FLOODING  COMMENTARY

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2013  Until the end of last year, I did not really have any full perspective of the real extent of this problem .  I have at this point spoken to probably 100 people who are experiencing flooding in Abington and her sister townships. Cheltenham's problems are even more dire because whatever we do in Abington, upstream, affects them downstream. The situation is not good --- hundreds - possibly thousands of properties flooding . But what I find most confounding is that while they are desperately trying to decide what should be done in one room/meeting, in the next room/meeting they are approving yet another project that takes more greenspace than the code allowed , creating more  "water management" systems that release water into the already overburdened streams, and providing no sign of management.
      As of this date there are millions of dollars of flood remediation projects on the radar for both townships and millions of dollars of sewer issues. In order to accommodate developers, who are being given rights way in excess of what they bought, the taxpayers are forking over million to build, run and maintain pumping stations and "creative" solutions to, for instance, by-pass Cheltenham's  sewer moratorium.  It is positively mind-boggling to see the whole picture .    Individual residents are frustrated and  some have lost faith that anything will be done. Some are contemplating lawsuits - others are trying to sell .   Solutions are few --- while exceptions to the zoning code are still being granted freely. 
    I was concerned about the "paying in the future" aspect of this ---- now I am concerned about the fact that we are creating an unsolveable situation, that no amount of money can fix.

 

 

2012  The Commissioners have put approx 3 million out to bond twice - so here's the problem - why are we freely spending on other "niceties" while the important work of storm water management is being put out to bond . We have seen outrageous expenses for "wants" .  Essentially, we are putting our "wants" out on bonds --- let someone in the future pay for them.  How will we stop that  and get back to a pattern of spending responsibility . Here is the  DEBT CLOCK
Our futures and that of our children depend on us seeing that HERE is where and how  debt is created.   
Every taxpayer in Anerica is $120,000 in debt at this point. 

 

2011    August:  The Township has put many projects on the slate --- but homeowners are still flooding and in danger of flooding  and taxpayers can be concerned about how many bonds are being floated - and paying in the future. Millions of dollars  can be found for creating an Arts & Theater Center, building a Soccer Clubhouse, putting fancy fences around Alverthorpe, adding a sidewalk to nowhere at the Art Center, manicuring the 9 hole golf course & widening the paths, we have homeowners in desperate need of infrastructure improvements but we are floating bonds to do just a small percentage of the work, telling the others they'll have to live in fear of each rainstorm --we're not going to help you now. Fiscal responsibility would put infrastructure obligations first.  When a car spins out in the flood waters on Tyson Avenue it may be too late.  (see where the money goes )

     Homeowners  who live  by the creek are dismayed that while they are being told they live in a flood plain, ( they do ) it is not the floodplain they live in causing the problem.  Waters from non -flood plain areas are being piped via storm drains into the creek, essentially pumping water into a flood plain.  (Floodplain maps are simply re-drawn ---  but homeowners can't "draw" a dry basement or "draw" away the waters rising up their back yards.  The solution to the over-building for one homeowner is putting another in jeopardy.   The township reports it is putting in perforated pipes and making use of French drains to try to reduce the waters that reach the creek rather than increase them, but this statement was later amended to clarify that only a small section of pipes- those on the homeowners property are perforated.  All the water that makes it into the stree through these pipes gets channeled to the creek.  The perforated pipes have the downside of filling with dirt or causing "sinkholes" from washing away dirt.  (This dirt must also wash into the non perforated pipes.   Creekside owners report  renewed hi-water danger since these projects have been instituted.  Other homeowners have had to call in the DEP to get  the township to deal with water diverted to their property from other properties . 

 

 

2010   November: Are we really 30 million behind in Flooding projects - that is $1400 per household

But wait - after identifying the flooding remediations needed to be $30 million after the August 09 meeting, the Township manager has now said (11-10-10 meeting) that the remaining 24? or 25?  million consists only of  nuisance items or items that are the responsibility of the home owner. Huh?  Then why were they on the list in the first place? Don't we identify who has ownership before we spent the time to  estimate a project's cost?   
   As has been pointed out to the commissioners many times, there are many many people in the Township who are flooding who did not even know about the August 2009 meeting. I find them every day when I talk to people about other issues.

The flooding in this Township has a great deal to do with overdevelopment.  and yet we have the Zoning Rewrite Committee wose prime task seems to be over development.  They are creating new ordinances and districts all over this Township which, if implemented,  will increase density, flooding ,traffic, parking problems, and remove green space, among other problems. In street after street after street in this Township, resident after resident is affected. I don't think any of us has the whole picture because so many residents have not yet spoken up. Some of them became victims of flooding after other areas right near them were "fixed". It is heart wrenching to hear the stories of people who have been so burdened by the treat of even a normal rain. It is not just the financial damage, but the heartbreak of all of the work and disruption. And then the fear of getting all the mold out and wondering what will happen in the next rain. The inability ( or lack of will ) of the township to mediate this problem has put a high "tax" on some.

 

 

11-10  In the 2009 budget the commissioners floated the bond for $3 million

Some work was done out of existing funds- perhaps to the tune of 1 million or two
And though the budget is not finalized at this point it appears that another couple million will be budgeted in the 2011 budget. This is what's being done after identifying what at one time was $30 million behind in flood repair projects. The amount of staff  that could handle such a load was one reason given for being behind. Yet I have not heard a request for any additional staff for this or previous budgets .

