Southwestern Berks’ orange snow fences are ready for action

by Steve Reinbrecht

Public works crews have installed orange fences in South Heidelberg and Lower Heidelberg to keep snow from drifting on the road, which impedes travel and makes it harder to plow.

Krick Lane in South Heidelberg

South Heidelberg is working to identify areas where snow drifts can be a problem, township manager Sean McKee said. The public works staff began installing the stakes and fencing in the fall.

North Church Road in Lower Heidelberg

State is clamping GPS tracking devices onto sex offenders at Wernersville corrections center

by Steve Reinbrecht

State officials have been locking GPS devices onto sex offenders who live at the Wernersville Community Corrections Center.

Typical tracking device, from Wikipedia

In all, about 225 men -- state parolees or parole violators -- live in the state-run halfway house, off Sportsman Road in South Heidelberg. The center is designed to help the residents re-enter society by providing treatment, education and job opportunities. Residents do not have restrictions on when they come and go, said campus director Marlena Seguin. Residents work as far away as Lancaster and Allentown.

Typically, a handful of them are men who have been declared sex predators, listed in the Megan’s law registry and required to report their addresses for the rest of their lives.

At the center, they’ve been equipped with the anklets since mid-November.

Using GPS devices makes the residents more accountable, gives a higher level of supervision, and increases public safety, Maria A. Finn, spokeswoman for the state Board of 

Probation and Parole, wrote in an e-mail.

At its discretion, the state may put tracking devices on any resident in the state system, Finn said.

In any case, the corrections department seems to be putting fewer sex offenders at the center.

That’s good news, South Heidelberg Police Chief Barry Whitmoyer said, because concentrating sex offenders in one place increases the chance for trouble in the area.

It makes sense to use satellites to track sex offenders, who already are required to get extra attention from the state by staying on the registry, Whitmoyer said.

In general, Whitmoyer said he can’t attribute much crime to center residents.

Upcoming road work in Sinking Spring is designed to make walkers, cyclists safer

by Steve Reinbrecht

Crews will improve parts of Penn Avenue in Sinking Spring to make it safer and easier to walk or ride a bike along the borough’s main road.

Work is likely to start in March, borough manager Mike Hart said Friday.

The biggest chunk of the project is laying a 1,100-foot sidewalk along Penn Avenue, between Wynnewood and Park avenues, where the road abuts a cliff full of rocks and exposed roots.

Across the street, workers will install a sidewalk around the stone toll-house there, where the walk abruptly narrows at the landmark.

Up the hill, a crew will bump out the sidewalk into the street at the northwest corner of Hull Street, which will especially benefit people going to St. John's Reformed Church.

The peninsula, like those at West Reading intersections, is designed to give pedestrians a vantage and a shorter distance to cross.

The borough wanted to put them at all four corners, but there were drainage problems, Hart said.

Finally, the road will get new stripes and signs.

The borough got grants for the $354,000 project.

It awarded the contract to Reamstown Excavating Inc.

Congressman for Southwestern Berks votes to ban abortion funding

by Steve Reinbrecht

Ryan Costello, the congressman who represents most of Southwestern Berks, voted “yes” Tuesday on a bill to permanently prohibit the use of taxpayer money for most abortions.

The bill, H.R. 7, passed 238-183. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

According to the Republican Policy Committee,

“H.R. 7 prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion or health plans that cover abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger. H.R. 7 prohibits abortions at facilities owned or operated by the federal government, and prevents federal employees from performing abortions within the scope of their employment.

“H.R. 7 prohibits premium tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies authorized under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) from being granted for health plans that include elective abortion coverage. H.R. 7 also prohibits small business tax credits authorized under PPACA for health plans offered by an employer that include elective abortion coverage.”

Costello’s district, the 6th, includes Lower Heidelberg, South Heidelberg, and Wernersville.

H.B. 7 was introduced Jan. 13.

Lower Heidelberg plans to close bridge. Does anybody care?

