Developer Promises to Reimburse Township For Unfinished Paving

Galloway residents driving down Quince Avenue already have smooth sailing, and soon, it looks as though the township will as well.

As reported by Galloway Patch in March, the builder who developed about half of Quince and some other areas of the township went bankrupt before the entire street could be finished. As a result, the street was never paved. That developer put a deposit with a bond company, which still had the money as of March.

That’s when the township intensified its efforts to get its money back and make sure the street was finished being paved. The township repaved the road, but there is still some cleanup to be done.

According to a brief discussion at Tuesday night’s council meeting, the developer is back on board, and will reimburse the township for work it performed earlier this year. It will finish the remaining cleanup that needs to be done, as well.

A preliminary agreement has been reached, although nothing has been put in writing yet, according to Township Solicitor Michael Fitzgerald.  He expects something official at the Oct. 8 meeting.

“It’s the same developer and the same bond company,” Mayor Don Purdy said. “We filed legal papers and when the developers realized we were serious, they agreed to come back. We were going to pave the rest of it and get reimbursed, but they can do it cheaper and they’re on the hook for it legally.”

Pending an official agreement, work is expected to be complete by the second week of December, Purdy said.

As a result of this situation, the township is considering an ordinance calling for developers to make a down payment, with the percentage determined by the developer’s credit rating, before it begins doing work. Developers with bad credit may have to put down as much as 10 percent. 

“It was debated back and forth because we didn’t want to penalize developers who had good credit,” Councilman Jim McElwee said. “Sometimes a developer runs out of money before a project is complete and they just can’t finish it. This protects the township against that.”

Discussion began at the June 11 meeting. The township planner and the engineer are discussing possible solutions. Only residential development is being considered, according to the meeting minutes.