There has been much deliberation over Bowmanstown’s Craig Street curbing project, and several residents attended Tuesday’s meeting, prepared with questions for council.

The borough previously received over $300,000 in grant money toward roadway repairs, including the forming and placement of curbing alongside a majority of Craig Street.

This is to include curbing cuts outside of residents’ homes for driveway access. These homeowners will incur the cost for property frontage improvements.

Solicitor James Preston said, “Affected residents are responsible for frontage upkeep. Homeowners were notified that in order to access Craig Street they will be paying for improvements that extend the entire length of their property.”

The allotted grant money is not enough to complete the entire project. The borough has taken this into account, however Preston said, “No one whose property is affected by this will get a ‘free ride,’ yet no one will be paying extra either.”

Residents addressed Preston’s comment by questioning how cost would be differentiated due to residents’ individual property lot size and how many feet of frontage their lots account for.

Engineer Jessica Rehrig told the audience that, “Right now, homeowners affected by the curbing project should expect to be responsible for the estimated cost of approximately $50 per foot of curbing and curb cutouts at the same rate.”

A particular resident’s concern had to do with her property that sits within the municipality lines of both Bowmanstown and Lower Towamensing Township. There was question on whether residents would incur property taxes for both jurisdictions.

Preston said, “This would not happen; irregardless of curbing cuts allowing access to a property that extends into Lower Towamensing Township will only be liable for property taxes in Bowmanstown.”

It was then suggested that, “In this case a homeowner may want to do a quitclaim deed on homes that happen to be in both Bowmanstown and Lower Towamensing Township.

In this instance the lot would be merged and new municipal boundary lines drawn, allowing a lot in both locations to become one, with frontage on Craig Street, Preston said.

One resident complained that the $300,000 in grant money should pay for curbing for homeowners. The question was whether homeowners could hire their own contractor for curbing to save money.

Preston said that according to township ordinance, owners must absorb the cost.

Residents have since been notified via mail about the Craig Street roadwork and curbing agenda. Within the letter it had stated a response was requested as receipt of notice of the notification letter. It was revealed that only about half of the residents whose properties would be affected responded to the borough’s letter.

Councilman Rob Moyer said, “Can we publicize this to benefit residents via a Facebook group or the borough website?”

Preston said, “I think it’s fair to send correspondence to those residents who opted in only. We can afford them future notice as a courtesy; I couldn’t care less about the others.”

Rehrig said, “More info will be posted on the borough’s website once things have progressed a bit more.”

It was brought to the board’s attention in recent weeks that the planned diversion ditch uphill on the Southside of Craig Street has ponding water in several areas.

Rehrig said, “This isn’t possible because the design was purposely thought out and claimed it wasn’t possible for water to sit, as it was designed to drain in less than 48 hours.”

Moyer said, “Possibly the retention fabric that was used isn’t porous enough for water to absorb as intended.”

It’s been two weeks that the water has been ponding. It was concluded that the area of concern would be observed, and if necessary, water mitigation efforts would be looked into.