Farmer will use $400,000 state loan toward 76 acres in South Heidelberg

by Steve Reinbrecht

Dairy farmers David and Cindy Wolfskill were approved in January for a $400,000 state loan to buy 76 acres in South Heidelberg and Wernersville.

They plan to grow crops on the farmland, which is between Lincoln Road and the railroad tracks, to support their dairy operations, according to the state Industrial Development Authority. The 15-year loan has a 2.25 percent rate for the first seven years. The total project cost is estimated to be $800,000.

In March, the Wolfskills bought that parcel and a 105-acre property adjacent to it, which abuts Krick Lane, for $2.4 million, according to county records. A bank had given them a bridge loan.

The Wolfskills did not reply to requests for comment.

The family has been featured for winning yield contests. For example, Wolfskill placed second in 2014 and 2015 in the Pennsylvania soybean yield contest.

Number of young farmers grows fastest in Berks

by Steve Reinbrecht

Berks County had the largest increase in the number of young farmers in Pennsylvania, according to an “Analysis of the 2012 Census of Agriculture,” released last month.

Much land in Southwestern Berks is used for agriculture.

From the Berks County Planning Commission

In 2002, Berks had 154 farmers younger than 35, according to the Census. In 2012, the county had 238 young farmers, an increase of 55 percent.

Penn State Extension educator Mat Haan said this is important because the average age of farmers is increasing and young people are needed to replace them as they retire.

In 2012, the average age of Berks farmers was 54.5 years. The average age of Pennsylvania farmers was 56.1.

Haan, whose specialty is dairy farming, said the growing importance of technology in successful farming is helping to attract young people to the industry. For example, automated milking allows farm families to spend more time on other activities, he said.

In general, Berks agriculture production ranks high in the state, in the 4-year old data.

According to the 2012 Census of Agricultural, from 2007 to 2012:

From 2007 to 2012, the value of Berk’s agricultural products grew 70 percent, from about $368 million to $529 million. Lancaster County, just south of Southwestern Berks, had the highest sales of agricultural products in the state in 2012 -- nearly $1.475 billion.

From 2007 to 2012, the number of farms in Berks grew from 1,980 to 2,039. The average size was 115 acres.

The number of acres in farms rose from 222,119 acres to 233,744 acres. That means 43 percent of Berks County is in farms.

Berks ranks near the top of the state in agricultural production.

Berks ranked:

       Third in sales of grains, oil seeds, dry beans, and dry peas.

       Second in nursery, greenhouse, floriculture, and sod.

       Second in poultry and eggs.

Total farm production expenses were $415 million.

The data is from 2012 but was released as late as 2016 — I guess agricultural statistics take a long, long time to compile. I found the link in state Sen. David Argall’s newsletter.

Blending butane in Spring Township will add to tanker-truck traffic in Sinking Spring

by Steve Reinbrecht

Update – Feb. 7

An average of 80 trucks a day drive in and out of Sunoco Logistics’ facility in Montello, near Sinking Spring, according to Jeff Shields, a Sunoco Logistics spokesman.

The terminal stores and distributes refined products, predominantly gasoline, diesel and heating oil, he wrote in an e-mail.

++++++++++++

More tanker trucks will be driving through Sinking Spring, according to plans for a butane-blending facility that Spring Township supervisors approved last month.

Sunoco Logistics wants to build the butane system in the middle of its existing tank farm, between Mountain Home and Fritztown roads, adjacent to Sinking Spring.

This matters because more trucks will further clog roads in Southwestern Berks – especially because tanker trucks with petroleum products must stop at the area’s five rail crossings.

So how many tanker trucks use local roads to come and go with their fossil fuel loads?

A local official laughed when I told him nobody was calling me back from Sunoco Logistics, which I called and visited to ask how many tanker trucks use its terminals in Montello.

“They don’t want anyone to know,” he said.

Sinking Spring officials are hoping to convince state and federal officials that Sinking Spring is a bottleneck for vital commerce – in this case petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, propane and heating oil.

Officials hope the distinction helps the borough get a federal grant.

A study years ago counted 100 trucks a day, Berks transportation planner Alan Piper said, and he expects the number has grown. He helped me find state data from 2016 that show, in general, almost 3,900 trucks -- anything larger than a pickup -- drive on Penn Avenue between Columbia and Route 724 on an average weekday.

Fuel oil trucks chug through town all day long before making deliveries throughout the region. Sunoco, Gulf and Amerigas have tanks in the area. Tanks, pipes, and other infrastructure cover about 100 acres.

The complex in Montello is Sunoco Logistics' eastern pipeline system headquarters, as well as a trucking terminal and a major midstream terminal for refined products.

Sunoco's pipelines out of Montello provide gasoline, diesel fuel, and heating oil to large markets in Pennsylvania and New York. Sunoco Logistics, which has extensive tanks, pipes and other equipment in the Montello area, plans to build a pipeline called Mariner East 2. 

The new pipeline would nearly quadruple the amount of petroleum product gushing through pipes in Sinking Spring, to 345,000 barrels a day. A barrel is 42 gallons.

In November, Sunoco paused the project, blaming the delay on problems getting permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

In any case, in January, Spring Township supervisors granted Sunoco Logistics final approval to build a station to add butane to gasoline in the middle of the property it owns between Mountain Home and Fritztown roads in Spring Township, just across the border with Sinking Spring. Trucks would bring the butane, which would be stored in a 90,000-gallon tank.

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.

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.

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.

Argall wants to change law to help Sinking Spring defend against PPL power line

by Steve Reinbrecht

State Sen. David Argall is trying to drum up lawmaking support for two bills that would help Sinking Spring block a 69,000-volt power line from brutally disrupting its renaissance plans.

