POTTSTOWN >> Tolls on Route 422 – the conversation that just won’t die – rose from the grave again Wednesday, March 25, as planners for eight municipalities wrestled with comprehensive plan language to make their opposition to the idea clear.
East Coventry Supervisor Michael Moyer, who penned a letter to The Mercury on the subject, said his board is unanimously opposed to tolling Route 422 and would not approve the regional comprehensive plan without the language.
The Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners is also preparing a resolution to similar effect, township representative Tom Troutman told the members of the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee.
Next month, the group hopes to adopt a final draft of a new comprehensive plan for the region that comprises Pottstown, Upper Pottsgrove, New Hanover, West Pottsgrove, East Coventry, Douglass (Mont.), North Coventry and Lower Pottsgrove.
But for the plan to become official, it must be adopted by the boards of each of those municipalities.
The idea of inserting language opposing tolls on Route 422 – an idea which was raised, debated and roundly rejected two years ago – was made public at last month’s regional planning meeting.
The regional planners shied away last month from the including the language in the section regarding support for regional rail and improvements to the roadway, arguing it wasn’t needed.
“It’s a dead issue,” said Montgomery County’s Community Planning Section Chief John Cover. “That ship sailed and sank. It’s really more of a political statement then a planning statement.”
Similar arguments were made Wednesday night when Moyer raised the subject again.
“The plan could also say we’re opposed to a nuclear fuel dump, or high energy voltage lines, where does it stop?” said Upper Pottsgrove Township Commissioners Chairman Elwood Taylor.
“I don’t favor tolling on Route 422 or anywhere else, but this isn’t really the place to say that,” he said.
“It’s not a land use issue, and that’s what this plan is supposed to be about,” said Douglass (Mont.) planner Ed Reitz.
Pottstown Borough Council President Stephen Toroney said the borough planning commission, on which he also sits, opposes the language, although borough council has not yet taken a position.
But Moyer argued that “we all know how government works. And given the opportunity, the (Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission) will run roughshod over local governments and put tolls on Route 422. Government agencies do what they want, the taxpayers be damned.”
He said including the language “shows we’re representing our constituents.”
David Kraybill, executive director of the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, urged the planners to find a compromise.
He said cooperative efforts for things like the recreation circuit rider program and parks mini-grant program are raising the region’s profile.
“You folks are developing a brand of working together,” Kraybill said. State officials called the recreational circuit rider program “the most collaborative project they’ve seen in 20 years.”
Ultimately, Kraybill’s advice was followed.
Two months of discussion was boiled down into one sentence on which everyone could agree: “The region will not support tolling of any roads in the region to fund transportation improvements.”
Presuming Lower Pottsgrove and East Coventry find that language satisfactory, and Moyer thought his peers would, the new comprehensive plan draft can be adopted next month and then recommended to all eight municipal boards for final adoption, said Cover.
