Oh, look there she is! It’s Lisa Borowski there for a photo op! and you can always tell when it’s election season because she gets a fresh haircut and her bangs are out of her face and she looks less like a Muppet.
Former do much of nothing Radnor Township Commissioner now State Representative Lisa Borowski likes long walks, nature, photo ops. But what does she actually do? Most people are still trying to figure that out.
She is still very much on PA HB2151 which will remove the rights of Pennsylvanians and their municipalities when it comes to AI data centers.
She was also on that last bill (HB 502) that failed miserably in 2025. So what was she promised if she was on this HB2151 and was Josh Shapiro‘s little cheerleader Muppet?
So she’s out doing her nominating petition, and is announcing events where they’re going to be signing these petitions throughout Delaware County in her district. Here are the locations and dates:
Your mission should you choose to accept it is to show up at these events as well as call her office and tell her to get off of the data center bill. The number is PA HB2151.
If that bill goes through, it will affect our power grid which affects our PECO bills. It affects our water usage. Data Centers are not environmentally friendly. data centers are also extraordinarily noisy in a very pervasive negative way.
Lisa Borowski needs a field trip to Louden County, Virginia and needs to get her head out of her ass about this issue.
If Lisa Borowski wants to be reelected, she needs to do the right thing here. If not, she deserves to not be reelected.
BE POLITE when you contact her and I know for some that’s a challenge because she seriously has annoying affectations and mannerisms.
Make it an easy thing for Lisa to understand: if she wants to stay in office, she needs to get off of bad bills like this that only helps special interests, not everyday Pennsylvanians.
PS her municipality seems eminent domain happy so you might want to ask the state representative where she stands on eminent domain as well.
First of all, what is “quiet title”? A quiet title action in Pennsylvania is a civil lawsuit that resolves disputes over property ownership. It’s a legal process that can clear up uncertainties or competing claims about a property’s title.
So in other words, London Grove Township wants to take over this parcel? Yet I have found 3 references to them having the parcel since 1965?
I found an action in progress in the courts:
Is it related to this from the London Grove Historic Commission last May?
At the request of the Girl Scout (Cadets) Troup # 4136, the Cadets visited the Historical Commission to introduce their project proposal to make improvements to the African Union Church and Cemetery located at 816 North Guernsey Road in London Grove Township. Their excellent presentation included initiatives to improve signage, headstone and landscaping at the cemetery, the proposed schedule, budget needs, fund raising, volunteer efforts and next steps. The Historical Commission was very impressed with the scope of the Girl Scout efforts, and their enthusiasm in performing this initiative. Subsequent to this discussion, the Historical Commission queried vis-a-vis the Chester County Historical Commission, that the cemetery ownership was transferred to London Grove Township in the year 1965 via an order approved by a county judge. We discussed the next steps, and a milestone to continue this initiative; that being formal application to the Girl Scout organization for their approval, as well as an on-site presentation to the London Grove Township Board of Supervisors (8 May, 2024) to seek funding and approval. After a few questions which were thoughtfully responded to, the Historical Commission encouraged the team to press on. Several from the Historical Commission volunteered to assist in the improvements if/when the project was officially initiated.
So it appears that a troop of Girl Scouts want this place saved in perpetuity. I applaud them.
I do not quite understand why London Grove is posting a legal notice if the research on the part of Girl Scout Troop 4136 found that they were deeded the land parcel in 1965 unless it’s just another screwy thing with Chester County deed and land records? I mean that is entirely possible, right?
I was alarmed when I saw this notice, but am hoping because the Girl Scout Troop 4136 id invested in this site, it is a good thing this township is doing? Lots of questions given who the solicitor is on the legal notice and that Warren Kampf the former state rep who now shills for Chester County is on the court docket, but there is a lack of information out there. It appears London Grove Township actually does have some land development plans going on like every township but they have one of the worst websites so finding information without a blood hound is difficult. People it’s 2025, so why do so many municipal websites just plain suck and why isn’t everyone recording public meetings yet? (But I digress.)
