![\"Lower](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC_5922-1.jpg\")
Lower Merion and Montgomery County Commissioners cut the ribbon to reopen the bridge over Mill Creek on Mill Creek Road last year. (File photo Richard Ilgenfritz Media News Group)<\/p>\nLOWER MERION \u2014 Lower Merion Township took center stage by hosting a recent Montgomery County Board of Commissioners meeting.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, county officials highlighted several projects in Lower Merion and approved a motion to give a grant to Gladwyne\u2019s Riverbend to purchase a 4.17-acre site.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the third commissioner\u2019s meeting we have taken together on the road, and I am particularly excited to be home because we\u2019ve had a meeting on the road in Limerick, where Commissioner [Tom] DiBello lives. We\u2019ve had every meeting in Norristown where Commissioner [Jamila] Winder lives, and now I have the shortest commute after we\u2019re done,\u201d said Neil Makhija, a Lower Merion resident and chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.<\/p>\n
During the meeting in Lower Merion, Makhija discussed some important projects in the township.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to hear about some very exciting things because of the work happening here in Lower Merion Township. Thanks to our staff, the manager, thank you to all the commissioners \u2013 the 14 commissioners here in Lower Merion, and thanks to our partnership with them, we\u2019ve been able to make great advances on a number of issues from housing to sustainability, to transportation, to parks and trails,\u201d Makhija said.<\/p>\n
Ardmore House 2, which will be constructed in the parking lot of the existing Ardmore House, will give 48 new affordable housing units for seniors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud to share that the county awarded $5 million towards that project to the township,\u201d Makhija said. \u201cIt\u2019s a historic investment. Some of the most vulnerable members of our community on the issue of housing and security, and it\u2019s just an example of the collaboration that it takes to make things happen. That project would not have happened without leadership in the township, in the county, and in the state as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Makhija also mentioned $250,000 in grants for constructing solar panels at township libraries.<\/p>\n
Makhija said other county grants for Lower Merion projects included one for a bike share program in Bala Cynwyd and $150,000 for the Wynnewood Valley Park stream restoration project.<\/p>\n
Following Makhija\u2019s opening remarks, Commissioner Winder added additional comments regarding Lower Merion and Narberth\u2019s Active Transportation Plan.<\/p>\n
On its website, Lower Merion defines the Active Transportation Plan as \u201ca comprehensive strategy that promotes and encourages the use of active modes of transportation such as walking, cycling, and rolling. The aim of this plan is to establish safer, more accessible, and more sustainable transportation options that improve community health and wellbeing, reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, and enhance quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal of this plan is to identify and develop safe, sustainable, and accessible opportunities to travel around and between communities,\u201d Winder said. \u201cThis includes making intersections easier to navigate and improving traffic calming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winder said Lower Merion was awarded a federal grant of over $270,000 to make Montgomery Avenue safer last year.<\/p>\n
Lastly, among DiBello\u2019s comments was his mention of the ribbon cutting that both township and county officials attended for the opening of the Mill Creek bridge, which had been closed since 2021.<\/p>\n
Lower Merion and Montgomery County Commissioners cut the ribbon to reopen the bridge over Mill Creek on Mill Creek Road last year. (File photo Richard Ilgenfritz Media News Group)<\/p>\n
As part of the board\u2019s agenda for the month, the commissioners also approved a motion for a $400,000 grant to Riverbend Environmental Education Center in Gladwyne to help raise $1.4 million to fund its purchase of a 4.17-acre undeveloped site at 1850 Spring Mill Road.<\/p>\n
A portion of Saw Mill Run, a small stream that runs on Riverbend\u2019s property and into the nearby Schuylkill River, is also partially on the property at 1850 Spring Mill Road. Riverbend has used the stream on the property in its education programs.<\/p>\n
County officials said other people are interested in purchasing the site, so even though the county commissioners approved the grant, it could still go to a developer.<\/p>\n
Bill Hartman, trails and open space planning manager for Montgomery County, said the purchase of the property by Riverbend would eliminate the parcel\u2019s development, preserve a stretch of Saw Mill Run for Riverbend\u2019s programs, create outdoor teaching spaces, allow for the restoration of severely degraded landscape on the site, provide connection wo adjacent trails and preserve a space for the public to connect with nature.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: April 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOWER MERION \u2014 Lower Merion Township took center stage by hosting a recent Montgomery County Board of Commissioners…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[182,183,185,184,186,200,139,28],"class_list":["post-3191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-local-news","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-montgomery-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}