April 13, 2006 Issue                                               

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Runoff from The Hill at issue
by Kristin Pazulski

The north retention basin helps manage storm water runoff at The Hill at Whitemarsh development, and will be transformed into a retention pond, fitting in with the landscape.

Whitemarsh Township was prepared this week to order developers of The Hill at Whitemarsh to cease work if the township engineer, Jim Sullivan, was not satisfied with designs for storm water management.

The deadline to satisfy the township was Tuesday, April 11. A decision on whether to stop work on the continuing care retirement community had not been reached in time for the Local’s deadline this week. Construction on the 96-acre is halfway complete, with the opening set for March 2007.

Township Manager Chris Vanderbilt and Sullivan met with the Hill’s development and management consultants, Retirement Living Services, and engineers this past January to discuss improvements because the initial storm water management features, built last fall, were not performing as designed. “This is not unusual in the process of development,” Vanderbilt said.

At the January meeting, the developers agreed to begin to implement some of the suggested changes after they received the necessary approval of the designs from the Montgomery County Conservation District of the designs. As for the rest of the suggested changes, they said in January that they would be unnecessary, as the facilities would begin to work with the warm weather and vegetation growth.

At their March 23 board meeting, near neighbors expressed concerns over runoff from the site. Township supervisors asked Sullivan to issue a letter to the developers, requesting that they reach an agreed upon timeline, with “no open endedness,” for completion of the agreed-to changes as soon as possible, Vanderbilt said. If not, they warned, the township would issue a cease and desist order at the construction site.

The developers responded, and Vanderbilt and Sullivan met with them March 28.

“We’ve been working with the township, trying to mitigate problems as they come up,” said RLS’s project manager, Sean Kelly.

The developers told them that the delay in implementing the changes was partly due to the fact that they had not yet received approval for the work from the Montgomery County Conservation District. Vanderbilt said the developers had already submitted the plans for approval when the supervisors’ letter went out March 24, and that the letter helped push along the process.

“I think the Hill and their engineers could have moved faster … but I think they are picking up the pace,” Vanderbilt said. “I think they’re aware of the needs and will work on as fast a timetable as practicable.”

The township is satisfied with the timetable, said Vanderbilt, who recently toured the facilities with Sullivan and found “some other things we thought could be done.” The timetable dictates that the work be completed by April 28. Township officials and representatives of The Hill were scheduled to meet Tuesday, April 11, to ensure that Sullivan is satisfied with all storm water modifications and that a cease-and-desist order was not necessary.

Vanderbilt and Kelly said there would always be storm water runoff from the property because it sits on high ground. Currently, he said, some neighbors are experiencing aggravated runoff problems, but that those should subside with the design adjustments.

“There has been runoff and water shed related issues on that property for decades,” Kelly said. “The landscaping and completion of the project will have additional positive impact on the runoff issue.”

At a previous meeting, it was suggested that woodland might need to be removed to help control storm water. But Sullivan, the engineer, sought to reassure residents at the April 6 meeting. “The solution we are talking about will not affect any of the trees,” Sullivan said. “If [the current design changes] do not work, we might have to go back and look at it,” referring to the tree removal.