So back to African Union Church AKA Solomon’s Temple AKA Solomon’s Temple Union American Methodist Episcopal Cemetery at 816 North Guernsey Road in West Grove. It’s yet ANOTHER abandoned AME (African Methodist Episcopal) site is what it appears to me. Somewhere Bishop Richard Allen is once again turning in his grave. I still want to know how the AME Church cannot keep track of their former church sites, graveyards, and history better?
John Bell, it is said, escaped from slavery in Maryland some time in the 1830s and became a huckster in the vicinity of Chatham. Fighting off a slave-catching party, he eventually accrued property and money, and on December 17th, 1849, for the consideration of $50, he gave an acre of land outside the village to James Wilmer, John Durnall, Perry Reed, William Lindsey, and John Mason, Trustees of the African Union Church, to erect what became known as Solomon’s Temple. A small cemetery was established on the ground surrounding the church.
John Bell died in 1873 and bequeathed a considerable sum to the church. Shortly thereafter, led to a small congregation meeting at the former Williamson Methodist Episcopal Church in nearby Penn Township. However, services continued on at Solomon’s Temple (which had become a U.A.M.E. Congregation in the 1860s) until the early 1900s.
By the 1960s, the church had fallen to ruin and the cemetery had become “covered with weeds, briars and saplings and many of the tombstones [were] leaning or [had] fallen over.” A group of township residents petitioned London Grove Township to take charge and maintain the grounds, and in 1965 a county Judge ordered just that. Today the cemetery is kept up by the township and is nominally open to the public.
John Bell, it is said, escaped from slavery in Maryland some time in the 1830s and became a huckster in the vicinity of Chatham, Chester County. After fighting off a slave-catching party, he eventually accrued property and money, and on December 17th, 1849, for the consideration of $50, he gave an acre of land outside the village to James Wilmer, John Durnall, Perry Reed, William Lindsey, and John Mason, Trustees of the African Union Church, to erect what became known as Solomon’s Temple. A small cemetery was established on the ground surrounding the church.
John Bell died in 1873 and bequeathed a considerable sum to the church. Shortly thereafter, led to a small congregation meeting at the former Williamson Methodist Episcopal Church in nearby Penn Township. However, services continued on at Solomon’s Temple (which had become a U.A.M.E. Congregation in the 1860s) until the early 1900s.
By the 1960s, the church had fallen to ruin and the cemetery had become “covered with weeds, briars and saplings and many of the tombstones [were] leaning or [had] fallen over.” A group of township residents petitioned London Grove Township to take charge and maintain the grounds, and in 1965 a county Judge ordered just that.
The stone foundation of the church remains, but the majority of the burials lack their original headstones that have been destroyed, buried or removed over time. Today the cemetery is kept up by the township and is nominally open to the public.
Sigh. Another place with a burial ground containing Black Civil War soldiers just sort of there. I am glad the Girl Scouts and London Grove Township Historic Commission have an interest. I am curious again as to the remark that London Grove Township has supposedly had this spot since 1965 when a Chester County Judge gave custody to London Grove Township. If London Grove has had control since 1965, why the new public notice court thingy?
Well here’s hoping this post spurs some interest including the desire for some reporter to write about this, right?
History matters. This place matters. I close with photos of the graves I have found.
Wake up Radnor residents! Monday, October 28 it’s more tricks than treats on the schedule for the commissioners’ meeting at 6:30 PM. These commissioners with ONE exception do not know their arses from a hole in the wall. The one exception is Commissioner Jake Abel who had the courage of his convictions to say NO to eminent domain as Radnor Township’s arsehole purported “negotiation” tactic….with a church.
That “negotiation” tactic is eminent domain against Wayne Presbyterian Church because they had the temerity to want more money after faithfully renting their land to Radnor since circa 1954. That means they went decades without really wanting much more, correct ? I mean that’s really nice isn’t it?
