Horsham Friends Meeting Public Hearing Set

HORSHAM TOWNSHIP, PA —Horsham Friends will be before the Horsham Township Council at the end of the month for a public hearing on whether it can use some old classrooms.

At its recent meeting, the council approved a date for a conditional use hearing for Horsham Friends Meeting, which wants to use classrooms in its main building on 500 Easton Rd. in addition to its school on Meetinghouse Road.

The hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Aug. 28.

Township Manager Bill Walker said that Horsham Friends Meeting had concerns about building a school too close to the runway when the Navy base was in full operation a few years ago.

He said the Quakers were using the Quakerhouse, where the school classrooms were but couldn't go back and use them again at the time.

Now that Horsham Friends Meeting is at full capacity with its new school, even with an addition a few years ago, it is seeking to use the classroom space for pre-k and kindergarten.

In other township business:

The council unanimously approved an amended proposal at its July 24 meeting from Appraisal Review Specialists for its right-of-way acquisition work for the Horsham Road and Limekiln Pike Intersection Improvement Project. The $27,500 cost to the township is covered by a grant.

Walker said that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation requires the township to have an independent review to make sure the acquisition work was done correctly.

The township must use a PennDOT-certified company, the same one the township used for its Blair Mill Road project, Walker said.

He said since the appraisals have expired, the township needs them redone. He said the council needed to amend the agreement so the work could continue.

The council's next meeting is Wednesday.