SANATOGA PA – An $80,000 grant that was scheduled last year to be given by Montgomery County to Sunnybrook Ballroom, and then was delayed, and then ran into legal worries from Lower Pottsgrove Township officials, and then seemed dead and lost … maybe isn’t yet.
A billboard promoting events at Sunnybrook Ballroom, as seen from its parking lot below the East High Street bridge at Sunnybrook Road.
The county still has the money. Sunnybrook still has need of a sign to promote its upcoming events, on which the money would have been spent. The township Board of Commissioners thinks it can negotiate a work-around to its concerns over what is perceived as Lower Pottsgrove’s liability if the sign purchase and installation don’t go as expected.
All involved remain willing to discuss the matter, too. “So I’m optimistic about the opportunity,” board Vice President Jonathan Spadt says.
The status of the grant, which commissioners in July (2009) voted to return to the county rather than accept on Sunnybrook’s behalf, could be a topic of discussion tonight (Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009) at 7 p.m. when the board holds its first of two November meetings in the township municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA. The public may attend.
- A meeting agenda normally is available for download from the township website a day or two in advance. One was not yet posted as of this morning at 5:30 a.m., but if put online it likely will be found here under the link labeled “Current Agenda.”
Spadt, local developer and Sunnybrook board member J. Wilmer “Wil” Hallman, and others have been working behind the scenes in the months following the grant rejection to find an acceptable way to reclaim the money. The county’s intent was to help historic Sunnybrook, now an increasingly busy conference and events venue, make building and marketing improvements.
The bulk of the grant, awarded late in 2008, was slated for replacement of a promotional billboard that faces East High Street on the bridge crossing Sprogel’s Run at Sunnybrook Road.
Township commissioners, however, objected to language in grant documents they believe would have obligated Lower Pottsgrove to legal responsibility for the sign if the ballroom hit financial trouble. Earlier discussions with the county failed to resolve the problem, according to township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway.
This time, though, Spadt noted, the township and Sunnybrook leadership have sought the help of county Economic Development Director Ken Klothen. Klothen was settling into his job only weeks before commissioners returned the grant. Now that he’s been made aware of the issues, Spadt said during the board’s Oct. 22 (2009) meeting, “there’s a chance we can get everyone around one table, with someone in a level of authority at the county, and get it solved.”
No date was set for that gathering, which commissioners agreed to support. Whenever the group met, however, Kurtz warned he would recommend the session be closed to the public. It constitutes “a legal negotiation,” he said, and therefore would not be an open discussion.
Related:
- Its Grant Gone, Sunnybrook Looks To ‘Something Else’
- Township Says No To Sunnybrook Grant, Citing Risks
- Sunnybrook Grant On Township’s Agenda
- Sunnybrook, Township at Odds Over Grant
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Oct. 22):