But noooo, Radnor Commissioners, seemingly led on an eminent domain field trip by cranky unpleasant to the plurality commissioner with an odd looking pallor, Jack Larkin, who seems to have morphed into a cold unfeeling jerk who seems to wish to punish the world and why is that? Is his life outside of being a commissioner a little messy? And why does his bio at Radnor still say how many years later he is still at a certain law firm yet LinkedIn and elsewhere indicates somewhere else? Does he not want people to know about working for thatbillboard company?
Oh and Radnor and commissioners? I am entitled to my opinions.
I think potentially Radnor hasn’t been so sleazy since the days of Bashore, and I am not even sure most of these commissioners actually know what happened then because most of them seem to know so little about Radnor’s political and other history as in the past 30 – 40 years since that matters justasmuch as the historical origins of the township.
The board sat there at the last meeting and were kind of horrible to a church and their members. They all tried to say eminent domain is a “negotiation” tactic. It is not. It’s a greedy, nasty, bullsheit bully tactic. And the Wayne Business Association is supporting stealing from a church? If this happens you betcha a lot of people will boycott Wayne.
Radnor, I know first hand what eminent domain for private gain does to a community. I was part of a group that fought it until we won in Ardmore PA with the help of the Institute for Justice in Washington, DC. And this might be something that you try to couch as eminent domain for public purpose, but since you’re doing it really for the Wayne Business Association businesses, isn’t it really eminent domain for private gain? My opinion is it is. And actually, it doesn’t really matter what it is categorized as, it’s still wrong. That is the beginning and end of it.
And Wayne Presbyterian Church? The lawyer who you really want for this is Philip Rosenzweig. Phil is the one who as a newly elected commissioner wrote the resolution in Lower Merion to end eminent domain in Ardmore.
And Radnor residents, that’s the other thing that we at the Save Ardmore Coalition did because of the threat of eminent domain: we replaced half of the board of commissioners in one election cycle because of it.
Radnor residents you have the power you don’t use enough, and I suggest you get busy and replace some of these toadstools at your earliest opportunity. You deserve better commissioners and a better manager. Who would think after years like 2010, Radnor Township would find itself in odd situations again?
Oh and for those who live near the center of Wayne do you know to add insult to injury regarding the upcoming development involving that AT&T lot is also on the agenda? I mean, imagine the parking you might have available in Radnor in Wayne if this site was not going development? (Just sayin’)
Heavy handed leverage. That’s what a retired real estate lawyer said.
And Radnor Township is trying to wield the ultimate thug tool against with Wayne Presbyterian Church, eminent domain. And given this is for the Wayne Business District, this in my humble opinion, this makes it eminent domain for private gain. That’s bollocks.
Can we talk about how combative and rude Commissioner Jack Larkin is? I guess his life experience over the past couple of years has not taught him to be kind or humble. He should discover both qualities, after all pride goeth before a fall, Commissioner Jack Larkin. Try being pleasant and not a bully.
If Radnor Township was acting in good faith, they would not have enacted an eminent domain ordinance, and it is pretty much that god damn simple. And they are doing this against a church.
I have not had such distrust of Radnor Township since Dave Bashore was the manager and that is saying something. Radnor needs to clean house again from commissioners to manager. There are few things that upset me more than eminent domain. I know the realities of it. First hand. We saw it in Ardmore. We saw it Coatesville. We saw it in Long Branch, NJ. We saw it in New London, CT. Just ask the Institute for Justice.
You know what is worse then eminent domain for private gain? Eminent domain for public purpose that really has private gain driving it. And THAT is what Radnor is attempting which is why I categorize as really being about private gain. And in Radnor’s meeting last week, the Wayne Business Association said they support the actions of Radnor Township.