He posted a Senate “cosponsorship memo” Oct. 4 to solicit support for the two proposals.

Argall expects they will be adopted in time to help the borough, said Jon Hopcraft, Argall’s legislative aide.

“There’s been a ton of investment by the state, the county, the borough,” he said last week. “We don’t want to see it squandered away on account of a transmission line.”

The “proposed transmission line … has outraged the local community as well as hampered major economic development efforts,” Argall wrote in the memo. “My goal is to provide a balanced approach to the needs of the utility while taking into account the wants and needs of the municipality and its residents.”

Argall’s bills would make two changes to Title 66 (Public Utilities). One would add a section requiring that the municipalities approve the plans.

“No transmission line for electricity may be constructed within a municipality unless the governing body of the municipality approves construction of the transmission line according to the criteria established by the municipality.”

The second change would require that the Public Utility Commission conduct public hearing of a proposed transmission line. PPL held a public meeting in Wyomissing on Sept. 22 about its plans for Sinking Spring. Some who attended complained about how it was managed.

“The commission shall conduct a public hearing in the municipality in which a transmission line for electricity is proposed. The public hearing shall provide an opportunity for public comment on the proposal,” the bill says.

South Heidelberg store aims for family-farmer-horse-lover-homestead-DIY-rural-lifestyle niche

by Steve Reinbrecht

An unusual, to me, big-box chain store has opened in an old supermarket in a strip mall on Route 422 in South Heidelberg Township.

I didn’t ever visit Tractor Supply Company since it opened July 23 because I don’t have a tractor. 

But thinking about economic development in the area led me to look inside on Black Friday. The company says it has 1,500 stores across the country, but I have never seen one quite like it.

Out of beet-pulp horse treats? Get a 40-pound bag off the shelf.

Aisles are full of all kinds of tools and fasteners, so close to home. I hate driving through Sinking Spring to Lowe’s in the middle of a project.

Country music over speakers and country music for sale.

Big signs say things like “Clothing & Boots,” “Welding & Tools,” Truck &Trailer.”

Log splitters to fit any budget. Propane heaters, small to barn-size. Gun-cleaning kits. Generators. Bits and bridles. Fencing. Animal traps. Truck tool boxes. All sorts of tires and wheels, for carts, trailers, tractors, wheelbarrows ….

Hydraulic hoses. Everything you need to erect an electric fence. Pig food, and the feed bins to slop it into. “Young Rider” and “Modern Farmer” magazines. Gourmet dog food. Racks of clothes, with displays of camouflage and overalls.

One shopper told me she had been going to Myerstown for supplies she can now find here.

A man walking out the door with a roll of wire screening under his arm said he lives nearby and has shopped there many times since it opened.

“For things you can’t get at other places, like this.”

The manager said she was not permitted to answer any of my questions, not even, “How’s business?” or “What can I get here that I can’t get at Lowe’s?” She called HQ on my behalf and found out that I must not even take photos.

The company, based in Brentwood, Tenn., spent $500,000 on turning the former Shurfine supermarket, which closed in 2013, into the big-box chain store, according to a building permit filed with the township April 12.

In a boilerplate news release, TSC said it chose the spot at 4750 Penn Ave. just west of Sinking Spring because there are so many horse farms and family farms in the area. It said the store has 13 employees.

The website says it sells things to help people “maintain their farms, ranches, homes and animals,” citing “the ‘do it yourself’ trend.”

Business' long search led to South Heidelberg

by Steve Reinbrecht

Three realtors spent three years looking. But it wasn’t one of them who found the right spot for E.G. Smith Inc. in South Heidelberg.

The company sells heating oil and propane and fixes HVAC systems throughout Berks County. It was outgrowing its space near the Wawa on Penn Avenue in West Lawn, so it needed a new location. E.G. Smith had purchased that 1-acre property at 3333 Penn Ave. in Spring in 1989.

But it was hard to find the right spot in Berks County, chief operating officer Scott Burky said. 

After the professionals spent years searching, he said, it was an employee’s relative who finally suggested the empty lot off Krick Lane, and the right spot was found, Burky said.

Its parent company, Rhoads Energy Corp., based in Lancaster, bought the South Heidelberg parcel in May 2016 for $190,000, according to county records.

The company moved into the new building at 1 Corporate Blvd. on Nov. 3. The 2-acre site is great, Burky said. It has plenty of room for a submarine-sized propane tank and is still central to most of the company’s employees, who mostly live in Berks. The project cost $1.4 million, according to a building permit.

Buying the land and building a new office building was a significant decision, Burky said.

“We don’t regularly build buildings.”

E.G. Smith, founded in 1923, has 12 people in offices and about 12 in the field.

Redner’s customers have until Sept. 3 to get new bonus cards

by Steve Reinbrecht

Redner’s wants customers to sign up for a new bonus system that requires getting cards that will replace the blue Pump Perks cards.

Existing bonus cards won’t work after Sept. 3.

On Saturday, employees wore blue T-shirts to promote the sign-up. Just inside the door of the Redner’s in South Heidelberg, just west of Sinking Spring, workers helped customers fill out the necessary form.

They are not too bad – just first and last name, birthday and phone number. Under the new system, if you forget your card, you will be able to get your points when you check out by entering your phone number.

The reward system doesn’t change much yet. You get a 10 cent discount per gallon of gas for every $100 you spend. With the new system, customers will be able to get a nickel off as soon as they spend $50.

You can get a form at the customer service desk or any register. You get your card right away, and your points are transferred – if you have your old card.

Redner’s Market’s Inc. has 44 warehouse markets and 20 convenience stores stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. 

The current Pump Perks system is carefully explained at the Redner’s website.