After the Marlborough Supervisors reappointed Billy Hurst as chairman, Brian Doremus as vice chairman and Marybeth Cody as secretary during the annual organization meeting, the board spent much of the regular meeting time discussing the issues hampering the dedication of Candlewyck Estates.

            For several years, Marlborough Township has expressed concern about a few issues that must be corrected before the township will take dedication of the development.

            Two issues in particular remain stumbling blocks: reforestation and the repair of the portion of Knight Road that is in the development.

            Township Solicitor Mark Cappuccio reported to the board that there has been movement in his discussions with developer Fred MacIntosh but also revealed what might be a significant misunderstanding about escrow accounts.

            The reforestation plan originally called for over 1,000 whips, which are vulnerable to deer and other wildlife, but MacIntosh recently proposed substituting 4 to 6-foot trees for the whips to get "better bang for his buck", according to Cappuccio.

            MacIntosh received approval for the trees from the Montgomery County Conservation District and from Bursich, the township's engineering consultants.

            The developer will reforest two areas encompassing approximately 116,000 sq. ft. by planting spruce and pine trees.

           "He has an obligation to reforest or fill in the open space areas that were disturbed when they constructed the development," Cappuccio noted.

            However, MacIntosh is linking that action to an escrow account tied to a different development project in Marlborough Township. And the money may not exist.

            The developer claims that Marlborough is holding $20,000 in an account established for Wooded Ridge and MacIntosh would like to use that money to plant the trees in Candlewyck.

            According to  Cody, "There is no $20,000 escrow." By her records, there is only $2,500 in the escrow account for Wooded Ridge.

            "Maybe in the very beginning [MacIntosh's] escrow was $20,000, but somewhere along the line, they had it set at $2,500," said Cody.

            Wooded Ridge has also not been dedicated.

            "I would be reluctant to use anything from one community for another community when that community's not finished either," said Supervisor Doremus.

            Cappuccio agreed with Doremus' assessment. "If it's an escrow for Wooded Ridge, it should be applied there."

            Cappuccio also brought up the Knight Road issue.

            "[MacIntosh] was going back and forth as to whether or not he was going to [correct the problems], and I was asking him to also reestablish his escrow because his escrows had expired, apparently a couple of years ago."

            Edmund Mullin, MacIntosh's lawyer, told Cappuccio that they are moving toward topping the portion of the road that Marlborough has balked about.

            Doremus disputed the contention that Knight Road simply needs a resurfacing.

            "There were some drainage issues with the surface of that road and how it's flaring into some of the inlets, so that may not be just a basic re-topping that needs to be addressed there."

            The supervisors did not vote on anything related to Candlewyck but will continue to gather information.

            In other business, the supervisors gave the go-ahead to make an offer to Upper Dublin for a used dump truck currently owned by that township, and Chairman Hurst announced that the US Small Business Administration is now offering low-interest loans for disaster relief to homeowners, renters and small businesses in connection with damage from last summer's tropical storm Isaias.

            Police Chief Darren Morgan lauded the community for a "very successful" Christmas charity spearheaded by the Marlborough Police.

            "I wanted to extend my thanks to the community and to all our businesses and everybody else that donated and set up collection sites for our toy drive this year," Morgan said.

            Before the regular meeting began, the supervisors held a moment of silence for former Marlborough official Joan Smith. Mrs. Smith, who passed away on December 23, taught at Upper Perkiomen High School and Perkiomen Prep and served in various roles for Marlborough, both in government and as a volunteer in various Valley organizations.

            After several in-person meetings, Monday's meeting was held as a hybrid meeting using Zoom.

            Prior to the organization meeting, an executive session dealing with a personnel matter was held.

            There will be a Board Workshop Meeting on Monday, January 25 at 6 p.m. All workshop meetings will now start at 6.

            The next supervisors monthly meeting will be on Wednesday, February 10 at 7 p.m.