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After over a year of development, the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors has approved a comprehensive trail plan composed by Gilmore and Associates to improve and expand an existing township trail system.
While the plans consist of eight separate trail segments, township officials have not approved the trail’s construction, just the plans have been prepared. The township has estimated that if all segments of the trail were constructed it would take several years and would be paid for with the township’s red capital fund and money utilized from county, state and federal grant programs.
According to a representative from Gilmore and Associates, the main objectives of the plans are to connect existing trails that right now act as dead-ends in the township and to improve the local connections that could potentially be accessed along a trail system.
A study done with 1157 township residents discovered that 65% believed that township trails were not adequate and 52% used existing trails weekly.
“It’s great that we’re being proactive,” said Vice Chairman Ryan Gallagher. “This will give everyone in the township a little more room to run, so to speak”
Officials that worked on the plan noted that major road ways and encroaching on private property were two of the biggest constraints they had when developing the comprehensive plan that sat before township officials Wednesday evening. By utilizing land that had already been cleared for PECO lines and with PECO’s blessing, many of the trails will utilize PECO parcel space.
The comprehensive plan, if all segments are eventually developed, will consist of two roughly three mile loops, one on the east side of the township and another on the west end. The eight segments will include trails along Twining and Lower Dolington Road from Silver Lake Road to Frost Lane, along Eagle Road between Wrights Road and Kuhars Way, along the PECO parcel between Lower Dolington Road and Silver Lake Park, along Wrights Road to Swamp Road and the Bucks County Community College Newtown campus, along Twining Bridge Road to the Clark Nature Center, along Twining Bridge Road to Wrights Road, through Roberts Ridge Park to the PECO parcel, and along Silver Lake Road between Lower Twining and Upper Silver Lake Road.
The completed project, according to estimations by Gilmore and Associations, could cost the township nearly $7.4 million. If the project moves forward, the township is expected to pay for the project in stages through the use of grants. Without a project plan in place, no grant money for the project could be obtained.
While some residents noted concern of privacy and of animal habitats being disturbed, Chairman Kyle Davis noted those are individual issues that will be discussed when the township moves forward to approve each segment of the plan individually.
