We have been hearing for several weeks that the Borough of West Conshohocken is considering buying the former Saint Gertrude Church property. While it hasn’t been discussed by West Conshy’s Borough Council openly, there was an Executive Session in January where real estate was on the agenda. A borough council is allowed by law to discuss acquiring real estate behind closed doors. The exact language from the Sunshine Act is:

To consider the purchase or lease of real property up to the time an option to purchase or lease the real property is obtained or up to the time an agreement to purchase or lease such property is obtained if the agreement is obtained directly without an option

In the minutes from the January 25th meeting of Borough Council several residents spoke in support of the rumored interest in purchasing the property. You can read all of the comments in their entirety by clicking here, but here are some of the idea residents suggested for the use of the property:

• community event space
• recreation center
• new borough hall

There were also a couple comments suggesting it would be good for the Borough to purchase the property to prevent further development such as a townhome community.

More to come.