Update Feb. 1: It may take another month to close the bridge, Lower Heidelberg Supervisor Deborah Scull said Wednesday. The township must notify the Wilson School District, BARTA, other municipalities, and first responders, she said. The township will order signs and find a permanent barrier, she said. No one has complained about the plans, Scull said.

by Steve Reinbrecht

Lower Heidelberg officials plan to close the bridge on Palm Road because they and Heidelberg officials can’t settle a years-long dispute over how to pay to fix it.

Maybe nobody cares.

PennDOT estimates that about 100 drivers a day use the bridge, which connects Route 422 and Wooltown Road, crossing Spring Creek in the westernmost part of Lower Heidelberg.

Lower Heidelberg wants Heidelberg to pay half the cost to repair the bridge, while Heidelberg has offered to pay 30 percent.

Heidelberg Supervisor Dave Randler said he doesn’t care if the bridge stays closed permanently. Few people live on half-mile-long Palm Road, and a parallel route, Big Spring Road, runs a few hundred yards west.

Why spend taxpayer money when an alternate route is 60 seconds away, Randler asked. He would rather spend the money on other bridges in the township. He expects it would cost about $100,000 to fix the span. Heidelberg has budgeted $30,000 for the project, Randler said.

Lower Heidelberg Supervisor Deborah Scull said she does not have a cost estimate.

The bridge was built in 1973. PennDOT considers it structurally deficient.

The townships share the bridge, though Lower Heidelberg is the “custodian.”

The two municipalities have been talking about repairing the bridge since 2010, both supervisors said.

PennDOT's bridge inspector has told Lower Heidelberg to provide repair plans or close the bridge by the end of January, Scull said.

Lower Heidelberg will pay $150,000 to Sinking Spring after long dispute over sewer fees

by Steve Reinbrecht

Update: Sinking Spring Borough Manager Mike Hart told me Feb. 21 that he had received the $150,000 from Lower Heidelberg.
+++
After a year-long dispute, Lower Heidelberg will pay Sinking Spring about $150,000 for treating its sewage, Lower Heidelberg Supervisor Deborah Scull said Thursday.

Much of the money was surcharges. The borough believes Lower Heidelberg and South Heidelberg are not properly enforcing rules about what businesses are allowed to drain into the system.

This is important because our quality of life and tax bills depend on properly managing sewage treatment.

Wastewater from the borough and parts of Spring, South Heidelberg and Lower Heidelberg drains to Sinking Spring’s treatment plant, at 2305 Reedy Road [not the plant at Reedy and State Hill, which is Spring’s plant.]

The four municipalities have an agreement about how to share the costs. Under that deal, at the end of 2015, Sinking Spring calculated that Lower Heidelberg owed it about $97,000 for that year's treatment.

Sinking Spring also reckoned that Lower Heidelberg owed about $50,000 in surcharges because it was sending wastewater that had too much “hot” or “strong” waste, such as oil and grease, that makes it harder and more expensive to treat.

The disputed payments equal more than 10 percent of the borough’s sewer-fund budget.

Lower Heidelberg held the payments as collateral in the dispute, Scull said last week. She released them after getting more information from Sinking Spring.

She said about $7,800 remains in dispute.

“Our engineer is talking to their engineer.”

Monday, Sinking Spring borough manager Mike Hart said he had not received the money but had sent another bill last week.

Over the year, Lower Heidelberg failed to respond to a series of invoices, he said.

Lower Heidelberg thinks Sinking Spring might be charging it for hot waste generated in South Heidelberg.

Hart said both townships have problems. The borough tests the wastewater from Lower Heidelberg and South Heidelberg at manholes at the point it enters the borough’s system. It consistently exceeds the limits in the agreement, he said.

Lab tests prove that waste from Spring and the borough is not hot, Hart said.

Hart believes the townships might not be enforcing rules that require sewer customers to pre-treat their waste before it gets into the system.

