Oh East Whiteland Township climb up out of the twisted rabbit hole you seem trapped in by choice would you please? I mean does anyone want another Bishop Tube situation? You know that site that is never cleaned up yet the plan(s) keep getting the kick the can down the road treatment for how many years now?
So the other day I popped up a telling email from East Whiteland:
So then I saw this from East Whiteland which must have come out around the same time?
So let’s ponder this.
Let’s chat cap ok?
Isn’t the entire point of a cap to keep the contaminated soil in place? Grading up the land to make it equal to the cap completely ruins the point and the groundwater and storm water run off is going to infiltrate the cap isn’t it?
And maybe they aren’t digging on the cap but isn’t any kind of soil disturbance no bueno? You know like the tire tracks and where they are seen?
And then there is this letter:
I guess I just don’t understand what East Whiteland doesn’t understand, do you? Hope those politicians are enjoying their Waterloo right?
The next meeting is Wednesday, September 9 at 6:30PM at the East Whiteland Township Building (209 Conestoga Road, Frazer PA.) They did not get a bigger space, so pack the room and Zoom.
They will undoubtedly tell everyone that they should not express how they feel if it’s the same as the person before or after. That’s wrong. You have a legal right to express yourself politely.
They will say non residents can’t talk. Also not legally true is it?
They will also probably once again subvert the public record and violate sunshine by cutting out room reactions, comments from the audience, and public deliberations and they can’t do that either can they? (I have now emailed twice about this issue and have received no response.)
Also pay close attention to the public meeting minutes. They are cherry picking reporting who is commenting. Look at July 8 minutes for example- it is like State Senator Katie Muth was never there among others isn’t it?
And has East Whiteland or the data center developer ever said where soil, and fluids, and debris goes specifically? Foote Mineral is still an EPA site after all isn’t it?
IMHO East Whiteland is delaminating and residents are the losers aren’t they?
There’s good old Maggie Dobbs above. She is the current manager of Narberth Borough. I say current manager because they tend to change with the seasons or with fashion trends or something, right?
Maggie Dobbs is a trained city planner (Rutgers) who spent a decade writing comprehensive plans across Montgomery County before stepping into her current role as Borough Manager of Narberth, Pennsylvania, a half-square-mile community tucked inside Lower Merion Township just outside of Philadelphia. She arrived after a period of leadership turnover. What she found was not a small job. It was a dense one.
Host Brandon Ford and co-host Nancy Hesshave a wide ranging conversation with Maggie that moves through the real experience of borough management: the math of running a full municipal government — police, public works, library, eleven miles of road — with fifteen people and a fraction of a township’s budget; the intimacy that makes boroughs special and the same intimacy that makes criticism land close to the heart; and the reality that wearing every hat in the building demands more knowledge, not less, than specializing in a larger organization.
Hmmm first question: does Narberth Borough approve these outside activities? Or Lower Merion Township for that matter because Brandon Ford is the assistant township manager there right?
Next question: who is this PR stunt really for? Maggie Dobbs or Narberth? I ask because Maggie doesn’t seem to stay places long term does she?
In this podcast which I encourage everyone to listen to they further remark in the podcast comments:
Maggie is candid about walking into a community that had cycled through five managers in four years, what it took to steady that ship, and why her focus is on building standard operating procedures so the day-to-day can run itself. Along the way, the crew explores Narberth’s housing story
So her waxing poetic about this little hot mess of a borough is amusing since The Sabine Coalition exists to protect a park from residential development yes? And there are even more issues brewing in South Narberth, right?
First photo below is a really, really, really big pole, isn’t it? This is the data center on Foote Mineral superfund site. I think that photo was taken from a drone in April maybe? I don’t drone all I know is it was before May I guess?
Oh April was so busy right?
So East Whiteland Township Supervisors , WHO PUT UP THE GIANT POLE?
Whose pole is it?