I can tell you as long as an eminent domain ordinance lurks against a church in Wayne, no one I know will be going to Wayne to even buy a cup of coffee.
A relatively newer resident spoke up, after hearing this. Not sure why he was at the meeting, but hooray for common sense:
And then there was Commissioner Jack Larkin’s grandfather I guess it is. Even HE said eminent domain was wrong. So Larkin listens to no one except himself on this it seems, so will grandpa’s thoughts matter?
This is another bad plan from Radnor Township. They seem to be making these bad plans more and more consistently.
Radnor residents and supporters of Wayne Presbyterian Church and haters of eminent domain? The clock is ticking. get those card and letters and emails and calls going and attend the meetings. This is wrong, and what is not wrong after all these decades is the church wanting to see more revenue.
And oh by the way? This meeting also had some updates about the Willows? Radnor Township should take the neighbors’ noise concerns seriously and so should the caterer in residence. I don’t think much of them anyway. I won tickets to a pop up dinner with them once, and they never honored it. I won it during COVID, end of 2019, early 2020 and it ultimately got postponed and then they essentially ghosted me. Actually I think the Willows is a hopeless mess and that is a subject for another day and it is so sad. And what about the cottage? No one ever wants to talk about that debacle and waste of a one time restoration.
Back to Radnor Township being a municipal bully. Here is the SAVVY or it all plus an article from Main Line Times. Read both and remember: eminent domain is a thug tactic, not a form of negotiation. No more Wayne for me until this is settled. Eminent domain has no gain.
Radnor Township has taken the first step toward seizing by eminent domain the parking area it leases from Wayne Presbyterian Church (WPC), a sizable section of the large Station Ave. municipal lot.
Radnor Commissioners voted 4 to 1 at their Oct. 14 meeting to move forward with an ordinance (below) that would authorize the township to file a “declaration of taking” in the Delco Court of Common Pleas in November.
Ahhh East Goshen Township. A mostly beautiful township that historically likes to stay below the radar. Well below the radar. They might not stay so below this year, however.
For example here a potential land development things that affect both East Goshen and West Whiteland That weird sliver of acreage I wrote about a few days ago . A 15 acre parcel where 10 acres behind Old Phoenixville Pike are in West Whiteland Township and 5 acres are in East Goshen Township.
I have learned over the years East Goshen hates any kind of spotlight. That flawed and failed eminent domain attempt at the Hicks Farm which was referred to in a 2021 Daily Local op-ed:
Imagine a knock on your door, and somebody announces that they intend to purchase your home, and that you will need to vacate it shortly. Imagine, also, that you are told that the value of your home will be established by the purchaser, and that you must accept the offer without objection. Sounds like a nightmare scenario.
This nightmare has played out time again here in Chester County. It occurs when a local government decides that they want to take someone’s property for public use that is deemed more important than the rights of the property owner. It does not matter how long the property may have been owned, or how the owner feels about being forced to give up their land.
If the locality wants it, they can take it at a price that they feel they should pay. The process is called Eminent Domain, a somewhat gray area of law that has been in constant dispute for decades.
In the recent past there have been examples of localities using Eminent Domain to seize private property for values that owners have felt unjust, and for reasons the community has sometimes found inappropriate. In the view of the Libertarian Party of Chester County the use of Eminent Domain is nothing more than theft by forcing a sale to a government that cannot purchase property by accepted legal means. By taking property with a forced sale, the property is being stolen, and this is wrong.
The latest threat of Eminent Domain use is happening in East Goshen Township. The victim in this case is Goshen View Farm, owned by the Hicks family. The ancestors of this family settled in Chester County back in 1769. According to a family member, this farm was purchased by William Huey Hicks in 1909.
Hicks was interested in the land because of the new system of electrification along Paoli Pike. Hicks bought the farm from the Sharpless family the old-fashioned way, by offering the owner a fair price and having the seller agree to the transaction in a free and agreeable sale….None of us is allowed to knock on a door and force a sale of private property, and no politician should be allowed to do this either.
