Updated town center plans to be revealed at Plum planning commission meeting Sept. 21

Updated plans for a proposed Plum municipal center are expected to be revealed this month.

Borough Manager Michael Thomas said there will be a presentation of the Plum Town Center to the planning commission at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 21 at the borough building, 4757 New Texas Road.

The commission will review the land development application and make any recommendations to council.

A special council meeting is set for 7 p.m. the next day, Sept. 22, to act upon those decisions, approve a private labor agreement and likely advertise for bids.

“We would like to get this project out for bid before the end of the year,” Thomas said. “We think we still might get decent bids right now, especially if people are worried about not getting work. They might be able to get some excavation work in late fall or even the heart of the winter.”

Thomas said the private labor agreement will ensure any work related to the project would be done by local unions. Plum is in the process of acquiring a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit through the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

It is a federal requirement that deals mostly with erosion and sediment control as well as stormwater runoff and infiltration of stormwater into the ground, borough engineer Robert Mitall said.

“We’re at a standstill until that comes through,” Thomas said.

The town center would house a police station, municipal offices, gym, a plaza and a community center — essentially an all-in-one government service center — near the public works and EMS buildings along Old Mine Road.

The current Plum Community Center is located at 499 Center-New Texas Road.

Borough officials have been working on the project for the past several years.

Mitall said the town center would provide much-needed space compared to the current administrative offices.

“This building is antiquated and they’ve sort of outgrown it here,” Mitall said. “This (new) building is for the next 50 years or so.”

The hope is to sell or lease the current borough building and lot to retail developers and use that money to help pay for the center construction. A retailer has not been announced.

Massaro Construction of O’Hara was tapped as the project’s construction manager.

Plum took out a $15 million bond. Of that, $12 million would go toward the town center, $2 million for stormwater projects and $1 million for parks and recreation. The borough’s bond counsel is Ron Brown of Cohen & Grigsby. Its bond underwriter is Piper Jaffray.