PECO Says not them responsible as per some PUC something and data center didn’t have a permit to erect it so is it a magical beanpole? Where is Jack and the Giant?
EAST WHITELAND UNDER WHAT MAGICAL PERMIT WAS GIANT POLE ERECTED?
How do you know Main Line real estate prices are crazy? Look no further than 256 Willow Avenue in North Wayne in Little Chicago. As in North Wayne, Delaware County, not far from the Wayne train station.
I actually know this particular street fairly well, and even when it used to have more rentals than it does now, it was a super cute little neighborhood in North Wayne in Radnor Township. Emphasis on little. This was a workingman’s neighborhood that sprang up as twins and small single homes after the Wayne Natatorium was finished circa 1903. So that would be early 20th century. Most of the twins were I believe what they called stick frame construction maybe?
Willow Avenue is NOT a million dollar neighborhood or anything close. It’s just a nice little middle class neighborhood with a park at the end of the street. Again, twins and small singles. Definite stormwater issues because well (again) this was built on the site of the Wayne Natatorium, for which they did not bring in water, it was the springs and the creek.
The flooding issues go way back, but you can see it referenced circa 2018 in this article:
Poplar Avenue which is kind of “above” Willow and one street over during 2018:
Now literally, Hurricane Floyd in 1999 pretty nearly killed this little street and many others. But the Floyd flooding almost killed this street. I think back then there was talk of FEMA coming in but has been so long, right?
Anyway, why am I visiting this today? Easy an alert came up for a TOWNHOUSE on Willow Avenue in Wayne PA for….wait for it…. $735,000.00 ! (When this house last sold it was for….$325,000 at end of 2025 and looks like settled in 2026?)
Granted it looks better but it’s NOT a townhouse, it is a TWIN. A little 2 story twin in Little Chicago. A lot of those twins had shared attics too at one point in time, didn’t they?
It’s obviously a flip:
So it looks like on this small street, four properties are still rentals and one is commercial. And then there are the gargantuan things built on the corner of Plant and Willow Avenues where the scary houses once stood. Now granted, it’s great not looking at those (photos to follow), but these townhouse things are huge and out of character and no one can seem to really park in their driveway which makes going by on Plant Avenue a bit of squeeze at times. (see https://designhomestudios.com/portfolio/industrial-chic/ where you literally don’t see how big they are considering where they are squeezed into)
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Then you see some other OLDER listings here and there which give you a flavor of the street:
So yeah, lovely little neighborhood, but close to a million because of those ridiculous townhouse condo things at the site of scary house? I mean even the twins that replaced the twins that caught on fire years ago are overinflated:
Of course this is a small street, narrow with a dog leg that had a limo bus catch on fire in 2014 and crash into what was once the Wayne Natatorium clubhouse and caused quite the fire.
I like Willow Avenue, always did because I just have always liked these small neighborhoods in Wayne, as well as the similarly sized ones in Lower Merion or even the Village of Berwyn, Haverford Township, or Malvern Borough. BUT, and it’s a BIG BUT, they are now overpriced and what once were more working people’s neighborhoods that became starter homes or downsizing senior abodes are just well….OVERPRICED.
Here is who is listing the overpriced 256 Willow Avenue, Wayne, PA of it all:
Never heard of her, but that is not saying much because there are just so many Realtors but if I quantify that, never heard of this firm. Some seem to have come out of LV Homes. Anyway I found one thing for this listing going back to June, 2026 so it has been sitting. According to Zillow the price was cut $20,000 as of August 11, which means it was originally listed for $755,000? Ummm yeah that is definitely an LOL meets eye roll, meets how much in Little Chicago?
Oh and the address listed on property records for this property looks like a Mailboxes etc or whatever address?
Anyway, this gave me quite the giggle. It’s a small twin and they want how much? Maybe they will get it, but all of these people who overpay because of the way these properties are overinflated? Will they ever get their money out?
One final note for the record: I think most houses are overpriced and overinflated these days. I also am not a fan of speculative real estate types pricing people out of areas. But truly for this street and others in North Wayne? Pay attention to the storms.