Scull doubts the grease is coming from businesses in Lower Heidelberg, such as Sheetz or the Bar-B-Q Pit.

Instead, she said, it could be coming from food places on the South Heidelberg side of Penn Avenue, which include Subway, the Steak Shack, Arby’s, Salute Ristorante Italiano, Wendy’s, China Moon and Redner’s.

In June, Lower Heidelberg’s engineer, Pamela Stevens, of Systems Design Engineering, said she believes the strong waste is being produced by South Heidelberg businesses.

The dispute goes back at least to March, when minutes record that Lower Heidelberg received a bill from South Heidelberg for an industrial surcharge.

South Heidelberg Township Manager Sean McKee had no comment.

The borough’s treatment plant can treat 1.25 million gallons a day, and has capacity reserved for Sinking Spring’s downtown revitalization plans. The 2017 sewer-fund budget is $1.31 million. Sinking Spring council members disbanded a municipal authority in August 2008 to cut costs. The authority had been formed in 1961.

PPL won't build power line through Sinking Spring

by Steve Reinbrecht

PPL Electric Utilities announced Thursday that it has changed its plans for the location of a 69,000-volt power line that had been slated to go through Sinking Spring.

"I'm tickled pink," said borough Councilman Brian Hoffa. 

Many officials and residents opposed the plan, fearing it would destroy Sinking Spring’s plans to attract grants and investment to improve traffic congestion and create a housing and shopping district. Property owners seemed united in not wanting to sell.

That the line will avoid the borough completely was a better outcome than Hoffa expected.

It's a strong signal that the borough's ambitious project has true momentum, he said.

"We're getting tons of support."

From PPL

Instead, the power company will install the line underground in Spring Township, primarily under streets, including Van Reed Road and North Dwight Street, according to a news release.

Initial plan in Sinking Spring

Officials from Sinking Spring, Wyomissing, Spring Township, and Alcon, and state Sen. David Argall and state Rep. Jim Cox opposed the project

Here is the company’s news release, verbatim: 

PPL Electric Utilities shifts location

of proposed transmission line in Berks County

Vital reliability link will be built underground

PPL Electric Utilities has shifted the location of a planned transmission line in the Sinking Spring area of Berks County and will also build it underground.

The utility Thursday (1/19) said a planned overhead 69-kilovolt transmission line initially proposed in Spring Township, Sinking Spring and Lower Heidelberg Township will instead be built underground in Spring Township, primarily under streets including Van Reed Road and N. Dwight Street.

Without the new line, thousands of customers in the region could potentially face long outages in the event of a transmission system problem.

“PPL continued to study the above-ground route over the last several months. Based on that review, the underground option evolved as the best balance of all the factors we consider when making vital investments like this,” said Stephanie Raymond, vice president of Transmission and Substations for the utility. “The project will help ensure that the long-term performance of the grid meets the needs of our customers.”

The company has involved local and state officials, as well as residents, in power line discussions.

Placing the new line underground does not signal a change in philosophy for PPL, whose transmission lines remain primarily above ground. “Each project is unique and each must be considered in light of technical and line route factors,” Raymond said.

PPL will hold a public open house this winter to discuss details of the new underground route. The time, date and location of that open house are still being finalized. Details will be communicated by mail and through local media.

10 façade projects spruce up Sinking Spring, leverage $50,000 from state

by Steve Reinbrecht

Ruth Weber saw a notice in Sinking Spring’s newsletter about a façade-improvement program and ended up getting a $3,200 grant to paint her house.

She would have had to do the job in any case, but the grant was a big help to maintain the house she’s lived in since 1969 at 4306 Penn Ave. It has lots of trim, and the painters needed to bring in a lift for part of the job.

All together, the borough of Sinking Spring has helped fix up 10 homes and businesses, leveraging about $50,000 from the state’s Keystone Façade Grants program. Five projects are underway. And nine owners are getting estimates.

The property owners match each dollar they get from the state.

