Paper Mill Road Is a Dedicated Township Road

In a previous post, I wrote about a new resident on Paper Mill Road who was seeking to have a portion of the road closed. This portion of road has been used by many township residents as a means to access the many walking trails and parks in Radnor Township. It is a unique township asset which has been enjoyed by residents for years. 

In that post, I recounted that last fall, Township Manager Mike Trio met with the new resident and subsequently stated at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting that he told David Brehman, the new resident, “to petition the board to vacate township property." 

Trio also told Brehman that if the township were to consider this action, Brehman would be responsible to create a turn around or "T" so that traffic could turn around on Paper Mill Road which is a dead-end road. 

At this same meeting, Brehman apparently said to have concurred with what was required. It seems to me that Mr. Trio may have left the homeowner with the impression that closing this road was just a matter of process. At that meeting, township resident Paul Guest commented, “The property owner is trying to grab up township property.”  I asked at the meeting, “What’s to settle?  If it’s a public road, they have no right to do what they’ve done.”

Since that meeting and another Board of Supervisors’ meetings, where there have been updates of this issue township officials have been given a document that shows that the portion of the road in question was dedicated to the township. In fact, it was dedicated in 1836. 

In my view, it is incredible and I am grateful that residents were able to track down this information and to make clear the history of this road. Now, there would appear to be no confusion as to who owns the portion of the road that was questioned—the taxpayers of Newtown Township. 

Although the new resident is no longer attempting to discourage the use of this public portion of road, I hope with the information officials now have that there no longer will be discussion of privatizing any portion of the road. 

At the public meeting where township , they asked those who lived on Paper Mill Road and Paper Mill Lane, if possible, to designate a small group of residents with whom they could meet. At that meeting, I commented that any township resident who was interested should be allowed to meet and hear about this issue.  

The supervisors agreed and asked residents who were interested in attending any meetings about Paper Mill Road to let Township Solicitor Rich Sokorai know that they want to be invited to any meetings.

The day after that meeting I sent the following email and received this reply from Mr. Sokorai:

From: Richard C. Sokorai [mailto:rsokorai@highswartz.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 12:16 PM
To: 'pawils@comcast.net'
Subject: RE: Paper Mill Road

No problem.

Rich Sokorai

From: pawils@comcast.net [mailto:pawils@comcast.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 11:26 AM
To: Richard C. Sokorai
Subject: Paper Mill Road

Good Morning, Rich,

     Please add me to the list of those who would like to attend any meetings and/or presentations and/or discussions concerning Paper Mill Road/Lane as discussed at last night's BOS meeting.

                      Thank you,  Patti Wilson

Imagine to my surprise when I attended Monday night’s Board of Supervisors' meeting and learned from a Paper Mill Lane resident that, in fact, Mr. Sokorai had met with a group of Paper Mill Road/Lane residents and had not notified me about attending the meeting.  When he was asked why I was not invited, here was Mr. Sokorai response:

Patti:

I received an email from Regi Siberski implying that I somehow excluded you from a settlement meeting on the 44 Paper Mill Road issue.  Such a meeting never occurred.  I did meet with several Paper Mill Road Road/Lane residents at their request to discuss status.  There were no settlement negotiations. 

Rich

Pretty clear, I think, that I was specifically excluded from this meeting. I don’t know why but I’ve again asked to be included in the future. If you are a township resident and are interested in being included in any meetings about this issue or have any opinion about this issue, email Township Manager Trio and the Board of Supervisors at triom@newtowntwpdelco.org.   

Come to the public meetings and visit the township website for updates at newtowntownship.org. My thanks to the residents who were integral in helping to resolve the Paper Mill Road issue. Your involvement is welcome and important.