Credit: Chris English/NewtownPANow.com
The long-awaited completion of public improvements at the Villas of Newtown 55-plus community in Newtown Township should be coming soon.
At its meeting last Wednesday, the township board of supervisors voted unanimously to award about $112,000 in bids for drainage and other improvements at the 172-home development on Willow Drive built by McGrath Homes. Awarded were bids of $74,390 to Land Tech for work on a drainage basin to increase its efficiency, $18,345 to Brandywine Drilling for some directional drilling that will also aid drainage and $19,500 to Land Tech for same grading, pavement and concrete work.
The money is coming from the approximately $135,000 left in the escrow account made up of money paid by McGrath to the township as part of the requirements for building the development.
Engineer Michele Fountain, who handled the bid procurement process for the township, explained that township officials tried for a long time to get McGrath to handle these improvements without success, and so the supervisors finally agreed to fund them with the escrow.
Fountain expressed confidence that the work will solve the remaining drainage and other infrastructure issues at the Villas, one of several large 55-plus developments McGrath has built in Bucks County and elsewhere.
“We would love to see this matter come to an end,” said an official with the community’s homeowner’s association. “We’ve been dealing with these kinds of things for 14 years. I think this will work.”