I begin with a stop work order issued today at 4 PM against Sentinel Green Fig re: Data Center in East Whiteland. (Screenshot above.)
Next is a little ditty “explaining” a few things including East Whiteland saying on the record they did not sign NDAs with these data center people. I am glad to hear this.
Next will be some fun right to know dumps. From the EPA and more. Here below is a screen shot of a plan sent to EPA. Which one is this? And still I ask, Foote Mineral, really? Toxic AF much?
And then this one below and next, also EPA I think and how what an amended plan? Not an approved one?
Then I got this email from today:
In case you can’t read, here is the verbiage verbatim:
Subject:Data Center Project | Request for Immediate Review of Permits
Dear East Whiteland Board of Supervisors,
I’m writing to follow up on the comments I made at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday, August 19 regarding the permits issued for the proposed data center project.
I am requesting an immediate review of Permit #B-2026-221 and any related permits issued for the 2024 approved Land Development Plan (the “2024 Plan”).
It is my understanding that this Permit should not have been issued without a commitment letter from Aqua specific to the 2024 Plan. It is also my understanding that the Township has not received that commitment letter. If Aqua has provided the required commitment letter, please share a copy with me. If the Township has not received it, I am requesting that the Township take immediate action to suspend or revoke the Permit until all requirements for its issuance have been satisfied.
I am also attaching documents received from the EPA through a Right-to-Know request that raise an additional concern. The documents appear to show that the developer/applicant submitted information in November 2025 (prior to filing an amendment with East Whiteland Township) reflecting the amended project design they are currently seeking approval for, rather than the 2024 Plan previously approved by the Township. Specifically, the submission references shallow foundations, rather than the basements included in the 2024 Plan.
This raises a fundamental question: What plan is the developer currently constructing and obtaining permits to build?
Until the Township can confirm that the work being permitted and performed on the property is fully consistent with the currently approved 2024 Plan, I am requesting that the Township suspend the issuance and effectiveness of all permits issued for work not associated with the 2024 Plan and halt work authorized by those permits.
At a minimum, I am requesting written confirmation of: 1. Whether the Township has received the required Aqua commitment letter for the approved 2024 Plan and, if so, a copy of that letter. 2. Whether Permit #B-2026-221 and all related permits were properly issued based on the requirements of East Whiteland ordinance in effect at the time of issuance and consistent with the approved 2024 Plan. 3. Which approved land development plan and plan revision supports the issuance of each currently issued permit. 4. Whether the construction and foundation design reflected in the EPA submission are consistent with the 2024 Plan. 5. What action the Township will take if permits were issued based upon an unapproved plan or design or without required documentation.
Given the questions surrounding the approved 2024 Plan and the permits currently allowing work to proceed, I believe this warrants immediate attention. Please confirm receipt of this email within 24 hours and provide an update regarding the Township’s review and intended action.
Thank you,
Jessica Larkin
Wowza! The residents of East Whiteland are ON FIRE!
Before I post a slew of documents allow me a couple of gems I saw one of on a right to know and now another one today (and both are on township website as of this afternoon.) Not sure of the who was on first prior because Ginny Keslake has done some calling out on her Facebook page:
You know I love a good drone video, here’s a recent fly by of the East Whiteland Data Center Site at Foote Mineral:
So then this showed up in someone’s right to know:
Then these little redacted gems:
Next I will load in all of the various things from people’s FOIA requests to the EPA that I have seen. They are not my work product. These are the residents who are amazeballs. I am only publishing what they received which is public. I would like to know where is the contaminated soil going? 2 stories approved plan drawing states 3 stories (includes basement)?? The approved plan requires them to excavate and move 5,000,000 cubic feet of contaminated soil- their number???Actually there are so many questions, all of or heads are spinning as to why in the Sam Hell is this still a project?
The residents of East Whiteland are on fire. They are amazing. I am in awe.
