News Herald from Perkasie, Pennsylvania • 1

ably wouldn't have, had it not been before Sellersville paid $1,500 out of its own pocket to have land consultant commission's recommendation to forget the individuals' efforts and let the county take over. Usually its the people that accuse the government of "footdragging" on certain matters, but, in this case, pardon the pun, the shoe is on the other The Sellersville Planning Commission this week accused a group of private individuals with "footdragging" on their plans to develop a splintered tract of land across from the National Guard Armory on East Park Avenue known as "Sellersville Heights." Sellersville originally wanted to have the entire tract developed under the auspices of the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority, but many of the residents who owned scattered plots within the 34 acres east of Hughes Avenue complained and pressured borough council into letting them come up with their own portion of the plan. Authority i own 4k. m- "VV George Stallmah design a rough layout. Just hours before the planners were to meet Monday, Brig.

Gen. Hugh Niles, a spokesman for the taxpayers' group, made arrangements for the use of the borough hall on Aug. 13 for the association to meet. But council meets Aug. 10 and must consider the planning The Pennridge Wastewater Treatment Authority and Hilltown Township will go to court to settle a dispute over billing for sewage treatment at the regional plant in Sellersville.

Members of PWTA voted Monday night to sue Hilltown for not paying $12,000 in overdue sewer bills. The township claims it is being overcharged for sewage treatment because of faulty meter problems. Last October the township installed its own meters to measure the amount of sewage flow going into the plant from the township and figures showed it was being overcharged by 20 to 30 percent, according to the authority's solicitor Frank Grabowski. townships.projected bill for 1981 is around $44,000, but Hilltown feels it should be more like $21,000. The township has paid a third of what it owes for the year.

Sewer To Sue Hill ft- Last Train The victim of budget cuts, "the last passenger train north of Lansdale made a final stop in Perkasie on Sunday. SEPTA officials reported the cutback will affect some 125 daily commuters on the Lansdale-Quaker-town line including stops at Quakertown, Perkasie, Sellersville, Telford, Soudertdn and Hatfield. Photo by Don Boorse "Condemnation is now a serious alternative in light of the fact that nothing has been Borough Manager Richard Coll told the planners Monday night. "I know the Housing Development Corp. has suggested it to borough council already." PWTA officials have acknowledged some problems with faulty meters and agreed to readjust the billing at the end of the year.

But Hilltown doesn't feel it should have to wait for money back it claims it doesn't owe in the first place. "Let the court decide who's breaking the agreement," commented board Chairman Charles J. Norton of Perkasie. He was supported by representatives from Sellersville, Telford and East Rockhill. Hilltown board representative William Edward Curry made a motion that the budget be and changed to reflect costs based on actual meter readings.

He was joined by Silverdale representative William Reese, but the matter got no further. We tried to negotiate with them; find some method other than (Continued On Page 7) site and repair the sidewalks. The firm plans to move-in shortly; 1 A second hearing was continued until next month until the engineer for Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc. can review an engineering study by Eckert Malone, Sellersville, conducted at the request of the zoning board. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals seeks to construct a large addition behind their Seventh Street property, the former Strouse garage.

A side yard variance is needed along with a special exception to allow the industrial use in a commercial and residential district. The engineering review cited several problems with parking layout, access for trucks and drainage at the site, accor ding to Borough Manager Gary A. Nace. Aquarium was represented at the hearing by' partner Al Abravaya and Perkasie Atty. J.

Lawrence Grim Jr. Rail Service Marks End An Era Perkasie Zoning Board OKs Exception For New firm daily to work in Philadelphia or other stops along the route. Frederick Slemmer, S. Ninth Street, Perkasie, is now driving to Lansdale "under protest" to catch an electric train to the city. SEPTA, in an effort to cut increasing costs, agreed to end its diesel service that Includes many towns like Perkasie.

Slemmerj a transportation employee at" Rohm Haas in center city, said' driving to Lansdale to catch a train "is still better than driving all the way in." He used to leave Perkasie on the 7 a.m. train and return on the one which arrived about 6:25 p.m. While he's only been riding daily for two years, Slemmer days he's seen the prices of tickets double in that time, while service got worse. "Each time the rates went up ridership declined," he noted. 1 Another Perkasie resident, Robert Benner, was "quite upset" with the discontinuation of service but was even more disgusted with the poor service in recent years.

Benner has been riding the railroad for 40 years off and on and now is car-pooling with some other area residents to center city where he is an office clerk at Berwin Corp. Many others who used the rail have now switched to bus service. Carl R. Beiber bus service is now available on a regular basis from Sellersville and Quakertown using the Route 309 corridor. Buses leave the area seven times daily.

SEPTA had originally intended to end the train shuttles July 1, but continued after receiving a emergency grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. But that hasn't happened, and the planners are ready to turn the whole matter over to the county's Housing Development Corporation to condemn the private tracts and let them develop the remaining 25 acres. 'The Housing Corp. has already submitted a preliminary plan for 60 one and two bedrm. apts.

on 4.4 acres Another 2.9 acres will be for common open space requirements, with a few acres also lying in Perkasie Borough, The remaining 25 acres are owned by some 16 individuals who collectively call themselves the Sellersville Taxpayers' Association. Rnrmirtl Cnnnril inA thn'crrniin in March to submit a preliminary plan by June then gave a second deadline of July 27 since the group had failed to even hire an engineer to design plans. A sketch plan has been detailed, but prob Continental Bids i-or Han Continental Bank of Philadelphia this week submitted the lone bid of 155,550 for the former Perkasie Borough Hall at 607 Chestnut Street. The two-story building was for-- merly owned by Bucki County Bank and sold to the borough about 25 years ago. Perkasie Borough Council will render a decision Aug.