You may ask what the critical need there is for taking a strip of land from a farm along Paoli Pike may be? Is there a hospital being built? Perhaps some emergency access is needed for a fire department? In fact, this property is being seized for a possible walking trail no more than two miles long, according to some local residents.
Sometimes referred to as “The Trail to Nowhere”, this strip of property is supposed to meet up with other township trails that may or may not ever exist, or even meet with this section of the trail. Perhaps the prospect of millions in government grant money is affecting the decision to invoke Eminent Domain. By some estimates, the township is spending about $5 millions dollars per mile to build the trail, $10 million in total.
The family that owns the property is not only unhappy with the threat of Eminent Domain but is also concerned about how visitors may impact their valuable horse stabling business, and about liabilities that may ensue when bikers and hikers cross the vehicle traffic on the farm lane exiting to Paoli Pike.
Fortunately, Pennsylvania’s strong Sunshine Laws appear to require the local council to present the plan of Eminent Domain to the voters and allow them ample time to consider both this drastic action and accompanying expense before seizing property from the owners. The LPCC has no doubt that upon learning of this shameful plan they will insist that their politicians act in the same fair and proper way that the voters are expected to behave. Stealing is theft, no matter what law it cowers behind. It is time to debate the use of the unfair laws of Eminent Domain.
East Goshen now has a new Supervisor who ran based upon eminent domain. It was his property, after all, that they tried to take. Peter Hicks is a welcome addition to the board and so is the other newbie Barbara Emery. Cody Bright tries to do the right thing. BUT…it’s politics, so there is always a BUT isn’t there? I used to be glad Michele Truitt was a Supervisor and chair but I have to be honest, now the jury is out. That’s hard to articulate because I like her as a person, which is different than just liking a politician. And it has to do with the hanging chads of East Goshen issues and solutions the past few years. I just find it all confusing, so it makes it hard.
Michele Truitt is not going to like this opinion but can she really be surprised? I am not trying to be bitchy, but East Goshen needs to stand in the light. When Supervisor Truitt first told me eminent domain at the Hicks Farm would come off the table, I was thrilled. Then I kept asking for her to let me know when they were repealing it. It’s not that complicated, I consulted with the former Lower Merion Commissioner who wrote the language in the resolution to end eminent domain in 2006, Philip Rosenzweig. And basically it was a simple resolution to revoke the original resolution Lower Merion passed. But in East Goshen all I kept hearing was they needed time to “unwind” it. Why? No one has EVER answered that question really, so what took so long?
It makes anyone wonder why did it take so long, and why was it shrouded in mystery? Did it have to do with that trail to nowhere?
There have been questions whispered in shadows the past few years about money and this township haven’t there been? And they say the township budget is out of whack and what they still blame COVID? Perhaps it predates COVID in reality? How about a real forensic accounting that is finished and made public? Just rip the Band-Aid off, right?
And what is this latest thing about *supposedly* one Supervisor wants to eject all Democrats from various volunteer committees/appointments? And yet another Supervisor is working on this? I mean come on now Chair and Vice Chair, did you think these fissures wouldn’t show? What is wrong with BALANCE? One party rule doesn’t work, we are a country designed on a two party system and if East Goshen REALLY wants to put their money where their mouths are, then balance not dictatorship, please, right?
I know East Goshen Republicans didn’t like the plastic bag ban of it all. Even that reached my ears My question there of course with these bag bans is what about plastic trash bags? Don’t we think we use more of those? (But I digress.)
So East Goshen once also did big talking about an updated comprehensive plan, didn’t they? I believe the last one was 2015, so it’s not 10 years yet, but it’s just like another thing announced with much fanfare then fizzled out?
