Feb 16, 2022 3 min read

North Franklin Township is one step closer to having a new municipal building.

Township supervisors unanimously voted Feb. 8 to prepare the advertising of bids to begin construction on the $2.5 million building on Franklin Farm Roads near the water company’s reservoirs.

The vote authorized Harshman CE Group of Amwell Township to prepare the construction bids, which will be opened in April with a groundbreaking tentatively scheduled for May, pending state environmental and highway permit approvals. Township officials hope the building will be open by June 2023.

“We’re very pleased we’re off dead center and moving forward,” board Chairman Bob Sabot said during an interview after the meeting. “This has kind of been a year of things happening in North Franklin.”

Sabot and fellow Supervisor Mike Quinn were on the board in the late 1990s when they originally pushed for a new township building. They eventually left the board, but both returned recently and began pursuing the project again after persistent flooding problems damaged the current building about a half-mile away on Franklin Farms Road.

“This has been 23 years in the making,” Sabot said just before the vote. “This (current) building has to go.”

Sabot unveiled initial plans for the 7,000-square-foot building, along with a nearby park and walking trail, last March. He said there are only minor changes from the original design of the building, which will include offices for municipal workers, community rooms for the public and a social hall that can accommodate up to 300 people, either for township meetings or private events.

“We’re back again for round two,” Sabot said. “We’re going to do it.”

The project is being aided by several Local Share Account grants in recent years for the new municipal complex, which will include a park and nature trail situated near the water reservoirs. The grants also will help with the restoration of the water company’s century-old out building that is being converted into a three-seasons pavilion.

The current building, which was constructed in the late 1950s or early 1960s, will be sold with the proceeds going to help pay for construction, Sabot said.

In addition to the beginning the bidding process, the supervisors also unanimously voted to take out a $6.7 million loan over 30 years to refinance $2.8 million existing debt and help pay for several projects, including a portion of the municipal complex. The loan will also help with the extension of a sewage line out Park Avenue and other watershed projects.