Middletown Twp. Council Approves Rails to Trails

Council approved the Rails-to-Trails project at its meeting Monday night.

Council voted unanimously to approve the project which will convert a 2.8-mile stretch of unused SEPTA line between Chester Creek Road and Lenni Road into a 10-foot paved trail for walking, running and biking.

Council had to address resident concerns but ultimately said it believes the trail will better the township as a whole.

Friends of the Chester Creek Branch, which will construct and maintain the project, addressed a few of the resident's concerns prior to the vote. John Paulson, treasurer for FOCCB, gave a short presentation.

Significant portions of the trail are not "at grade" level with homeowner's properties and water run-off has been properly engineered. "No Parking" signs will be placed at Mount Alverno Road trail crossing and Old Mill Pointe and parking tickets will be issued. Fencing will be built to discourage parking by the Chester Creek bridge near Mount Alverno Road.

Unauthorized motor vehicles, like ATVs, will be discouraged by signage, fencing and bollards or gates but emergency vehicles will still have access to the trail.

Friends of the Chester Creek Branch estimated an annual cost of $8,000 to $10,000 for maintenance of the trail and estimates that with the sale of rail scrape metal and other resources four to five years of maintenance is fully funded. They also expect community groups to "adopt" parts of the trail once it is completed and mitigate some maintenance costs, Paulson said.

Pennsylvania State Police and Delaware County Park Police will keep the trail safe and secure.

It was determined that by state law, homeowners are not legally liable for incidents that may happen on the trail with a few minor exceptions including if a homeowner charged admittance to the trail.

Paulson said FOCCB will work with and communicate with homeowners and the township before, during and after construction and encouraged residents to reach out to them with any issues.

"We probably won't make everyone happy. But nobody will walk away with less than they started with," Paulson said.

"This is a unique project," he said. "When was the last time somebody offered to spend $3 or $4 million, 99.99 percent of which was acquired outside the township. There's no additional housing density, no additonal population density and we're not going to make a penny on the project."

A few residents were not supportive of the trail or not supportive of the trail "in their backyard."

One resident liked the idea of the trail but was not happy with a public parking lot being constructed just a few hundred feet from his property.

Paulson said that parking lot had been cut down from 40 spaces to 10 and additional berm, trees and fencing will also be constructed to help visually obstruct the parking lot from the nearby homes.

Other residents, who live near other trails in the area and haven't had any problems, were happy about the township's approval and reassured residents that they haven't had any issues with trails in their own backyards.

FOCCB hopes to go out for bid on the project in the spring.