New Board to Lead Air Base Redevelopment

The Horsham Township Council has set the wheels in motion for creation of a five-member authority to oversee the redevelopment plan for 862 acres of . 

Viewed as the next appointed body to pick up where the existing 7-year-old Horsham Land Reuse Authority left off – in essence replacing that planning board – the so-called implementation authority will be officially formed at the June 25 Horsham Township Council meeting.

Despite not listing it on the meeting agenda, the council unanimously approved introduction of an ordinance during Wednesday’s meeting that, once approved next month, would create the new board.

“People are free to send in resumes,” Council President Mark McCouch told Patch when asked if letters of interest were being accepted. “We certainly look at everybody who shows interest.”

Councilman W. William Whiteside, who currently chairs the HLRA, said he “hopes” to be appointed to the new board. McCouch said he would like someone from the council to serve on the yet-to-be-formed board as well.

“We definitely need representation from council on the board,” McCouch said, adding that there needs to be “cooperation and communication” between both bodies.

Whiteside said the implementation authority has a more “localized” focus than the HLRA, which was created as a regional entity to ultimately for the bulk of the 1,100-acre air base. that plan, which the HLRA accomplished last month, was the board's last major function.

All of the board members of the new authority will need to be Horsham residents, Whiteside said.

“You have to be part of the municipality of where the implementation is going to occur,” Whiteside said.

Besides Whiteside, McCouch said it’s possible other HLRA members could be appointed to the board, provided they live in the township.

Key in getting the implementation authority off the ground is dissolving the HLRA and having its federal grants transitioned over to the new board. To do that in a timely fashion - and before the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30 - Township Manager Bill Walker said he recommended that the council introduce the ordinance on Wednesday, instead of waiting until its next meeting on June 13.

The idea, Walker said, was to “get ahead of” the next budget cycle and the possibility of funding not being available in subsequent years.

Once the council formally creates the new authority, Walker said articles of incorporation would be sent to the state and to the federal Office of Economic Adjustment.

Officials have said an implementation authority is necessary in order for the 862 acres to be transferred from the government to the board as an . The HLRA has requested this type of land transfer, which would put the implementation authority in the driver’s seat, allowing it to serve as the site’s master developer.

“They normally will not give funding and a grant for an economic development application without having an implementation authority in existence,” Walker said previously.

Walker said it is a roughly nine-month process to complete the economic development conveyance application. Once it’s submitted, negotiations would begin with the Department of the Navy, he said.

Before any land transfers can be negotiated, the council must first, on June 25, fill the five seats on the implementation authority. McCouch said appointees would serve either one, two, three, four or five-year terms. The idea, he said, is to have no more than one board member ending a term at once.

And while it would be helpful to have board members skilled in real estate, finance and other areas, McCouch said the people, rather than their areas of expertise, are the most important aspect.

“You want to have people who you know are loyal to the township,” McCouch said, adding that federal grants are provided to hire consultants and seek out tenants, for instance. “Anyone we got within the township … is not going to be qualified enough to do what needs to be done.”