Lower Pottsgrove selling former site planned for new township building

LOWER POTTSGROVE — The five vacant lots along East high Street where the township had intended to build a new township building are now up for sale.

The township is taking bids on the five parcels, which are being sold as a single unit, and they will be publicly opened on June 6.

In 2019, the township had plans to build a new complex on the site. Originally estimated at $8.5 million, the cost ballooned when the COVID-19 pandemic drove prices skyward due, in part, to supply chain issues caused by the virus.

The first set of bids that came in 2021 were $200,000 higher than the $8.6 million budget. The second set of bids came in even higher and then the price jumped to $11.3 million, according to the minutes of the April 20, 2023 commissioners meeting.

“The price skyrocketed out of budget, so the project was stopped to stay within budget and avoid raising taxes,” according to the minutes of the April 20, 2023 commissioners meeting.

So the board sought out another site.

On June 8, 2023, the township commissioners voted unanimously to take the former Visiting Nurses Association building at 1963 E. High St. using the power of eminent domain, which requires the payment of “just compensation” to the property owner. The minutes of that meeting indicate that prior to taking this action, the township’s “preference was to come to an agreement” on price and buy it outright.

Unable to reach an agreement on price, the township took the property but the effort to renovate that building into a new township building is stalled for the same reason — inability to reach an agreement on price.

Several attempts Friday and Monday to reach Township Manager Ed Wagner to find out if the sale of the former site means the township is closer to reaching an agreement on the former VNA building were unsuccessful.

As for the site for sale, adding up to 2.02 acres, the adjoining lots are all located in the “limited commercial and office” zoning district, according to the legal notice posted on the website and published in The Mercury.