Pennypack Creek Dredging, Bank Repairs Planned

Regardless of how it’s paid for, Hatboro is required to maintain Pennypack Creek, which runs adjacent to Miller Meadow.

Officials are hoping that the bulk of a dredging and bank restoration project can be covered by a grant. 

The Hatboro Borough Council voted 5-0 Monday to approve the submission of a $200,000 grant, which requires a 15 percent borough match. Borough Engineer James Dougherty said Hatboro should know by the end of the year if the grant is approved. 

The Army Corps of Engineers–the entity with direct oversight of the waterway–noted that because of erosion, rip rap needed replacing, according to Dougherty.

“The sedimentation problem is going to continue,” Dougherty said when the grant was discussed earlier this month. “It’s going to be a constant maintenance issue for the borough.”

Hatboro resident Toni Kistner said during Monday’s meeting that adding fill is what causes more flooding.

“When you shore up the bank like that that’s what makes it flood,” Kistner said. “The creek used to wash all across the meadow.”

Borough Manager Fred Zollers said the work amounts to “maintenance that we’re required to do.”

“The Pennypack Creek at York and Horsham is an Army Corps of Engineer project,” Zollers said. “We are responsible for maintaining it.”

Zollers said the bank “needs something to make sure the rest of it doesn’t slide into the stream.”

The Army Corps of Engineers will come and clean out the creek for free if “there’s a total failure of the project,” Zollers said after the meeting. But, he said, the borough must first do its part.

Every year Hatboro carries out normal maintenance, including removing brush from the bank, Zollers said. This project is more involved than that, he said.