The borough has spent the $50,000 limit. In December, Borough Council resolved to apply for another $50,000 state grant.

Kim Shrom, office manager of Express Care & Lube at 3705 Penn Ave., also saw a notice about the program in the borough newsletter.

“We were in drastic need of a façade improvement,” she said.

She painted the exterior of the auto-service station with her $1,280 grant. The property owner, John Kishbaugh, got a grant to help install insulated garage doors on all five bays.

The business would not have been able to afford the work without the grant, she said.

And customers have noticed the improvements and told her it makes the place look clean and reputable.

The borough’s revitalization committee runs the façade-improvement program as part of its BOSS 2020 revitalization plans, which call for straightening intersections, laying a new street parallel to Penn Avenue to ease traffic congestion, and building homes and shops.

Kim Updegraff used her grant for power cleaning, painting and a new sign for her business, Shade Tree Interiors, at 3461 Penn Ave. She bought the building in July 2015 as a showroom for the custom window-treatments business she’s run for 13 years. She got estimates from contractors she had used before.

Updegraff had considered opening her business in West Reading, but chose Sinking Spring because taxes and rents are lower and parking is easier.

According to a University of Wisconsin study:

  

  As a result of storefront improvement projects:

•     Business operators generally experience an increase in number of first-time customers.
•     Many but not all business operators experience an increase in sales.
•         Property landlords generally generate increased rental revenues.
•         Properties are often converted to a perceived better use.·
•         Other building improvements, including interior redesign, are often performed simultaneously. 
•     Even small investments can generate significant returns.
•         Multiple funding sources are often assembled to cover project costs.
•         Property owners generally believe that their building value has increased.
•         Nearby businesses often enjoy increased sales and initiate their own storefront improvements.
•        Community pride, historic appreciation, and civic legacy are celebrated.

Entrepreneur runs colorful business out of Sinking Spring warehouse

by Steve Reinbrecht

Victor Branecki didn’t plan on running a business from Sinking Spring. He agrees he ended up there.

But from a warehouse off Queen Street, he expects to flood the world with playfully colorful, customizable handbags.

He was reluctant to have me take pictures inside, suggesting I post professional shots of the bags, with models, from his website.

Branecki, a serial entrepreneur, started a wholesale computer-recycling about 10 years ago in the building, tucked next to the railroad tracks. That business employs about eight people, including drivers, technicians and office help.

He started the online handbag-and-accessory business -- Sobo Fashion -- two years ago, with his longtime girlfriend, Marta Gusztyn. 

He ships a few hundred bags a month, mailing them out by US post, which he says is reliable and has good prices.

It’s still a start-up, he said. He spent about the first year in preparation. After he and Gusztyn designed the bags, he hired manufacturers in Poland and China. A marketing company in Philadelphia takes care of his website.

He expects the business to grow after this spring’s fashion shows.

“The internet is huge,” he said. “Everything takes time and patience.”

Branecki grew up in Poland and spent two years in Athens before getting a visa to work in the United States in 1989.

He took a job in New Holland, where he felt out of place – a city boy in a tiny rural town that often smelled like manure. He then got a production job at Baldwin Brass and moved to Sinking Spring.

Beside the computer business, he said he’s had commercial cleaning and real-estate enterprises.

He started Sobo Fashion without getting a loan. He wouldn't say his investment in the project. The business is Internet based, but also sells bags and accessories in boutiques in New York City.

Branecki plans to focus more on markets in the West and South, where the warmer weather better accommodates Sobo’s style. He’s getting ready for a show in Las Vegas in March and one in Fort Lauderdale.

The bags are made from EVA, which is durable, flexible and colorful. They cost about $200. Customers choose from 12 colors, and can pick from 25 trim styles and 19 kinds of handles, all of which can be interchanged. Sobo also sells sunglasses. Customers can choose from four frames and four lens colors.

