Southwestern Berks County is clearly Trump Country

by Steve Reinbrecht

Southwestern Berks County is a strong Republican bastion in a state that has gone for Democratic presidents since 1992. It's the kind of place the GOP will need to swing the state toward a path to the presidency.

Almost twice as many voters in Southwestern Berks County [South Heidelberg, Lower Heidelberg, Wernersville, and Sinking Spring] chose Donald Trump than voted for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in the primary elections in April.

Many voters here likely are traditional conservatives. In other parts of the state, Trump is convincing voters -- Democrats or people who generally don't vote -- to support a different kind of Republican.

And winning Pennsylvania could help Trump win the presidency.

Adding up votes in Southwestern Berks in the 2016 primary, Republican candidates Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich together got just more than 3,100 votes.

In the primary, 600 voted for Kasich and 607 voted for Cruz. But Trump has converted the former Cruz supporter from Lower Heidelberg in this Reading Eagle story, who went to the convention.

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders got just more than 2,100 together.

The area usually has a wide Republican majority.

Sinking Spring and Wernersville voters chose President Obama over John McCain in 2008. Since then, the area has been solidly Republican.

In the last two presidential elections, Southwestern Berks voted for the losing Republican candidate each time.

No harm, no foul for cutting lots of trees in Lower Heidelberg

by Steve Reinbrecht

A company that removed trees from its Lower Heidelberg property won’t be penalized although it probably should have given the township and state a plan to control erosion from the work.

Those kinds of rules are important to keep soil from running into streets and creeks and avoid flooding problems on adjacent land, said Tammy Bartsch, office administrator of the Berks County Conservation District, speaking in general, not about this case.

To find out if the owner submitted an erosion-control plan for this project would require filing a right-to-know request, she said.

Alpha Property Investments LLC wants to build 28 housing units on the 8.75-acre parcel on Gaul Road, just north of Penn Avenue. It’s unclear when the trees were cut. Brush covers the sloping plot, which lies between a driveway to a parking lot behind the restaurant to the south and a home at 70 Gaul Road to the north.

In general, it’s OK to cut trees on your property, but if you’re working on more than 5,000 square feet [about 70x70 feet], you’re probably using heavy vehicles and need to submit a plan to control the erosion.

On April 18, Alpha Property gave the township a sketch plan for 28 semi-detached houses on the lot. It’s zoned residential. According to the planning maps, much of the land has slopes greater than 15 percent and some greater than 25 percent. Such steep slopes create erosion problems.

Greth Development Group Inc. sold the now-deforested land to Alpha Property for $220,000 in the fall of 2014. Berks County records show Alpha Property has a mailing address at 4226 Hill Terrace, Green Valley, which is owned by New Horizon Construction Inc., which shares an address with the Bar-B-Q Pit restaurant, 4741 Penn Ave., owned by Hippocrates “Lucky” Deligiannis, of Sinking Spring. 

Deligiannis said he plans to start building when he gets the approvals. He didn’t think the slopes would be a problem. He hung up when asked about the trees.

Though Alpha Property should not have removed the trees, the township does not expect to seek a penalty, township secretary Theresa Connors said. The land had been a tree farm, so the trees were grown to be cut, Connors said.

Here’s the state’s timber rule verbiage:

“Operations that will disturb 5,000 square feet or more of earth (~0.11 acres - which encompasses most harvesting operations) are required to develop a written Erosion and Sedimentation Control Plan (E&S Plan) that outlines the nature of the operation, the BMPs that will be used to prevent erosion and sedimentation, and a plan for how those BMPs will be maintained. The plan is required to be on site at all times during the operation.”

Lower Heidelberg farm owner ordered to remove perfectly good farmhouse

by Steve Reinbrecht

A Lower Heidelberg landowner must remove a beautifully restored farmhouse because he violated a deed restriction when he built a new house on the property.

The owner, Leonard Leibman, has publicized his plight with a sign at the property at 190 Evans Hill Road. He bought the bucolic 83-acre farm for $960,000 in May 2010 and has renovated a large barn as well as building a new home behind the existing farmhouse.

The trouble is, Berks Nature, a conservation agency, decided the new house violates the terms of a deed restriction from the 1970s, said Tami J. Shimp, vice-president of development and community relations.

Leibman was aware that the land was permanently protected when he bought the land, she said.

Leibman told me he fought to keep the house but put the sign up about six weeks ago when he realized he was beaten. Few have shown interest. He said he spent $90,000 five years ago to renovate the farmhouse, close to the road. He hopes somebody will pay him $20,000 for it and can move it or rebuild it somewhere. He said he spent $400,000 renovating the barn.

