Falls Township could soon be the first of five sites across the United States to house a post-consumer and post-industrial waste separation facility.
Representatives from Continuus Materials, LLC discussed with the board its plan to construct a plant in the township that would employ 100 people once operational, tentatively in October 2022. The project would add approximately 340 construction jobs during buildout, which is projected to begin in May 2021 and continue through October 2022.
The facility is planned for a roughly 10-acre property owned by Waste Management on New Ford Mill Road. Continuus Materials would use the latest technology to pull plastic and paper out of the waste stream and transform it into high-performance cover boards for commercial roofing applications.
“It literally is the garbage bag that you put in the trash can,” said Continuus Materials senior vice president Allan Bradshaw. “The vast majority of that paper and plastic is recoverable, completely without a human hand touching it.”
The process in place at Continuus Materials’ plant in Des Moines, Iowa recovers 25 percent of waste for use in Everboards. The rest will be conveyed into trucks and transported to the landfill. The company’s Everboard roof cover has a 20-year life, said Bradshaw, who added that boards can then be brought back to the plant, ground up and reused to make new boards.
Waste Management sees 25 to 55 trucks per hour at its landfill. Once the Continuus Materials facility is operational, the company would divert four to six trucks per hour, for a total of 19 to 22 trucks per day during a 12-hour shipping window.
“Just diverting trucks that are already on their way to the landfill makes sense,” said supervisors chairman Jeff Dence.
Continuus Materials attorney Tom Jennings said the facility would not impact landfill tipping or host fees paid to the township. For 2021, Waste Management’s host fees are estimated at $18 million.
Since the processing results in “very low” emissions, emission control is not needed, said Bradshaw. The company uses heat and cool only in the process and does not use water or chemicals.
The supervisors took no action during the Monday meeting. Once Continuus Materials submits a land development application, the board can undertake a formal review and consider granting approval to construct the facility.
On Monday, the supervisors introduced the township’s 2021 spending plan. They’re looking to hold the line on municipal taxes, which last increased in 1992. Even with a continually shrinking state contribution for pensions, increased expenses and cost of living hikes, the supervisors’ spending plan, as introduced, holds the line of taxes, with $36.4 million projected to be spent in 2021.
Since 2014, the township’s millage rate has been 7.22. This rate represents the lowest tax millage rate the township has had since the 1992 budget was passed, according to finance director Betsy Reukauf.
If the spending plan is adopted as proposed, property owners would continue paying $216.60 for an average assessment of $30,000 under the township’s 2021 budget. The owner of the average Bristol Township property, by comparison, pays $1,036.40 in local taxes.
The supervisors said Falls maintains its services – and offers trash and leaf pickup free of charge – without instituting an Earned Income Tax, as many other towns have done. In response to a resident who has suggested for several years that the supervisors institute an Earned Income Tax, supervisor Jeff Rocco said the board conducted a study in 2014 which determined that 40 percent of residents either paid an Earned Income Tax or a city wage.
Rocco said adding the tax “didn’t seem fair,” and added that he would like to see the board plan for a study to “see where we’re at” and possibly add an EIT sometime in the future.
Of the local taxes collected from Falls property owners, the township receives 3.6 percent – less than 4 cents per every dollar – while Pennsbury School District collects 83.9 percent and Bucks County receives 12.5 percent.
Despite receiving a small fraction of taxes collected throughout the township, Falls supervisors said they’ve worked hard to do more with less over the years. Since 2012, the township has seen its pension obligation double from $1.3 million in 2012 to $2.6 million in 2017, all while the state contributions have remained relatively flat. For 2021, state contributions are expected to decrease. Falls is projecting $3.1 million in 2021 pension costs, with $2.4 million being covered by the township.
Even with a flat municipal tax rate, Falls supervisors are planning several projects for 2021, including the continuation of the Falls Township annual road program. Falls is planning the full-depth reconstruction of Willow Drive.
In addition, intersection improvements are planned for North Olds Boulevard and Trenton Road. Falls budgeted $50,325 for the project, and PennDOT will fund 80 percent of the project cost through a grant. Falls will also finish adaptive traffic signal upgrades at Lincoln Highway, Tyburn Road and West Trenton Road. The proposed spending plan also earmarks $150,000 for tree trimming and removal of trees damaged by the Emerald Ash Borer and Spotted Lanternfly.
The supervisors will adopt the 2021 budget during the Dec. 21 meeting.
Also during the Monday meeting, the supervisors banned parking on a portion of Woolston Drive and Makefield Road. Dence said parking had been prohibited on the roads along the side immediately adjacent to the Commons at Fallsington Apartments, but drivers recently started parking there.
Acting police chief Nelson Whitney said the police department noticed parking problems in the area around the start of the COVDID-19 pandemic. The department received 20 complaints regarding the visibility problem for drivers heading from Makefield Road toward Woolston Drive.
“It got to the point where there was going to be a tragedy,” Whitney said.
Police put up temporary “no parking” signs. At the board’s September meeting, an ordinance amendment was introduced, and on Monday, the board unanimously adopted the change.
“We’re just making it legitimate now and permanent,” said Dence.
The supervisors also granted conditional use approval to permit Verizon Wireless to install six panel-style antennas on top of the 14-story Sheraton Hotel, located at 400 N. Oxford Valley Road. Verizon representatives said the antennas would be covered in a mylar adhesive coating to “mimic the sky.” Equipment would not be visible at ground level.
“This site is necessary because of the tremendous demand in this area for cell phone service,” said a Verizon Wireless representative, who referenced the proximity to Sesame Place, Oxford Valley Mall and Jefferson Bucks Hospital.