Masked robber strikes Wells Fargo bank in Robesonia

by Steve Reinbrecht

Someone in a mask robbed the Wells Fargo bank in Robesonia on Tuesday, Jan. 10, police confirmed Friday.

The robber took an undisclosed amount of money about 4:50 p.m., just before closing.

The robber did not show or imply a gun, according to Western Berks Police Department.

Nobody was injured. Police would not give more details.

No one at the branch, at 1 W. Penn Ave., could comment, a woman who answered the phone said.

Wells Fargo spokesman Kevin Friedlander, in Summit, N.J., said he hadn’t heard about the robbery. He said the company does not comment while police are investigating.

South Heidelberg police charge man with burglary

by Steve Reinbrecht

Spotting a Pittsburgh Steelers blanket in a suspect’s house helped South Heidelberg police make a case against a Womelsdorf man they say stole a safe, a bottle of cognac and the blanket from a township man’s house on Christmas.

Also in December, township police charged another man for violating protection-from-abuse orders, saying he called and texted the victim.

That was the worst of the crime reported in December in Southwestern Berks.

According to court records:

The tale of the burglary started when Christian Racine, 20, and a woman companion visited the victim’s home in the 500 block of Hill Road about 12:30 p.m. Dec. 25.

The victim wouldn’t let the woman inside but talked with Racine. Through a window, he saw the woman walk to the backyard, where he and his parents found her under the deck. His father told the visitors to leave and not come back.

Later, as the victim was walking to Wernersville for cigarettes, a car with Racine, his mother and the woman passed him twice – heading toward his house and then back.

When he got home, he noticed an outside door to his bedroom was open and discovered the safe, which had gift cards and headphones, was gone from under his bed, and the cognac was gone from the mini-fridge in his room. He told police the woman knew he had a safe under his bed.

About 1 a.m. the next morning, Racine and the woman appeared at the victim’s outside bedroom door. When he told them to leave, the pair tossed patio equipment around.

Police went to Racine’s mother’s house the next day. Racine, the woman and his mother were there. The officer noticed the blanket, the mother consented to a search, and officers found the broken-open safe and cognac bottle. Racine told police the safe had also contained cannabis and methamphetamine, which he and the woman consumed.

Police also charged Racine with stealing two knives from another man’s unlocked pickup truck near the victim’s house.

In another case of alleged criminal behavior, South Heidelberg police charged David Koehler, 50, of Willow Road, Sinking Spring, with violating a protection-from-abuse order signed in November and in effect through 2019. He called the victim three times and texted six times, police said.

In general, the 20,000 residents or so in Wernersville, Lower Heidelberg, South Heidelberg and Sinking Spring lived in relative peace and safety, measured by police reports and 9-1-1 calls. 

All together, police reported 43 crimes in the four municipalities in December, up from the 38 reported in November.

A commercial burglary reported Dec. 30 in the 100 block of West Penn Avenue in Robesonia was under investigation, Western Berks Police Chief William Schlichter said Monday.

As usual, most of the violence appeared to be domestic.

Lower Heidelberg police responded to a report of a domestic assault with injuries about 7:30 p.m. Dec. 25 in the 100 block of New York Avenue. Police were still investigating, Police Chief Tom Deiterich said Monday.

Domestic trouble was also reported in Lower Heidelberg on Saddlebrook Drive and Pine Street.

In Sinking Spring, it was reported on James Street, Shillington Road, Sioux Court, Huron Drive, Vester Place, and Woodrow and Evans avenues.

In South Heidelberg, domestic trouble was reported on Butternut and Elm View courts, Mountain Home and Texter Mountain roads, North Arthur Drive, and Caramist and Lambda circles.

In Wernersville, it was reported on Beckley Street and West Penn Avenue.

Little Sinking Spring dives deeper into development commitments

by Steve Reinbrecht

Sinking Spring council members took a big step Thursday – voting 5-2 to accept a $1.1 million state grant to help it raise money for its ongoing traffic improvement project at the stretch where Shillington Road and Penn, Columbia, Cacoosing and Mull avenues converge.