The farmhouse tenants moved out two weeks ago, reminding Leibman he'll be losing $24,000 a year in rent.

"They would have stayed there forever. They loved the place."

Berks Nature takes every restriction seriously, Shimp said.

“We commit to protecting it in perpetuity as the land owner requested.”

If the agency gave in on cases like this, it would compromise the entire program, she said. The Berks Nature board voted to uphold the deed, she said.

At first, Leibman said, Berks Nature staff assured him the second house would be permitted, so he paid $40,000 for the plans and tests required to build.

He filed a lawsuit when the conservancy reversed itself and prohibited the second house. But a lawyer told him the matter could take years to resolve, and Leibman wanted to move into the new house.

“We decided we’ll rip the house down and be done with it.”

Shimp expects Leibman to remove the house, and the sign seems to indicate his intentions.

Neighbors urge action on Lower Heidelberg house after teenager gets shot during party

By Steve Reinbrecht

The 16-year-old boy shot early Sunday morning after a party in a vacant house in Lower Heidelberg was released from the hospital and is doing OK, a neighbor said Monday.

A boy was shot after a party in this house
at 4219 Hill Terrace, Lower Heidelberg.

Before declining further comment, the young woman said the victim was a family member of hers, lives in Muhlenberg Township, and was shot in an arm.

As many as 150 people were at the party from about 1 a.m. until about 2:30 a.m., when fighting started outside and the boy was shot.

Neighbors reported hearing about six shots.

Township police arrested an 18–year-old man from Reading on Monday and charged him with attempted homicide, the Reading Eagle reported. 

Police have not identified the victim or said if they had a suspect. Township Detective Chris Stouch said Monday that he would be able to release more information Tuesday.

The house at 4219 Hill Terrace, the left side of a duplex, has a history of problems.

Sinking Spring residents vow to oppose PP&L power line

by Steve Reinbrecht

About 80 people sat or stood in Sinking Spring Borough Hall on Thursday to hear about PP&L’s plans to run a 69-kilovolt line through the borough and, officials say, fatally disrupt plans to improve traffic and shopping opportunities.

Appearing aghast, planner Sam Loth told the crowd that the electric company’s plans would flush eight years of work and $6 million of tax investment down the toilet.

Residents asked questions and vowed to fight the utility’s plans.

Borough Manager Michael Hart said he invited PP&L officials, who declined to come and said that they would arrange a meeting with residents. PP&L, based in Allentown, has about 10 million customers and saw $7.7 billion in revenues last year. 

In what they call BOSS2020, borough leaders have made plans to improve two bottle-neck intersections on Penn Avenue and make room for a downtown business district.

Residents and drivers will soon see concrete signs of the project, Loth said.

Sinking Spring says 69,000-volt line will clash with development plans

By Steve Reinbrecht

Here is a small town with big plans to fix up its business district versus a utility giant that wants to hang a new 69,000-volt line through it – which could snarl plans to improve some of the worst traffic in Berks County.

PP&L Electrical Utilities plans to build a new electrical line through the borough. Sinking Spring-area residents are invited to a council meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday night. I couldn't find an agenda on the borough website, but I expect the topic to come up.

Sinking Spring officials say the line would disrupt plans to redevelop the downtown, plans in the works for a long time and already at considerable taxpayer investment.

The line’s 100-foot right-of-way will go through downtown and affect revitalization and hundreds of residents, eliminating a wide path of development, Borough Manager Michael Hart said at a meeting in June, according to the Reading Eagle.

Poles that carry 69 kilovolts are typically wooden and 50 to 70 feet tall. The cleared right-of-way is typically 70-100 feet wide, according to Minnesota Electric Transmission Planning.

The line would cross Penn Avenue between Autozone and Paparone’s pizza shop, according to a map from PP&L.

New Wilson schools chief should answer to public

by Steve Reinbrecht

If Wilson School District’s last superintendent, Rudy Ruth, was a paragon of longevity, working for the district for more than 30 years, the new one is a job changer, working at four districts in the last 10 years.

I’m glad newspapers have reported about this important man, the new Wilson schools chief, Curtis Baker. I’m betting he might like to stay in Wilson and has answers to our questions.

Baker worked at his last job, as superintendent of the Moon School District, near Pittsburgh, for two years.

The Moon School Board voted to put him on paid leave in December.

Funny the Reading Eagle hasn’t mentioned that.

In any case, reading between the lines of coverage by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, it seems a newly elected majority tossed Baker out because they didn’t like his ideas.

In response, Baker has sued the district and seven school board members, claiming a broken contract.