Of course one thing removed from that planning circus was the once upon a time grand plans circa 2019 for 352 and King Road, or how to freak people out with a PennDOT traffic circle that would have take private property from East Whiteland residents and East Goshen residents. Yep, they didn’t want to own that but I was at the Immaculata meeting that night and that is when I discovered how obnoxious a couple of former East Goshen Supervisors were.
So the rumor mill is still going fast and furious in East Goshen. They try so hard to be stealth over there and all Glocca Morra, but there is this undercurrent again, like an unpleasant, tainted underbelly, ok? They whisper and whisper and things drip out, don’t they?
What is going on there and did Madame Chairman’s former State Rep hubs whom I also like get appointed to some East Goshen Board? If so, perhaps that is a little too cozy?
Maybe it’s time to let something from 2022 out for an airing? It’s about that trail….
here is the cost of the trail. This finance guy found that NONE of the costs were documented! He had to do a forensic investigation, pulling invoices & bank statements, & tried to reconstruct what had not been documented anywhere. He found that out of the $8 million borrowed in 2017 for the 3 big projects-PPT, Hershey’s Mill Dam, & Milltown Dam-that “they” (Marty, Rick, Jon, other boards) knew that the HM Dam would be $300K SHORT, & that there was a distinct probability that Milltown would be short as well. “They” figured they’d find it somewhere. The $8 million loan was supposed to be like the loaves & the fishes!
Now that we voted to give the land back to the Hicks, segment B will have to be reconsidered & go in a different direction, if we want to complete the stupid trail. I’d rather finish at least ONE project before we start anything else, so that means we need to complete HM Dam (to be completed 1st quarter).
Again, please note that this was a forensic probe into PPT costs. Jon Altshul did not keep track of the costs. Dave Ware did a fantastic job of digging into this. And it’s NOT the only line item he has done this with.
I’d like your feedback. Michele
~Wednesday, January 5, 2022 3:05 PM
Michele, per your request, here is what has been spent on the PPT thus far…$5.4M, $2.4M out of EGT’s pocket.
Please let me know if you have questions or need explanations.
That document is a very interesting spread sheet of balance sheets if that is your jam. It will have to be downloaded to open.
Last thing are the meeting recordings and live viewing. I don’t think anyone has as bad a system except West Vincent Township. The meeting this week was vague and fuzzy to view and you could not actually hear the public comment from members of the public. Same with the replays.
That is not sunshine friendly either.
Time to play in the light, East Goshen, time to play in the light. You make it very confusing to understand what is going on, and why? You are a great municipality, you were my first municipality when I moved to Chester County, so I will always have a soft spot for you. But it’s time to play in the light again.
These are tough times to be a small neighborhood. I am writing today about a neighborhood just up West King Road past Weston in West Whiteland Township. The street is Old Phoenixville Pike. It’s a little neighborhood on a tiny road that is a dead end street. And to me, in my opinion, it’s potentially under siege.
This is a sweet neighborhood I think. Little houses, maybe not so Chester County farmhouse historic, but important to their owners, nonetheless. It’s a narrow dead end street. So when unusual things happen, like trucks you don’t normally see, people notice.
So in the fall I guess it was, I started hearing about this neighborhood when the Weston Tract on West King Road was being discussed. Why? The neighbors back there have been on alert because of a developer sniffing around.
There were many West Whiteland residents who spoke up that recent December night, when Weston was discussed. Among them were the residents over on Old Phoenixville Pike who are also trying to figure out exactly what a developer is doing back behind their neighborhood since somebody keeps doing perc tests or something. Some poor older gentleman spoke about getting his property torn up every time they send an excavator through, and I think that’s horrible. No plans have been filed and that’s what the John Weller from West Whiteland Township said that December night, but obviously something is going on if a developer is doing testing.
John Weller also made a comment that evening about Phoenixville Pike being narrow where those former helicopter warehouses are. BUT…the other side of West King, where those people in that small neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike also have a very narrow street, perhaps not even as wide as Phoenixville Pike across King. Another thing to note is neighbors are also concerned there about development happening because the land that’s being tested apparently also has 5 acres that are actually in East Goshen.
