Shenandoah Woods Work Wrapping Up In Warminster

WARMINSTER, PA —With a $600,000 state grant awarded for the demolition of Shenandoah Woods, nearly half of that money has been designated to remove concrete slabs that remain at the abandoned U.S. Navy Department property.

State Sen. Frank Farry —who now represents Warminster —had appeared before Warminster Township Supervisors at its meeting earlier this month to present the $600,000 ceremonial check along with new State Rep. and former Warminster Supervisor Brian Munroe.

"We don't have the check," Supervisors Chairman Kenneth Hayes said.

Munroe —who had the check —was delayed, showing up with the giant check at the end of the meeting to the chuckles of supervisors.

Over the past few months, Shenandoah Woods has undergone a transformation as homes have been torn down to make way for its conversion to a township park.

The Shenandoah Woods Improvement and Revitalization Project has been part of a decades-long effort to repurpose the former residential development.

The property was approved to be razed in 2012 after being designated as a blighted area in 2011 by the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority and the Warminster planning commission, given the area’s inadequate planning, faulty street layout, and economically undesirable land use.

"This is a new community and new representation for me," Farry said. "We can now get the rest of this project cleaned up."

Township Manager Tom Scott had told supervisors that about 200 building slabs needed removal at a cost of $289,000.

"The slabs will be out very soon," Hayes said. "Then we can employ our engineer to come up with a nice park design. It's been a long-time coming. We're going to make nice pathways. And we don't have to drain our capital projects funds."

The contractor had made a proposal to the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority to remove the slabs, but Scott said the project hit a snag when the conservation district stated that an earth disturbance permit was needed to shave the concrete off the gravel.

At the meeting, $485,000 was released from escrow for the project to pay for the slab work.

"I couldn’t be happier or prouder to help get this funding for Warminster," Munroe, who serves the 144th Legislative District, told Patch recently. "There are many roles of being a state representative. Writing legislation is just one small part of it. Then there is finding grant opportunities for our community, supporting those grant opportunities, and handholding it through the appropriations process."