Hatboro Paves Way for New Parking Lot

Cut down on stormwater flow, or save money.

Those are the options that the Hatboro Borough Council faces as it prepares to move forward on Bank Street and the adjacent Wachovia Bank parking lot upgrades.

On Monday, after reviewing the lowest bid for the project, which, at a minimum, entails repaving the 150-space parking lot and rebuilding Bank Street, the council awarded a $246,000 contract to Bray Brothers.

The alternate, which the company bid at $362,000 total, would involve decreasing the flow of stormwater by 25 percent for the 100-year storm, according to Hatboro Engineer James Dougherty.

"Twenty-five percent is good," Dougherty said. "You have to decide if it’s worth $120,000."

On Monday, the council was unable to make that decision and instead opted to weigh in on the additional work during its April 22 meeting.

Councilman Bill Tompkins said he supported adding the stormwater management option to the project.

"That’s a fairly reasonable rate of reduction," Tompkins said. "All things considered, I’d rather do the stormwater if we can."

Dougherty said a roughly $180,000 grant would cover the costs of rebuilding Bank Street.

The rest of the either $246,000 or $362,000 cost, Council President John Zygmont told Patch, would come from the Hatboro Borough Authority. In January the council approved making a request of the Authority to fund the repaving of the 150-space lot.

Zygmont said the authority, the entity tasked with overseeing the $5 million generated from the sale of the borough’s water company, agreed to cover the remainder of the project's cost.

Resident Ron Battis suggested waiting until ongoing construction at the rear of the former Wachovia Bank concludes before repaving the lot.

"It’d be a shame to put in a brand-new parking lot and have them chew it up," Battis said.

But, even if the borough opted to only award the main project to Bray Brothers, the earliest it could begin is mid-May or the end of May, according to Tompkins.