There was a data center meeting in North Coventry again last night. The developer came back again.
North Coventry Township KNEW this would be a big meeting but didn’t bother to find a bigger venue. Residents have told me they had 12 days to do so, but apparently did not? Residents were so immensely grateful for State Senator Katie Muth showing up for all of these residents, many of whom had to stand in a parking lot!
This not getting a venue that fits the crowd trick is getting old. East Whiteland has been doing this in my opinion. In East Whiteland they also alter the zoom video so even if you are on the zoom part of the meeting you can’t hear some of what is going on in the boardroom or on the recording post-meeting.
As a matter of fact I wrote to East Whiteland Township July 9, 2026 about this very thing of altering the sound that is actually subverting the public record is it not? Public meetings are supposed to be memorialized warts and all, correct? They have the often insipid meeting minutes for the sanitized life, right? Isn’t that as anti-sunshine as not getting a large enough meeting room when you know it will be a BIG meeting? When East Whiteland has done this in a few meetings they have actually muted State Senator Katie Muth. One time I think they turned off microphones, but the other times? The people they pay to record meetings deliberately mute out public reactions and that is wrong.
So in the end according to The Pottstown Mercury, the North Coventry Supervisors opposed the data center plan, but they need to address the fact that residents have a right to be at these meeting so they need to find a place to fit them in, not shut them out. After all up in Luzerne County, Salem Township is being sued by residents for doing just that.
Decisions, decisions. Which little lies are better to listen to? I think East Whiteland Supervisors meeting is the correct choice at 6:30 PM on Wednesday August 19th, 2026.
East Whiteland in my opinion is doing the pat the residents on their heads and give them a lollypop and tell them there is nothing to see here.
Every meeting has something to see, and as long as data centers are on the township menu EVERY meeting is an opportunity to be heard (politely even if some township supervisors are not.)
The residents of General Warren Village know this all too well and if you notice they show up still for most meetings to tell the township how they feel about Bishop Tube.
Last week the township released a data center word salad. The best comment I saw on social media said:
Their “word salad” will give you Cyclospora.
The reality is EVERY meeting has to legally allow public comment. People can do it virtually or in person. If the township wants to play kick the can with the data center issue just like they do with Bishop Tube, that is on them but legally they still have to provide time for public comment and allow it. So show up Wednesday and bring a friend. BE POLITE.
And in other burning East Whiteland news apparently Ginny Kerslake and I are hot topics at the Great Valley Democrat zone meetings held at East Whiteland Township in the township building. I am in good company with Ginny, yes? I am but one woman as is Ginny so do you have questions for us or something Supervisor Peter Fixler?
East Whiteland at that time kind of said that Foote Mineral as a site was all better but was it even then?
This politician doesn’t have to like me as I don’t care for him either, but for me to be a topic for discussion at Democrat Zone Meetings like I am public enemy number one and so is Ginny Kerslake? Really? Your zone meetings are held in the township building and not all of your residents are Democrats, so I hope the Democrats are contributing to the costs of having the meetings there after hours?
Residents are not the enemy, Supervisor Peter Fixler. We live here. We have a right to our opinions even if you don’t agree as an elected official that the majority of us are concerned about another truly bad plan for East Whiteland Township.
I haven’t drunk any Kool aid as has been previously alluded to. I have not liked this concept since jump.
If Fixler is a politician with a pro-environmental bent, he should act like it. But cut the middle school lunch table nonsense of serving up residents at political meetings. His political problems are self created on this topic. Neither I nor Ginny nor anyone else created them.
(In case you were wondering why East Whiteland needs more and better representation as in 2 more supervisors look no further that this guy IMHO.)
Bill Holmes was handing out this flyer to East Whiteland residents 7/29/26
What is the WORST thing a politician desperately seeking continued political relevance can do? Do we want to start with being a misogynistic asshat?
