4 Feet Cause 3rd Street Delay, BLCC Rep Says

As the parties involved in the continued lawsuits and appeals await court decisions regarding the latest in the 3rd Street Project, the board president of Broomalls Lake Country Club says its a matter of 4 feet that is now holding the project up.

In September 2012, the majority of council voted to over the dam and within two weeks of the vote Broomall's Lake Country Club filed a contempt of court petition saying council violated a three-way agreement between BLCC, the borough and Delaware County.

In February 2013, instead of the the original May 2011 three-way stipulation agreement, which required the borough to design, build and pay for the project. Then in March, BLCC filed an appeal to the judge's decision and the borough filed a cross appeal.

Currently, all parties are awaiting a court decision.

Paul Cavanagh, president of the board of directors of BLCC, disagreed with Media Borough Council President Brian Hall's recent statements that the issue was in "litigation limbo."

Cavanagh told Patch that it is BLCC's preference to have a two-way, two-lane roadway, which would "re-establish" 3rd Street to what it was more than 17 years ago.

"But BLCC has tried to work with the borough on many variations of a one-way roadway, which the borough has outright dismissed," Cavanagh said in an email message.

In early April, Cavanagh said, the issue was close to being settled.

He said the county, BLCC and the borough agreed that the roadway would be built over a newly replaced dam to conform with PennDOT requirements for a two-way roadway, even if the borough only allowed one way.

The county and BLCC agreed to handle the future costs of any dam maintenance and the borough would be responsible for the roadway, which had been originally agreed upon in the stipulation agreement, Cavanagh said.

"Everyone thought this issue was over. Until the borough once again tried to set a maximum width of the roadway at 28 feet," Cavanagh said. "Now, due to the borough's actions we are back to square one."

PennDOT’s standard roadway width varies depending on the classification and location of the road, the surround topography and traffic volume, according to PennDOT Assistant Press Secretary Eugene J. Blaum.

For a road such as 3rd Street, the width can range from 20 feet to 36 feet depending on whether there is a need for on-street parking, bicycle lanes, or other things, Blaum said in an email message.
 
"PennDOT has not rejected any design for this project based on the proposed curb-to-curb roadway width. The Department is certainly willing to discuss what the appropriate roadway width should be for this project should the borough have questions or concerns about it," Blaum said in an email message.

The width of the roadway has been a point of issue in recent months. During the September 2012 discussion and vote on the one-lane, one-way ruling Councilman Paul Robinson had said it was still unclear what a 28-foot wide roadway could accommodate as far as the number of lanes and wanted clarification, however, his question could not be answered at that time.

According to a Broomall's Lake Q/A on Media Democrats website, council originally voted for the one-lane roadway because it would cost less and have the least amount of impact on Glen Providence Park.

In a letter to the editor from Hall and Vice President Monica Simpson stated that, "Because council did not want to tie the hands of future councils, it made the top of the dam wide enough to expand the one-lane road to a two-lane road if needed in the future," according to the Media Democrates website.