10 on whether or not to accept the lone bid, but it is anticipated they will. Earlier this year the Borough rejected Russell Keeler's bid of 125,000 for the building. Continental Bank currently has 9 local offices in Hatfield, Lansdale, Plumsteadville and Doylestown. Reviewing Perkasie was founded more than a hundred years ago as one of several stops along the North Pennsylvania Railroad lines between Philadelphia and Bethlehem. Jn fact, the story goes that the, town was first named after a former president of the railroad Franklin H.

Comley but he was so mad and belittled that he made them change the name from and "Perkasie" was later loaay mat au irrelevant, cause there aren't any trains to stop here anymore for the first time since the mid-1850s. Something changed here over the weekend that few would even notice and that only a handful would really complain about. Passenger rail service along the Lansdale to Quakertown line ended Sunday. Budgetary problems forced the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which leases the lines from Conrail, to end service along the former Reading Railroad lines north of Lansdale. That includes stops in Hatfield, Souderton, Telford, Sellersville, Perkasie and Quakertown.

And it means a change of habit for the declining numbers who took the train -4 In taking the money, SEPTA agreed to operate the two lines until its board, which is composed of representatives from Philadelphia and four suburban counties, voted to ax the runs. That happened last Wednesday. "I'm concerned," said Bucks County Commissioners Chairman Elaine P. Zettickwho voted against the motion to stop the service. "I had been telling the people of Quakertown that they would have (bus) service, because I had been assured they would." SEPTA held public hearings on dropping the two lines earlier this year and Winston J.

Churchill, SEPTA-appointed hearing examiner, reported Wednesday that plans to drop the Lansdale Quakertown and Norristown Pottstown shuttles "met with relatively little opposition from community groups." However, the State Public Utility Commission disputes SEPTA'S right to end the shuttle service, the service to Bethlehem on the Lansdale line and to Reading and Pottsville on the Norristown line. That issue is to be taken up August 6 at a PUC hearing in Philadelphia. Five state representatives and two private groups have filed complaints about the cutbacks with the commission. Service to Berks and Schuylkill counties and to the Lehigh Valley ended June 30. Total savings for.

cutting all diesel lines was estimated at $7.9 million. The curtailment of service was part of an effort to keep the Conrail train system on its feet, despite a threat to shut down the entire system of commuter transportation August 31. Program, which is presently located in St. Agnes Church in Sellersville; a Community Living Arrangements, Program, with four sites in Sellersville, Perkasie, and Silverdale; a Summer Camp, located at Deep Run Presbyterian Church; a recreational program for adults; and case management services for northern Bucks County. Funding for the services the Foundation provides comes from county and state monies, helped by local donations.

The program and office building is part of an expansion program authorized by the Health System Agency, which will also include four group homes for mentally retarded persons, to be built in the local area, and a kitchen addition to Ridge Crest. Bloodmobile To Visit Hie Pennridge Community Bloodmobile will be it the Perkasie Fire House next Monday, August J-from 2 to p.m. The goal Is too pint for thii collection. 'Call 257-6038 or 257-2705 for an appointment. Walk-ins are also welcome.

Groups donating at this lime are Trinity Lutheran Church, Orbit Mfg. Deep Run Presbyterian Church. First United Methodist and First Baptist Church of Perkasie and the Knight of Columbus. The Perkasie Zoning Hearing Board jMonday night granted a special exeepy that will allow a Cleveland, Ohio firm to begin operations at the former Hartman Trailer plant at Walnut and Constitution Avenue in Perkasie. D.S.S.

Inc. filed the appeal to change a non-conforming use of the building for industrial use in a commercial zone. The firm manufactures wooden fiberglass and plastic patterns and aluminum, castings for the automotive and plastics industry. The firm expects to have 12 employees within two years, Paul Hamas, president of the firm, testified at the hearing. He was represented by Perkasie Atty.

Dennis Helf and Samuel Pierce, owner of the former Hartman building and business. 1 The zoning board approved the exception with the conditions that the firm provide off-street parking at the Plans (u i Looking over Foundation for to right: Merrill Foundation Breaks Ground For Addition v) Community Foundation for Human Development in Sellersville held a groundbreaking Monday for their new program and office building. The new $1 million facility will be located on three acres purchased from Grand View Hospital, and adjacent to the present Ridge Crest residential facility. The program and office building will provide space for an Adult Day Program, for an Infant Day Program, for Bucks County Intermediate Unit classrooms, for Case Management Offices, for Community Program Offices, for Therapists' Offices, and for Administrative Offices. The building will contain 14,000 square feet on two floors.

The building will allow Community Foundation to bring together a number of functions which are now dispersed, as well as freeing up space in Ridge Crest for the addition of two beds which will be reserved for respite and short term emergency care. The architect is Paul Lederach of Lederach, and the construction firm is Paul F. Detweiler of Telford. Financing has been arranged through Union National Bank of Souderton. Community Foundation is Sellersville non-profit agency specializing in the treatment of children and adults who are severely brain-damaged and mentally retarded, with associated multiple handicaps.

The Foundation operates1 Ridge Crest, a 30-bed facility in West Rockhill; an Adult Day plans for a new $1 million facility for the Community Human Development above Grand View Hospital are left Moyer, Union National Bank and Trust Dr. David Austin, executive director; Marvin Anders, treasurer; Kenneth Longacre, chairman of building committee; and Samuel Jones, president of the Foundation. Photo by Don Boorse.