Middletown Speaks On Rails To Trails Plans

About 30 residents attended s regular meeting on Monday night, where discussion—and an hour-long public comment section—focused on the Rails-to-Trails project. Ultimately, council tabled voting on the plans until the Dec. 12 council meeting.

The Rails-to-Trails project, if plans are accepted by council, will convert a 2.8-mile stretch of unused SEPTA line between Chester Creek Road and Lenni Road into a 10-foot paved trail. (See the above PDF file of the project's plans). The project has been in the works for years, according to Council Chairman Scott Galloway.

A preliminary development plan was presented to council on Sept. 26. At that time, council voted unanimously to table the plan until several problems were addressed, particularly stormwater management issues and security concerns.

Steve Todd, of Wilson Consulting Group, came before council on Monday night, along with members of the Friends of Chester Creek Branch, the nonprofit that will oversee the trail.

Todd said that Township Manager Bruce Clark had provided Wilson Consulting Group with a list of conditions by which the plan needed to abide.

"We do, in general, agree with those," Todd said. "We do not believe there is anything … insurmountable that we can't agree with and can't acquire."

Todd said an agreement had been reached with the tenants of the nearby Linvill estate in regards to stormwater storage on their land.

"We're right there," said Steve Linvill. "We haven't signed anything but we're in agreement—we're behind the Rails-to-Trails program. … I feel very comfortable with that."

Several members of the public were not quite as comfortable with the Trails-to-Rails plans because of the potential impact on their own properties.

Liability Concerns

Paul Disciascio, president of the Glenloch Homeowners Association, expressed concern with the proximity of the trail to homes in the development and requested that the homeowners association be coinsured.

"Our concern is liability—we consider the trail an attractive nuisance and the problem is going to be kids," he said.

Disciascio said that teenagers are already causing disturbances along the current trail, and paving a trail would provide mischievous teens easier access and likely create more problems.

Furthermore, if someone climbed up the slope to the private properties above and then injured himself on a homeowner's property, Disciascio worried that the homeowners association would be sued.

"In theory what is proposed sounds great, but … at some point, at some time, something's going to happen," he told council.

Mike Fusco, president of the Friends of Chester Creek Branch, disagreed. A paved trail will bring more people to the trail, yes, but that will likely discourage vandalism, he said. Plus, there are laws protecting homeowners from liability suits, and if the Glenloch Homeowners Association was coinsured, other homeowners associations, private property owners and businesses would also have to be accepted as coinsurers.

"It's just not feasible," Fusco said.

Parking and Traffic Concerns

Other residents worried about increased traffic and parking problems at the trail's midpoint along Mt. Alverno Road, especially because there will be no parking provided there.

"During fishing season, there are about 20 to 30 cars parked on that road, in our development, on our private property. What are you going to do to prevent that from getting much, much worse if that's the access point?" asked one resident.

Fusco said he did not anticipate a big traffic increase at the trail center, but rather at the trail's two endpoints, where there will be parking lots. One possible solution to the problem along Mt. Alverno Road would be if the township designated it a no parking area.

Flooding Issues

Resident Gene Morra said he worried about additional development in an area that is already riddled with flooding problems.

"At Old Mill Point, the water is coming off with a strength that can knock down trees," Morra said. "… The road floods at least 10 times a year, and at times, [the force] peels away the asphalt on the road. It exceeds the water table level by 12 feet at times."

Morra worried about the planned removal of a culvert between the rail bed and Old Mill Point that acts as a funnel, diverting water.

"In essence, you're streamlining the water's ability to get down to the creek," he said. "… And the existing channels can't handle the volume of water already there."

A related issue of concern for Morra is the ability of fill to absorb the runoff water. Fusco said the plans are to use zero percent net fill on the site—meaning that the fill will come from the railbed itself. Morra asked that the group do core samples of the railbed to ensure that the material could help absorb the flow.

"I want people to take into account all the facts and all the history," Morra said. "I want this project to be done, and I want to it be done right. I don't want to see it blown off a year later because of water."

Fusco responded that the project engineering should actually cause a significant improvement in flow in the area.

Preliminary Plan Tabled

Council voted unanimously to table the plans once again until Dec. 12.

Between now and the next meeting, Fusco will speak with the nonprofit's attorney about potential liability issues for the Glenloch Homeowners Association. Also, Fusco and other members of Friends of the Chester Creek Branch will meet with Morra and others interested in walking the Mt. Alverno section of the trail to point out potential problems. All are welcome to the walk, which will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3 at Mt. Alverno Rd.

John Paulson, treasurer of the Friends of the Chester Creek Branch, asked everyone to consider the fact that funding will soon run out for the project.

"There's a very short time window in which our funding runs out and this becomes useless," Paulson said. "If we come to three more meetings with three more residents with three more problems… we might never get to completion."

"I think we're all committed to not letting this project fall through the tracks," Galloway said. "But problems have arisen this evening, and hopefully by Dec. 12 [they're resolved]."