Phoenixville is a lovely place.  Phoenixville is also cash strapped.  I have heard that Phoenixville has plans for an $8 million dollar township building/borough hall? Is it true this building will be purportedly be built in a location that floods regularly when the water comes up?  Is it also true they are supposed to have flood mitigation plans — the first level will be a garage which will NOT take care of the flood issues, and the lack of proper flood planning when building in a flood plain will equal potential law suits won’t it?

Of course why a community with little to no money needs a Main Line expensive muni building escapes me, doesn’t it escape you?   I am told that at a recent  public meeting residents asked about this and were basically shooed off and brushed off with their questions?

Wow, really, Phoenixville?   Everyone gets you don’t want to end up like a hybrid cross between Pottstown and Norristown, but building a borough hall that is Main Line expensive with many questions with regard to flooding issues isn’t a smart way to spend taxpayer money, is it?

Phoenixville would be better serving  residents if they behaved more sensibly.  Phoenixville needs to take care of her residents and the businesses that have taken a chance on this town.  Building a giant flood prone municipal building in a box won’t accomplish that.

Below is some background from Phoenixville Patch and I hope lots of local media takes a goooood long long at how the officials in Phoenixville want to spend $8 million dollars in a piss poor economy.

Seems to me that Phoenixville has $8 million reasons to proceeed with caution, doesn’t it?

Council Gets a Look at New Borough Hall During Hearing

A conditional use hearing was held for a new borough hall on Bridge Street.

By Lynn Jusinski  Email the author  March 16, 2012

Plans for Phoenixville’s new borough hall were shown at Tuesday’s borough council meeting.

Representatives from Spiezle Architecture Group, along with the civil engineer working on the project, were on hand to discuss the new building, which will be located adjacent to the current district justice building at 347 Bridge St. The three-story building will be 45-feet high and plans include 123 parking spaces.

The police department will be housed on the first floor, with a gated, covered police parking area around the back. The second floor will feature administrative offices and windows where residents speak to borough staff. The third floor has the public meeting space, which can be divided into a smaller conference room area. A caucus room, archive storage, the public works office, a break room for employees and the server room will also be on the third floor.

Existing elevators and stairwells will be used, and one new stairwell will be added from the second floor to the third floor in the new building. Council President Richard Kirkner said the district justice building was built in anticipation of the addition.

“The lobby was built with another building to the west of the existing building in mind,” Kirkner said.

As a conditional use hearing, the focus was on the footprint, general layout, parking and circulation on the site, rather than the overall design. More input on that can be given during the subdivision and land development phase, according to Solicitor Andrew Rau.

Kirkner said he had some concerns with the design but understood that it was not really the forum for that at the conditional use hearing.

“It just looks awfully boxy for a municipal building,” he said.

The council president also expressed some concerns about stormwater on the site, which is near the French Creek. He asked what would happen if a storm like Hurricane Agnes came through.

“The parking lot will be under water,” said Mike Thomas, civil engineer at Hunt Engineering Company.

Police officers would still have access to their garage from the east but not the west in a bad storm situation, Thomas said. The stormwater management system will be buried under the parking lot, which would be covered in water in the event of a flood.

Conditional Use Hearing for New Borough Hall Planned

The hearing will take place at council’s March meeting.

ByLynn Jusinski  Email the author  February 21, 2012

Phoenixville Council Moves Forward on Borough Hall, Infrastructure Bond

Council voted 7-1 to pursue a bond for $7.5 to $10.5 million.

By Lynn Jusinski  Email the author  July 13, 2011