-size-fits-all solution doesn’t seem fair or practical,” she said. “I respectfully ask that the town provide individual assessments and look at each property as a unique situation.”
The board reaffirmed that it’d work hard to make customer service and communication a primary goal going forward.
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