 

2009

12-09  Yes it's true . $30 million .  According to the Township Engineer, before this summer's Flooding meeting they had identified  about 15 million in Flood related projects (  12 million of that 15 , I was told was  for the Keswick area. The Keswick pipe project became a disaster for both Abington and Cheltenham. Many, many lives were affected and millions in property and remediation ..... ) 
AFTER the August 2009 flood meeting ( which, as you may well imagine, only a small percentage of residents even knew about ) they added on another 15 million estimated fixes - to total  30 million . That is $1400 per household in Abington of debt  ............while Commissioners have continued to brag about not raising taxes for 18 years ( which wasn't true for other reasons as well - like removing the services that were covered. )

 

       To watch this unfold has been incredible.  One resident who said (circa 07) he had been flooding for 20 years was told that it was because Tyson Ave  is a State road and there was nothing the Commissioners could do - they can't touch a State Rd. He's have to wait (and flood) for 5 more years  til the state had it on it's plan. When another resident  asked about it this - he was  told to come to a meeting. He did and the result.....?  At the meeting he was simply told the same thing again.   Huh ?  So WHY  was he asked to come? This kind of shenanigans discourages residents - they are left running in circles with no one who stops to help.  

     After the meeting I learned that it is, in fact,  NOT the State's responsibility once the water leaves the road --- it is the Township's.  We had 10 million in the General Fund at that point with only a little allocated to any specific projects --- so WHY, I asked, would these neighbors have to keep flooding for  another  4 or 5 years ???
     The township ultimately allocated  money ( I believe  $125,000)  and did some fixes that made a difference for this resident.  Others on his street still have some problems but the problems have generally been lessened.  Someone please tell me why they did not get relief as soon as they asked?
  
      Another neighbor in Rydal testified that  he lost somewhere around $50,000 in a recent storm - on the heels of many other losses that he recently suffered.  One resident testified that it took 4 years and the threat of a lawyer before something was done .  Some neighbors' houses have been compromised - and while we have spent millions buying  properties back - we still have others want theirs bought .

 

     By not using taxes $ to put in proper storm drainage, by not recognizing that our streams are full, we are irresponsibly still allowing green space to be paved over  and diverting that water first  to holding tanks and then to streams .  The neighbors receiving these waters are paying what can only be called "additional taxes" - huge  in many cases- for the consequences.
    
      After the Flood meeting I went to the next meeting and asked the Engineer why people flooding were not getting help. His answer was two-fold . 1) If there is a stream involved or other complication, DEP & other regulators   makes you jump through lots of hoops ( OK - so lets get the paperwork started - it's not even started on half of these  )  and 2)  there is only so much you can do in a year with a staff of 4  ( OK - so lets see how many engineers we need and hire them . Period. Need money ? Findf out how much the tax collector is really making - and shift some of that over to engineering . Look at all the wish list items you spend on  and cut them out .  I could name you dozens of  places that money was allocated for projects  far less important  and for "wants" instead of " needs".

 

    11/19/09 Budget meeting, can it be true that with 30 million in storm water management to consider,  we only wrote into the budget $3500 for Engineering staff and $300,000  for additional flood projects ??  Please tell me that's not true ....   In Dec 09 the Commissioners  spent a full meeting mulling over whether we might ( or might not float a bond for just $3 million . Forget the other $27 million that was on the $30 million list . Shall we leave that as a gift for the grandkids   - & let some continue to pay their "rain tax" .  Or maybe a better name is the "we didn't raise taxes for 18 years or fix the problems we knew about" tax.

 

   If you have a different perspective  --or have come comments you'd like to share here - please - contact me and  help me see your view.

 

Thanks

Lora

 

 

  Where  DOES   all the money
that we need to fix the flooding go? click here
   

    Please feel free to contact us  with your own  information on these topics  and please be sure to    contact us about any information you believe to be incorrect -

 

 

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Abington Township revamped the entire Township website at the end of 2015 and broke all the links to the information. In 2017, under Richard Manfredi, someone inexperienced was assigned to redo the entire website again. The public was not asked what problems they would like to see fixed. Their new plan was not well thought out, so everything was very hard to find and there were giant paragraphs you had to slog through in order to find the pertinent one or two lines that you needed. Or if you were lucky enough to even find the meetings and agenda page, there was (and still is) a whole page of nonsense on top, so you think you're on the wrong page. Zoom limks are burrid in a giant paragraph, so people can't find them to attend the meeting. They know about these  problems - but have just decided to ignore us.... for the whole of Richard Manfredi's time here (with Tom Hecker's consent).

 Now, in 2025, we are due to get a new Manager, and there are funds put aside to, once again, upgrade the Township website. We can only hope for a fresh chance at fixing some of these things, as our Township website is the best tool we have for communication and should be an easy, user friendly site for all.

We need volunteers willing to work together to help improve the Township site that everyone has to use,  to make it functional and accessible. 

 We will be repairing our broken links in this Abington Citizens site, too, and fixing some of our many, many typo's as much as is possible. (Yes, it's quite evident that, unlike the Township, WE don't have a paid staff of 275+ or a $93 million budget).

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