HARRISBURG − May 6, 2019 – Senator Steve Santarsiero (D-10), announced that state funding for a new municipal complex in Doylestown Borough has been awarded through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP). The project has received strong support from Sen. Santarsiero and state Rep. Wendy Ullman (D-143).
The $1.5 million grant for the new municipal complex will be used to acquire and redevelop the existing PennDOT maintenance facility on the corner of North Broad and Doyle streets, and will include a new Doylestown Borough Hall, Central Bucks Regional Police Department headquarters (serving Doylestown, Chalfont, and New Britain), and a new municipal park.
“This state funding helps lift some of the financial cost off local taxpayers and provides Doylestown Borough with additional resources to deliver quality, reliable services to residents,” Sen. Santarsiero said. “I look forward to working with Mayor Strouse, Council President Jack O’Brien, and Chief Karl Knott in developing this and other projects on behalf of the borough.”
“This is an exciting and unique project worthy of participation from a host of stakeholders, including the Commonwealth,” Mayor Strouse said. “Its value to our community is undisputed and its value beyond the community is considerable as well. With this help we will turn a brownfield into parkland, for the enjoyment of all. Using the existing building, we will preserve and repurpose a classic facade while providing essential space for modern community based regional policing, leading to the accreditation of our department, and we will provide environmentally sensitive space for municipal services.”
“The plan for the adaptive reuse of the PennDOT building has been discussed for a very long time,” Doylestown Borough Council President O’Brien said. “As the relocation of PennDOT to the new facility gets closer we have been focusing on being ready to move quickly on the rehabilitation of the old facility. Planning included engineering work as well as the necessary financing for the project. This grant of $1.5 million is a big help in that financing.”
“We are pleased to receive the financial support to deliver a modern and safe police headquarters that will serve the municipalities for decades to come,” Central Bucks Regional Police Chief Knott said. “A new police facility has become vitally important to the operational needs and accreditation of this department.”
The three-year redevelopment project is scheduled to begin in December and will include matching funds from the local level.
RACP is a commonwealth grant program administered by the Office of the Budget for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical improvement projects. RACP projects are authorized in the Redevelopment Assistance section of a Capital Budget Itemization Act, have a regional or multi-jurisdictional impact, and generate substantial increases or maintain current levels of employment, tax revenues, or other measures of economic activity. RACP projects are state-funded projects that cannot obtain primary funding under other state programs.
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