Two members voted no, concerned about how the borough of 4,100 will pay the $684,000 it has to put up as a match. Sinking Spring raised taxes this year, hitting a property assessed at $200,000 with a $136 increase.

One “no” vote, council member George Butkus, said he supports the revitalization project but not building a street parallel to Penn Avenue, designed to ease congestion and create a shopping district..

He said he is concerned about the cost of that part of the project and how the borough will pay for the grant match. The hope is that property tax revenue will boom after developers improve the 20-acre area.

“The benefit to the tax base is not as assured as it needs to be for my vote,” Butkus said.

Denise Stine said she voted “no” because she is not sure the project is needed now, and because PPL Electric Utilities’ push to hang a 69,000-voltpower line on 100-foot poles through the middle of it all could put the “kibosh” on the borough’s plans.

In another move to raise money for the project, Sinking Spring has started putting together a tax deal called a TIF under the state’s“tax incremental financing” program.

The Berks County Redevelopment Authority would borrow $5 million to help acquire properties to make way for the new street parallel to Penn Avenue.

Officials from the borough, Wilson School District and Berks County would need to agree on a plan to forgo taxes generated by new development for a while.

That money would be diverted to repay the authority.

Such tax schemes have powered road improvements around Cabela’s in Tilden Township and the Exeter Commons Mall in Exeter Township.

The borough has received a $784,000 grant from PennDOT for the next phase.

The first part of the project was redeveloping the former Boscov’s parcel at Route 724 and Penn Avenue.

In the next phase, the borough demolished properties this fall to make room to straighten the intersection at Columbia, Caccosing and Penn avenues.

Only 1 of 4 reported burglaries in Wernersville is true break-in

by Steve Reinbrecht

My fault – my post suggesting there were four burglaries in Wernersville was wrong.

A website that gathers crime information
from what local police report to state police showed four burglaries last month in Wernersville, which is covered by Western Berks Police Department.

On Tuesday, Police Chief William Schlichter said only one was a burglary.

Someone broke into a home in the first block of West Penn Avenue about 3:15 p.m. Dec. 15.

Schlichter said it is his policy not to release any information about an ongoing investigation, such as this burglary, because that could hinder the investigation and affect the outcome for the victims.

The crimes reported in the first block of Heidelberg Drive on Dec. 1, and in the 400 block of West Penn Avenue on Dec. 6, were thefts, Schlichter said. They are under investigation, he said.

The problem reported in the 500 block of Hill Road about 12:30 p.m. Dec. 26 was simply an open door, Schlichter said.

Work starts on new Caron treatment building in South Heidelberg

by Steve Reinbrecht

Crews have started moving dirt for an $11 million treatment center at the Richard J. Caron Foundation campus south of Wernersville. South Heidelberg supervisors approved the project in February 2016.

The non-profit organization treats people suffering from substance abuse. The new building – the Carole and Ray Neag Medical Center – will serve as Caron’s welcome and admission center, according to the latest annual report on Caron's website.

The building is designed in part in response to increasing opiate addiction and the growing number of older people who need treatment, the report says. The 35,000 square-feet building will have six beds for detoxification and medical supervision and 14 private beds.

Benchmark Construction, of Lancaster, is the contractor.

The 78-acre property is tax exempt, according to county records. The foundation contributes $12,000 a year to the township in lieu of taxes.

Nobody from Caron returned my calls and e-mails asking about the project.

In August, the Berks County Municipal Authority voted to approve a bond issue of up to $28.5 million to finance the center, according to the Reading Eagle.

Caron has about 900 employees and annual revenues of about $100 million, according to the annual report. Caron has about 250 beds in South Heidelberg and treats about 3,000 people a year. The cost is about $34,000 for 30 days, though many residents get reduced fees. The foundation spent $16.6 million on charity care for about 1,200 people in the 2014-2015 fiscal year.