Cheltenham Officials, Residents Have Mixed Opinions on How to Address Aging Township Buildings

By

Bill England.
Image via Kenny Cooper/WHYY.
Bill England has been Cheltenham resident for nearly 20 years.

In Cheltenham, many of the township’s buildings and infrastructures are outdated and badly in need of repair. Officials and residents, however, can’t agree on how to solve the problem, writes Kenny Cooper for WHYY.

The township’s Board of Commissioners has tapped KCBA Architects, Re:Vision Architecture, and Snyder Hoffman Associates to assess all the facilities including the township administration building, library, and pool, and to come up with a plan to address the aging facilities.

The biggest concerns are the cost and how and where the township should rebuild.

Board of Commissioner President Dan Norris said there are many issues to address including “broken boilers that shutter its community centers in winter months to failing mechanical equipment in its 50-plus-year-old pools that threatened and delayed opening in 2023” as well as “many roofs, mechanicals, structural and other improvements required in all of its buildings to keep them operating.”

KCBA has presented four proposals for Cheltenham to consider. The price tag for the whole project is more than $100 million.

The proposals range from just renovating existing buildings to consolidating all township facilities to two central campuses.

To foot the bill, the township will either have to borrow some of the money or raise taxes by 5%.

No final decisions have been made yet.

Read more about how Cheltenham plans on addressing aging infrastructure at WHYY.

______________

Stay Connected, Stay Informed

Subscribe for great stories in your community!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Advertisement