The opening screen shot is a flyer that former East Whiteland Supervisor Bill Holmes was handing out on July 29th, 2026. It was at the Battle of the Clouds Park at the petition signing – 7 PM is what residents who shared this flyer told me and guess what? I believe them for the simple reason that this was when some of them realized how dirty East Whiteland politics was.
So Billy Bully who still wants people to “Get On Board With Bill” doesn’t realize is that Ginny supported East Whiteland residents to get a question on the ballot about increasing the number of supervisors from 3 to 5, but this was initiated by East Whiteland residents. She did not originate the idea, and even if she had, why is it a bad idea? Because Bill Holmes doesn’t like it? Waaaaahhhh!
Point of fact is I also brought this up a few years ago and was told by a supervisor to drop it or they would stand a chance of losing control of the board. I didn’t pursue it then and NOT because of what I was told, but because residents were not into the idea back then.
This topic also was discussed by people when Holmes was actually still on the board. But no one wanted to act on it then at that point in time either.
The whole thing is about representation. Current bad situations like data center plans and other issues have made people think that 3 supervisors is simply not enough representation given how the township has grown. This is any resident’s right to ask for this under the second class township code of the Commonwealth of PA and it IS that simple. Easttown has 5 supervisors, for example. So does Charlestown. So does East Goshen. So does West Goshen. And those are the municipalities that I remember off of the top of my head.
Tredyffrin acts like they are a second class township with a board of 7 but it became a rather messy Home Rule Charter in 1976 and that is a story that needs telling. But that is another day, and not my story. Suffice it to say it’s rather surprising that the media has not picked up on that.
This isn’t something that the status quo in East Whiteland politics wants. They say they can’t get people to run, but the truth of the matter is they can’t get people to run the way they are recruiting them and isn’t that correct? As a matter of fact, it’s not just unique to East Whiteland. It’s countywide. Part of it has to do with the bizarro world of endorsement events for the primary.
The way a primary is supposed to work is water seeks it’s own level, and the people decide who they want as their candidates. Only they totally engineer it and it backfires.
Now back to Bill Holmes. After he and Jerry the diseased Pyne tree were being rather aggressive with residents on that evening where they handed out the assholes delight flyer making crap up about Ginny Kerslake etc we had the next thing: being nasty and a bully to a female resident and small business owner yes?
Well yes, sadly that happened too.
Daddy knows best or daddy will take your Barbies away doesn’t work with grown women not in the Bill cult but umm really Bill? Are we all supposed to be pregnant barefoot and in the kitchen too? Silent unless spoken to, Stepford Wifey in every way?
And then there is that Jerry Pyne email about data centers, right?
Why are they behaving so desperately anyway? What is in it for these particular Democrats? What do they lose if East Whiteland gets 2 more supervisors? What do they lose if a data center doesn’t happen?
Do we see a pattern about what happens if women in particular don’t get on the Papa DOES Preach train of do as you’re told politics? And the favorite targets seem to be women including me at times? Doesn’t that make Democrat politicians like Bill Holmes truly no better than dare I say it, Trump? You know that man that all male Democrat politicians will tell you that they don’t want to be like?
Yet here we are, right?
So Bill Holmes (and Jerry Pyne) and whomever else is on this trash women train? Thug politics never works no matter what side of the aisle. And Bill, we see you. So knock it off.
And East Whiteland residents should also remember who brought Bill Holmes to the supervisors’ table yes? Was it not Michele Vaughn?
Look it’s a petty vicious political circle all the way around in Chester County and neither major political party is innocent. It’s time for this crap to end.
And circling back to East Whiteland for a moment. Who stands to lose what specifically if East Whiteland adds two more supervisors? Who stands to lose what specifically if residents keep fighting the data center and other plans?
Who what where when? And will Bill Holmes ever behave like a gentleman?
Soooo we recently learned about certain formerly ranking Great Valley Democrats (one who was actually the former vice chair of the Chesco Dems) were running around having hissy fits about East Whiteland Township residents circulating a petition with signatures to get a ballot question on the ballot.
