by Steve Reinbrecht

Drivers will face paving construction on Penn Avenue in Sinking Spring for about three more weeks, Pennsylvania American Water spokesman Terry Maenza said Monday.

The paving project had been expected to wrap up at the end of last week.

During the final week of paving, near Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds, crews will switch to overnight construction to minimize the traffic impact, Maenza wrote in an e-mail.

Weather could further delay the project.

Watch for road construction through Sinking Spring for 4 weeks

Drivers should expect delays [more so] through Sinking Spring for four weeks as Pennsylvania American Water paves lanes where the company replaced aging pipes last year, according to a release from the company.

No work is scheduled 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., or 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., during the project.

In the first phase, starting this week, crews will repave Penn Avenue between Wynnewood Avenue and Cacoosing Avenue.

That phase is scheduled for weekdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Two lanes will remain open in each direction.

In the second phase, crews will pave between Cacoosing Avenue and Mull Avenue overnight to minimize traffic disruptions.

Overnight work is scheduled 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Eastbound traffic will be restricted to one lane.

The project is expected to last four weeks, weather permitting.

Last year, Pennsylvania American Water installed nine fire hydrants and laid nearly 4,200 feet of 8-inch and 12-inch ductile iron pipe along Penn Avenue, replacing pipe that dated to the 1950s as part of the $2.5 million project.

Overall, the company invested more than $24 million in capital improvements in its Berks County water systems between 2010 and 2016.

Pennsylvania American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing water and wastewater services to 2.3 million people.

Lower Heidelberg has highest housing prices, far and wide

by Steve Reinbrecht

Lower Heidelberg, right here in Southwestern Berks County, tops the county’s median housing prices, data from the county planning commission show.

On a map of prices, the township stands out against the rest of Berks, Lancaster and Schuylkill counties like a single cherry tomato in the middle of a big spinach and kale salad.

The ranking puts Lower Heidelberg average house price -- $286,500 [plus or minus $31,000] -- in the ranks of those in Chester County and Montgomery counties.

“If you drive around the township, we have some mighty big houses,” said Lower Heidelberg Supervisor Debbie Scull. “People don’t ever realize they are there.”

She said many of the people in the expensive houses have transferred here from New York and New Jersey, have high incomes and can buy big and expensive houses.

Berks Planning Commission Executive Director Shannon Brossman said she was not sure why Lower Heidelberg had the highest house prices.

It’s not because of big-lot zoning, she and Scull said. The township has a mix of housing, they said.

Having so much preserved farmland is very attractive to the remaining lots, Brossman said.

Across Penn Avenue from Lower Heidelberg, [and in another measure of economic health] South Heidelberg ranked 10th for total assessed value in Berks County in 2014, the latest data available.

From 2008 to 2014, South Heidelberg grew 4.2 percent, by nearly $16 million, to almost $400 million in total assessed value. Berks’ total assessed value rose 2.1 percent over that period.

[Get ready for more statistics. Remember, Census estimates have large margins of error, especially with small communities.]

Of Berks’ 74 municipalities, Southwestern Berks punches above its weight, according to numbers from the Berks Planning Commission, which gleans data from the Census and other sources.

Lower Heidelberg was ranked 13th in total assessed value in 2014, up 3.7 percent, to nearly $374 million. Sinking Spring was ranked 21st in assessed value.

Between 2010 and 2015, the median housing value DROPPED in:

• The United States
• Berks County
• Spring Township
• and Southwestern Berks:
• Lower Heidelberg
• South Heidelberg
• Sinking Spring

BUT NOT Wernersville. Anybody have a theory?

Spring Township, Southwestern Berks’s neighbor directly east, had the highest assessed value in Berks in 2014, almost $1.6 billion. Reading was second, at just over $1.4 billion. Berks County’s total assessed value was about $18.5 billion.

Spring ranked second in assessed value per resident, topped only by New Morgan, an outlier because of its tiny population. I guess Spring has a lot of value in commercial and business properties.

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.

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.

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.