At last week's monthly public meeting, the Marlborough board of supervisors brought a pair of controversial topics–quarry expansion and healthcare insurance for supervisors–back to the forefront. The board also passed Marlborough's budget, which includes a .25 millage increase.

            Highway Materials, LLC, has given notice that it has applied to the Department of Environmental Protection to add approximately 1.31 acres to its Perkiomenville Quarry property and requested permission to import mine reclamation fill.

            The public notice, advertised in the Town and Country, marks the start of another attempt by the quarry, owned by Heidelberg Materials North America since last July, to potentially expand mining operations.

            Last spring, after two standing-room-only, contentious supervisors meetings, Highway Materials was rebuffed in its attempt to expand the heavy industrial (HI) zoning designation on its property, some of which is now classified as residential. The change would have allowed more areas on the property to be mined.

            At the public meetings, Marlborough residents near the quarry expressed concerns about truck traffic, blasting damaging homes, noise and the possibility of the quarry being turned into a landfill.

            Representatives of the quarry claimed that the reclamation of the quarry would be heavily supervised and that a zoning change from non-conforming use designation to HI would benefit the township and residents.

            The proposal died when the supervisors declined to vote on the matter at its May 8, 2024, meeting. The township now has until Jan. 5 to respond to Highway Materials' 255-page application to the DEP, which is being reviewed by Chad Camburn, the township's engineer.

            Marya Schoenholtz, a leading spokesperson for Marlborough residents' fight against the rezoning in the spring, spoke at the supervisors meeting last week.

            "In terms of the position of the residents…we do not want the quarry to expand its borders. We do not want the Unami Creek, the sensitive ecological habitat, put in harm's way. And we certainly do not want to endure 30-plus more years of pounding, extreme truck traffic hauling fill, however we want to call it, into that pit."

            Schoenholtz urged the supervisors to stand up to the request. "It just feels like there needs to be something that we do as a township to use this opportunity to make sure that the residents and the township's needs are being served over the needs of somebody whose only motivation in this is profiteering.

            "Heidelberg Materials sitting in their headquarters 4,000 miles away cares nothing else than the amount of profit they can pull by filling that pit with fill."

            The board voted 3-0 to send a letter to the DEP stating its concerns about the quarry's proposals and requesting to become part of the land use review process.

            Solicitor John McShea explained that Marlborough's letter will ask that the township be permitted to "weigh in on issues that they might have found…with the land development ordinance, the zoning ordinances."

            By a 2-1 vote, with Doremus voting no, the supervisors approved the 2025 budget which sets the millage rate at 3.185, including .185 for emergency services.

            Doremus had previously objected to the budget proposal because it mandated a tax increase for the second consecutive year.

            Earlier in the meeting supervisors Billy Hurst and Bill Jacobs voted to repeal a 2019 ordinance that allowed part-time employees, including supervisors, to opt into the township's health plan for 100 percent coverage. Brian Doremus voted against the repeal.

            The 2019 ordinance also contained a controversial provision that allows the supervisors to join the township's health plan for free, which is permissible under state law.

            Doremus is the only supervisor who has taken advantage of the ordinance. With the repeal, he will have to seek his own healthcare insurance by the end of 2025 when his present term expires.

            Doremus said that he was not informed that a repeal was in the works nor was he given reasons for the repeal.

            "I definitely feel this is a direct attack on me," Doremus wrote to the Town and Country in an email. "I believe this is some type of an attempt to get me to resign from the Board of Supervisors or keep me from running for re-election in 2025."

            Jacobs, in an email, noted, "It became too expensive for the township.  When we opted for the ordinance, all three supervisors said they probably wouldn't take advantage of the health insurance, so it was my understanding that it was to help part-time police officers."

            Jacobs also recounted that the ordinance was controversial at the time of its passage with several residents speaking out against the inclusion of insurance for the supervisors.

            Hurst claimed, in an email response, "The repeal was done at this time to allow them a year to obtain their personal health insurance. The money saved can be put to a better use improving services for the residents of Marlborough Township."

            Contractors at the Dollar General construction site have resumed work after the PaDEP lifted a stop work order issued because of problems with erosion and sedimentation controls.

            The police department's 11th annual Toy Drive ends Dec. 20. New, unwrapped toys and gift cards, for newborns to 18-year-olds, will be accepted at Marlborough PD, 6040 Upper Ridge Road; Upper Perk PD, 76 W. 6th St., Pennsburg; and East Greenville Borough offices, 206 Main St.

            Gifts benefit the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Valley's Open Link. Gift cards are preferred for The Open Link.

            Prior to the regular meeting, an executive session was held to discuss a legal matter.

            On Jan. 6, at 7 p.m., the board will hold its annual reorganization meeting at the township building. The regular monthly meeting will take place immediately after.

            The monthly work session will take place at 6 p.m. on Jan. 27.