Manor Township Surveying for CDBG Uses

by Jonathan Weaver

Manor Township supervisors identified a handful of areas in the township they hope to survey this summer for possible use of their Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds.

Earlier this month, Armstrong County Planning and Development Community Development Coordinator Kathy Heilman said supervisors will have access to more funds than last year.

“For 2016, as an entitlement, Manor Township will receive a total of $84,775 – slightly more than 2015, which was $83,458,” Heilman said.

Heilman hoped township supervisors identify a project, such as street, water or sewage projects, by next month so Planning and Development officials can fill out the required application. Applications are due in September.

Supervisor Chair Paul Rearick said officials can cross a few items off their three-year plan list, including funding to provide uniform street signs throughout the municipality (a project completed with Act 13 Marcellus Shale funds).

The list also contained the idea of paving a parking lot beside the Manor Township Fire Hall, but that was completed with capital reserve funds.

Grants have also been received and applied for to remediate flooding issues along Scout Run Road – which Heilman said the list helped acquire.

“We can use this (three-year plan) for other funding sources, not just CDBG, so that’s why we like to keep it as inclusive as possible,” Heilman said.

Projects still on the long term plan include extending water lines – especially to those residents that currently use wells along Fort Run Road and in the Smeltzers Flats region (below Appleby Manor Presbyterian Church along Nunamaker Hill Road) - , storm sewage and road improvements in the Village of Rosston and the resurfacing of Cherry Way and other streets in Pattonville.

Township Resident Matt Pfeil said it “would be a plus” extending the water lines so that residents don’t have to make so many trips daily.

Supervisor Bob Southworth knew of at least three homeowners that have wells and have to pay for water from the Municipal Authority when there is not a lot of rainfall.

Rearick estimated the project could affect as many as a dozen residents.

“We’re looking at possibly extending water lines there because there is no water service to there. People have wells, and it is quite an elevated area,” Rearick said. “The wells have to be very, very deep to hit water there.”

Supervisors are awaiting the proper amount of income surveys to determine if any work can be done to aid residents along Iseman Hill Road. Surveys must be received to determine if a majority of the residents affected are of low-to-moderate income.

Southworth also suggested collecting surveys to pave and provide more drainage along Goat Hill Road outside of Manorville. Also the township Road Foreman, Southworth said pipe repair and guard rails could be used in that area.

Supervisors can designate any project as a multi-year mission if funds are not sufficient in 2016.

Since 1984, Manor Township has received more than $3.2 million in CDBG funding.

A second public hearing will be held before the August township supervisors’ public meeting.

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