At the Tuesday, May 9 council meeting, renovations to the township’s sewer system, tennis courts, outdated roadways and fueling facilities were up for discussion.
Burlington Township’s council met Tuesday, May 9 to discuss capital improvements intended to address areas of town that are aging and in need of repair. The updates address an aging sewer system, outdated roadways, rehabilitation of unused tennis courts and updates to the township’s fueling facilities.
Around six years ago, the township’s engineering department put a plan in place to work on sections of sewer lines that are reaching their age capacity, township administrator Walter Corter said. At Tuesday’s meeting, Council put forth two bond ordinances appropriating $275,000 for sewer capital improvements as well as a bond ordinance for $850,000 for the rehabilitation of the sanitary sewer system in the Springside area.
Rather than undergo a costly replacement of all of the township’s aging piping, sections of the current pipes will be replaced and realigned, Corter said. He said the process will ensure the sewer system remains viable for another 30 to 40 years.
At present, newer developments have updated sewer lines, but because the system is connected, if an older section of piping should fail, then other areas of piping will experience the repercussions, even if the piping is new. The piping repairs and realignment will mitigate this problem, Corter said.
“We’re guaranteeing our sewer structure remains useful to the whole community,” Corter said.
Aging roadways have also inspired the township to take action. At Tuesday’s meeting, council introduced a bond ordinance appropriating $350,000 to the 2017 Road Programs.
Corter said Burlington Township has approximately 100 miles of roadways with some approaching 20 or 30 years in age. He said the township took a look at infrastructure in some of the aging developments and saw potholes and cracks that needed to be addressed.
He said work on the roadways should begin in either late spring or early fall. Some of the roadways to undergo paving are Dultys Lane, Ridgewood Way, Tudor Drive and Mystic Way. Some will be paved in part while others, such as Ridgewood Way, will have the entire length of roadway paved.
Additionally, the township put forward for first reading a bond ordinance for capital improvements appropriating $1,672,000 and authorizing $1,588,400 in bonds or notes. Some of that money will be used to fund a riding mower and a container truck for the public works department, but the majority of the funds will be used to replace the township’s fueling facility, which is more than 40 years old.
The facility is utilized by two communities — Burlington Township and the city of Burlington. The gas and diesel fuel vehicles from Burlington Township’s public works, police, fire, water and sewer departments as well as vehicles from Endeavor Emergency Squad, Corter said.
Burlington City uses the facility for its buses and maintenance vehicles as part of an interlocal service agreement.
The township’s recreation department has also applied for a Burlington County Municipal Park Improvement grant to update and repurpose the underutilized tennis courts at Green Acres Park, Corter said. The township is waiting to hear back regarding the grant.
The $250,000 grant would enable the township to rehabilitate the 37 tennis courts throughout Green Acres Park it installed when tennis was at its peak of popularity several years ago. Today, the courts do not have enough players to justify the more than 30 courts, Corter said.
The plan is to remove some of the courts and rehab the ones that do get used, he said. Once the renovations begin, the township will open it to residents to see what they think should be done with the space where courts are removed. Corter said the township will ask residents if the space should remain open or be utilized for another purpose.
The public hearing for the ordinances put forth will be held at the next council meeting on Tuesday, May 23.