The question was (and I am paraphrasing) was along the lines of should East Whiteland Township add two more supervisors? Under the Second Class Township code you can increase representation.
Sadly, this hissy fit included basically bullying a female resident who’s also a small business owner, and how is that behavior ok?)
So these men, Bill Holmes and Jerry Pyne, went to where residents were gathering signatures to object. They acted like it was a threat to democracy instead of what it really was, which is democracy in action.
Super sad and misogynistic behavior is so Welcome to Stepford isn’t it?
Anyway, it makes you wonder what the motivation is doesn’t it? I think a lot of it has to do with control. I don’t think it’s as much of fear that a Republican may get back on the board, as a fear of losing control.
Are we all just puppets on this bus of these political toadstools?
I was thinking about it and lo and behold it made me wonder even more when an email reached me from 2023. An email no one was looking for, it showed up in a bulk right to know request response.
Note the highlighted area at the bottom:
This email is a chat discussing the EW and WW data center with backup generation for the data center. I do not want the part to be labeled as against business!
So yeah, who is the author of this email? Wouldn’t that be one Jerry Pyne?
Oh Jerry, it’s not too hard to figure out when this email was written. It was around the time that residents wanted West Whiteland to say no to a hydrogen hub to go with the developers desire for a data center, wasn’t it? (West Whiteland did say no, remember?)
I mean it’s so funny. This email chain started like literally I guess a couple days after that big Inquirer article came out?
Precious.
Let’s review what I have been told by those who were doing RTK requests then:
This was a January 2023 email from Jerry Pyne, an East Whiteland Democratic Committee Person, and at that time, Vice Chair of the county Democrats was included in the response to a RTK request (on an unrelated issue) to the Township. The email comes on the heels of a Philadelphia Inquirer article about Charlie Lyddane’s ongoing attempts to build a hyper scale data center in East Whiteland and his attempt to change zoning in West Whiteland for data centers and power plants.
Jerry Pyne forwarded to Democrat County commissioners Marian and Josh and Township supervisor Scott Lambert (using his township email address ) an email discussion between fellow EW Democrat committee people who were discussing their concerns for impacts to the environment, quality of life and place, energy resources, etc.
But Jerry Pyne’s concern was different: “I do not want the part[y] to be labelled as anti business!” That was his concern. Not the impact this development would have on the community and the environment.
I have heard that the recent Great Valley Democrat meeting held at the East Whiteland Township Building did have some chatter about data centers. But they haven’t taken a position. And they also haven’t taken a position at this point on the desire for East Whiteland residents to get a ballot question out there on the ballot for the fall about increasing the size of the East Whiteland Township Supetvisors’ board.
I have a suggestion for the Great Valley Democrats. My suggestion is simple. They need to distance from these people publicly. They should not even have the optics out there that they might be supporting these efforts on bothering residents about having their opinions on data centers and whether it should be three or five supervisors. And the key words is they need to take a public position. No hiding, no why can’t we all get along. They need to tell people they don’t support misogynistic bullying behavior that is in my opinion anti-democracy.
And oh hell, yes I can have that opinion. And it makes you wonder who Jerry was talking to about what before he decided to contact everybody back then?
So yes, data centers in our communities are uncovering all sorts of interesting issues.
It’s uncovering how nasty these political types are getting if there’s any threat to their power structure or what they think is best at the expense of all the other residents.
Chester County, it is time for a change in both political parties. These political parties need to shut their mouths and need to sit down and listen to what is bothering the plurality.
I’m sure this issue will continue to unfold. But I thought for now this email was simply too precious not to share. Time for Jerry Pyne and Bill Holmes and others to retire.
And darling Jerry and Bill? Remember my opinions are bought to you courtesy of the First Amendment. And other political types out there? Don’t let these issues be your Waterloo. The times they are a changing IMHO.
These issues facing our communities involve everyone. Stop playing party politics (poorly).