A little bit before this all occurred, a West Whiteland resident had reached out about this:
There have been surveyors galore on Old Phoenixville Pike telling residents they plan to build homes or something on the old farming area behind their homes. Supposedly, there is only one way into that property due to an easement the farmer produced back in the 1970s and no other entry or exit around the perimeter. It’s kind of crazy they would put so much traffic on a no outlet road…seems like it could be a safety concern. A developer has been reaching out to residents about drilling back there, but the township claims they haven’t heard anything. Guess it’s time to keep an eye on those agendas!
~ Old Phoenixville PIKE resident November 2023
What I learned then was some neighbors were getting outreach from this developer. There were surveyors all over and maybe some notices or something? (I haven’t personally seen any notices or anything but this is what I was told.) And then came what must have been boring or digging for those perc tests or whatever since you have to perc properly before development occurs, yes? That meant excavators. Big equipment in a tiny neighborhood. If this development goes through, the street is so tiny, existing residents are not only concerned about car lights in their windows constantly, but losing land because (again) the street is tiny narrow. It’s like 14 feet wide maybe?
How would development work? Or would it only work if the developer acquired more land and how would they do that if no residents want to sell? Would West Whiteland stick up for existing residents?
Then around the beginning of December a resident heard pec test number 1 was a fail, but number 2 was OK? I don’t know from perc tests but it struck me as potentially curious.
A percolation test (known as a perc test) is a test to determine the water absorption rate of soil (that is, its capacity for percolation) in preparation for the building of a septic drain field (leach field) or infiltration basin. The results of such a test area a must to properly design a septic system or decide if something goes public sewer. A perc test consists of digging one or more holes in the soil of the proposed leach field to a specified depth, presoaking the holes by maintaining a high water level in the holes, then running the test by filling the holes to a specific level and timing the drop of the water level as the water percolates into the surrounding soil. There are various formulas I am told for determining the required size of a leach field based on the size of a development, the percolation test results, and other parameters.
For leach line testing, test holes are drilled or dug. I read these should be drilled to different depths from three to six feet below the surface. Testing of these holes will result in a value with units of minutes per inch. This value is then correlated to a predetermined county health code to establish the exact size of the leach field.
Testing for horizontal pits typically requires five to eight test holes drilled in a straight line, or along a common contour, from three to ten feet below the surface. Testing is identical to leach line testing, though the result is a different type of septic system, established through a different calculation.
Recently I was told West Whiteland Supervisor Brian Dunn did meet with residents back there and walked their neighborhood. I was not privy to that, but I can tell you the residents were so grateful to him because literally an old timer said in 50 years no one ever came back there to listen to them or visit. I think that’s a disgrace, but with what West Whiteland has been dealing with the couple of years or so cleaning up after old managers and administrations, can you say it’s no wonder?
So West Chester University was given this land by the former landowner it seems?
I received a message on New Year’s Day….as in a holiday, a holiday around the world. The message I was sent was that supposedlysome lawyer or someone for they think West Chester University called some neighbor on New Year’s Day about a shed on an easement I think it was? If true who does that on a holiday? Bully much? It could not have waited until a business day?
Old Phoenixville Pike residents are also constantly bringing up that part of that acreage potentially at play is in East Goshen. That means whenever this whatever pops will it be presented in East Goshen or West Whiteland or both?
Of course this all makes you wonder what is going to happen with the rest of the Schiffer Farm, doesn’t it? Isn’t this a tail end of it? Because if I read the names on the deed right, same names as farm on Morstein with all those wonderful horses, yes? And that’s in two townships too, right? And East Whiteland is right next door over a fence literally.
