Feasibility Study

So there you are, a guest at the entrance to a rather fetching estate just outside the city. You are forgiven if you indulge in a moment of imagined royalty, a fleeting second of fantasied wealth, as you motor down the front drive past charming Tudor-style cottages, two greenhouses, a lush grassy field, tall cedars, stately oaks and weeping hemlocks, until you reach a magnificent home reminiscent of Sutton Place on the River Wey near Guildford in...

About four months after the opening of a 900-car county garage in Doylestown, borough officials this week considered building another garage with about 200 parking spaces. Council members said the second garage, which would be part of a retail complex and closer to existing stores, could better help in their planned revitalization of the borough's central business district. They took the first step Monday by voting 7-0 to have a Philadelphia architectural and engineering firm do a feasibility study of the project.

It would cost more than $22 million to build a new Strath Haven High School, or $18.5 million to renovate the current one to meet the needs of the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District now and in the future. Those were the preliminary results from a feasibility study commissioned three months ago by the school board and presented at Monday's board meeting. The study evaluated the high school and other buildings in the district and considered options. Among the most immediate changes needed are those required by the federal Americans With Disabilities Act to make the building accessible.

Nearly 20 years after casinos arrived in Atlantic City, it appears as though the resort town is about to get something nongamblers can enjoy: a hockey rink. Comcast-Spectacor, in a joint venture with Scarborough Properties, has undertaken a feasibility study to build an ice-skating facility for public use adjacent to the Sandcastle Baseball Stadium in Atlantic City. The firms will have 60 days to complete their study and form an agreement to develop and operate the facility. Scarborough is a commercial real-estate developer based in Gibbsboro.

Remember the civic center? When it was announced almost a year ago, Camden County officials planned to build a 6,000- to 10,000-seat facility in Lawnside at a cost of about $53 million. Enraged Lawnside residents forced county officials to drop plans to build the center there. Talk of building it in Gloucester Township provoked another storm of local protests. Freeholder Director Jeffrey Nash admitted that the civic center has not been one of the county government's finest moments.

A grassroots effort for a new, state-of-the-art pool in this township is slowly picking up some speed. A citizen-funded feasibility study, expected to be done in September, will outline what kind of facility would work best in the township and where it could be located, Mike Chain, one of the organizers, said yesterday. "The details for the project are still up in the air right now, but one thing is for sure: The aquatic facilities we have now in Upper Dublin are undersized for the demand," Chain said.

A new, multipurpose YMCA in Washington Township may still be years away, but YMCA officials say the plan cleared its first major obstacle. Mark Parker, general director of the Gloucester County YMCA, said the Y's executive committee agreed late last month to "proceed cautiously" toward building a multimillion-dollar facility in Washington Township. Under the plan, the township would donate 14 acres abutting Washington Lake Park to the Y, which would build the facility on that property.

Rowan University has received a $25,800 state grant to determine whether the region can sustain and benefit from a technology-business incubator, a program that helps launch start-up businesses. The grant, provided by the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology, will pay for Innovative Partners of Westfield, Union County, to complete a review of the region by December. The consulting firm will study the region's economic potential and resources when creating a business plan for the incubator, which would be located at or near Rowan University.

Do you think the city's feasibility study makes a compelling case for selling the Philadelphia Gas Works?

Drexel University's entrepreneurial president has set his sights on the possibility of building over and developing part of the Schuylkill Rail Yards, long ogled by visionaries for its expansive prospects yet largely untouched because of the potential infrastructure problems it poses. President John A. Fry is embarking on a university-funded million-dollar-plus feasibility study with Amtrak and SEPTA to determine options. Could 30th Street Station and its West Philadelphia community be connected to the Art Museum and Center City via an elevated platform built atop the rail yards?

Drexel University's entrepreneurial president has set his sights on the possibility of building over and developing part of the Schuylkill Rail Yards, long ogled by visionaries for its expansive prospects yet largely untouched because of the potential infrastructure problems it poses. President John A. Fry is embarking on a university-funded million-dollar-plus feasibility study with Amtrak and SEPTA to determine options. Could 30th Street Station and its West Philadelphia community be connected to the Art Museum and Center City via an elevated platform built atop the rail yards?

