Miscellaneous

Lansdale officials Wednesday night broke ground on a major road improvement project.   The Wood - Vine Street Connector will improve traffic flow downtown by giving motorists another way of getting around other than Main and Broad Streets.   The project involves rebuilding and realigning parts of Wood Street, Susquehanna Avenue, Derstine Avenue and Vine Street so they can handle more traffic.   The cost of construction will be covered in its entirety by a $3,500,000 state grant.

Towamencin officials have banned open burning in the township.   They took that step after receiving warnings from both the state and county about the elevated fire risk because of recent dry conditions.   The ban will stay in effect until further notice.   Violators could be cited by township codes department inspectors as well as police officers.

Montgomery County is taking on more debt. It issued $55,000,000 worth of bonds Thursday to fund major infrastructure projects including repairs and renovations at the Norristown Courthouse as well as the parking garage and One Montgomery Plaza. The interest rate on the new debt is just under 2.4%. The total county debt currently stands at almost $450,000,000. Debt service costs the county about $39,000,000 annually.

Lansdale officials are considering a major overhaul of their electric ordinance. The borough buys power in bulk for resale to its residents and there has not been a proposal to change the ordinance this significantly in at least 30 years. One of the proposed updates would allow customers that have had their service turned off for lack of payment get it back without having to pay the reconnection charge at the same time as their back balance. Instead it would be included with their next electric bill. Other proposed changes would better define service termination procedures and allow the borough to hold the electric security deposits of renters after they vacate their apartments until their accounts are brought into good standing. Borough council will consider the electric ordinance update at its business meeting in May.