April 6, 2021

Birmingham Township Supervisors Monday night decided to wait until next month to decide whether to lift restrictions on in-ground swimming pools on Legacy Lane. Supervisors began hearing the request in March, but that meeting was interrupted when the municipal building’s Internet connection was lost due to high winds.

At issue is a request from several Legacy Lane residents, represented by Vince Pompo. They want supervisors to remove the restriction set up in the Legacy Lane Homeowners Association. They also want the restriction lifted from the subdivision plans.

Pompo told the board during the April 5 meeting that all the other Legacy Lane residents are on board with the request. However, residents on Wylie Road and in the Heartsease development off Wylie opposed the change. Some said allowing pools would ruin the view, while Michelle Magness, who owns the Wylie Farm, is concerned about what would happen to the farm should pool water with chemicals runoff onto the farm or get into the groundwater.

Supervisors’ Chairman Scott Boorse said the board would need to do more research with an eye on trying to understand why the restriction was established in the first place. He said the board should be ready to decide in the May meeting.

Other business

• The board voted to renew the Verizon Cable franchise for another five years. Township solicitor Kristin Camp said Birmingham joined with other Chester municipalities in hiring the Cohen Law Group of Pittsburgh to negotiate the contract.

She said the franchise fees remain the same as they have been, with the township collecting 5 percent of the cable provider’s gross revenues as allowed by federal law. There is an audit provision enabling the township to audit Verizon’s books if it thinks Birmingham isn’t getting the full 5 percent.

Camp added that there’s a provision that says Verizon can terminate the agreement with 12 months’ notice should it lose 6 percent of its subscribers in the township.

• Supervisors awarded a landscaping contract to Magic Landscaping to maintain Birmingham Hill Trail, Sandy Hollow Trail, mowing at the wastewater treatment plant and the township building. Magic Landscaping came in with a low bid of 15,535.

• Michael B. McCardle was sworn in as a new police officer in Birmingham, and the supervisors hired a new part-time officer Scot Luddy at a training rate of $21.50 per hour.