When the governor of New Jersey visits a small town, it's a big deal. When he is also a signatory to the U.S. Constitution, it's historic. The Cherry Hill actor Christian Johnson's portrayal of the Garden State's first chief executive, William Livingston, charmed an audience Saturday at the Indian King Tavern Museum in Haddonfield. The performer, 74, and the governor (who lived from 1723 to 1790) were on familiar turf. Johnson is a longtime booster of the Indian King, and Livingston worked and took refuge there during the British occupation of Trenton.

Do you think the city's feasibility study makes a compelling case for selling the Philadelphia Gas Works?

Mayor Nutter last week launched a process to explore the sale of city-owned Philadelphia Gas Works. Already some commentators are beginning to count up the millions the city will earn. Not so fast. Though a feasibility study by Lazard Freres & Co. L.L.C. said the city could net up to $496 million by selling PGW, buyers are likely to offer a price that would yield a smaller payday, analysts say. The Lazard study assumes that in the best case a strategic buyer - probably another natural gas utility - would be able to reduce nonfuel operating costs 28 percent through synergies, such as combining administrative functions like customer service and gas procurement, and improving collections.

Montgomery County allotted $15,833 yesterday to study whether adding tolls on Route 422 would generate enough money to improve the highway and extend the R6 Norristown commuter rail line to Reading. At a meeting, the county commissioners approved the expense as the county's share of a $625,000 feasibility study recommended in February by county planner Leo D. Bagley. Berks and Chester Counties would pay a share of the study cost. The Tri-County Chamber of Commerce has allotted $2,500 and the CEO Council for Growth of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce $12,500.

The Patriots Path, a walking trail that would connect three Chester County Revolutionary War sites, is one step closer to actualization. On July 15, the three affected townships, Tredyffrin, Malvern, and East Whiteland, began the approval process to hire a consultant to undertake a multi-municipal trail study for the Eastern Great Valley. The Patriots Path, if completed, would link Valley Forge National Historic Park with the Paoli Memorial Grounds and Paoli Massacre site in Malvern and end at the site of Battle of the Clouds Park in East Whiteland Township.

Lockheed Martin Corp. announced two significant contracts awarded to its Philadelphia-area divisions yesterday: a $1.7 million agreement to develop a maple-seed-size spy plane for the government and a $150 million Navy training pact that Lockheed will share with 12 partner firms. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Lockheed's Cherry Hill-based Advanced Technology Laboratories a $1.7 million, 10-month contract to assess the feasibility of a remote-controlled "nano air vehicle.

Coatesville has hired a Montgomery County firm to conduct a feasibility study of a proposed 2,500-seat, indoor bicycle racetrack, officials announced yesterday. Recreation is a pillar of the city's $700 million revitalization effort and City Manager E. Jean Krack said a bike track would have appeal because there is widespread interest in cycling in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The study, which will take six months, will determine a number of factors, including how the project would be funded, where the track would be built, and who would run it. Krack said the track - known as a velodrome - would be considered along with proposals for a nine-hole golf course, a bowling alley and a hockey rink.

Faced with declining enrollment, officials at St. Katharine Drexel Elementary School are trying to figure out a way to keep the only remaining Catholic school in Chester open. The parish has begun a study to determine whether it is feasible to continue operating the school, which has 172 students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. And parents have been warned that tuition might have to jump from $2,156 to $4,800 next year to keep the school going and cover deficits. Although Widener University has mentioned St. Katharine as a possible site for a proposed charter school, officials at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said such talk was premature.

"WHATEVER made you write an article on getting the Olympics in 2016?" It seemed like an odd question from a woman I had never met. She identified herself as Danielle Cohn from the Philadelphia Sports Congress. She called after reading my opinion piece in the Daily News on July 11. "I don't know," I said. "After New York lost out on its bid to get the 2012 Olympics, I thought a city in the United States would probably get it in 2016 and why not Philadelphia?" "So no one from the committee contacted?"