So the neighbors of Old Phoenixville Pike are extremely concerned with the flooding of their neighborhood. They don’t want to become the storm water run off dump off to new development, either so they are legitimately fearful, aren’t they? With development planned for Weston, and whatever is going on on those West Chester University acres behind them on Old Phoenixville Pike, in 2024 West Whiteland needs to start helping them out sooner rather than later, right?
Post storm photos shared with me come next – from a few different storms. Essentially just like Meadowbrook Manor in West Whiteland. When it rains it can be a problem.
Also back in that area I have to ask, is that a legit landscape or wood business we drive by on 1377 Phoenixville Pike? I thought that was zoned residential but when I asked another person I know from around that way they said always full of trucks and a lot of noise. Also West Whiteland.
But I digress.
Back to Old Phoenixville Pike.
West Chester University could do something other than flip gifted land to a developer. They offer environmental degree programs correct? Why not use this gift for good? So it’s what? 15 acres of nature as in environment? Couldn’t they actually do something related to nature and the environment with the land and NOT sell to a developer? Build an arboretum? Or sell to a nature conservancy perhaps? I mean hello Chester County has a few right?
My entire life I have loved small neighborhoods and open space. You can actually combine small neighborhoods and open space.
Well that’s all I have got. No one seems to really know what’s going on, only that something obviously will happen given the activity onto these acres behind the small neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike. Those West Whiteland residents matter. All of the residents in multiple townships in that area matter. Between this and Weston and who knows what else, it’s an area to watch closely. After all, life happens while you’re making other plans.
Happy New Year. Let’s do more in 2024 to preserve where we call home.
I was in Ardmore again for the first time in a very long time. There are lots of dining options and other things to look at, but the streets are broken and filthy.
The roadways themselves are broken and rutted and it’s hard to imagine a township with so much money and bravado can’t seem to see the ruts and potholes.
So here I was back in Ardmore, where the actual township building is located, in the Historic Ardmore Business District with a business improvement improvement district called the Ardmore Initiative and let’s talk about the god damn sidewalks in what they like to call “the Main Street” of the Main Line. They are deplorable and dangerous. But hey, they can keep deluding themselves, right?
The sidewalks are badly broken in too many places, so I wonder if this is an odd metaphor for the state of Lower Merion Township itself? And it’s February so why are the holiday snowflakes still up?
Many years ago many of us fought to save the Historic Ardmore Business District. I am not sure what we saved Ardmore for. It’s so wrong.
So this is Chester county. Do we want to preserve her or not? Because we’re running out of time if we do wish to preserve her. If we do wish to preserve her history, her great open spaces (what’s left of them), her farms (what’s left of them) , her architecture (what hasn’t been replaced by endless fields of McBoxes.)
This isn’t a Republican or Democrat thing, this is the people coming together and working to save Chester County kind of thing.
People drive me crazy when they say “Oh but if you only elect this Republican or this Democrat that change will happen.” No it won’t. When did all of you get so dumb about community activism?
All of these politicians bring YOU to them. That’s not the way you do it. The way you do it is every time you have an election, the politicians take on your issues as their issues. Because if you just continue out there to take their issues on as your issues, you will always end up the loser.
No, often it is not nice. It’s hard. It’s a slog. You have all sorts of people screaming and yelling at you and calling you names. You know, kind of like my average day being a blogger. But you have to work if you really want to save something. You can’t just say oh let’s put up a Facebook page and save something. You actually have to do the work behind it. Look at Crebilly. Those folks did not give up. And they did it.
There have been countless groups who have put up private groups and Facebook pages proclaiming their issue. But the thing is they never really get off the social media pages, do they? They don’t go to meetings. They don’t take meetings with elected officials of all levels. It’s like they expect the world to come to them. I have to bite my tongue and not say how’s that working out for all of you?
If they do have loosely held “groups“, often these days you find different members of sad aforementioned “groups” are going in different directions with slightly different objectives that are often counterproductive. It doesn’t work because you all need to come together.
It doesn’t matter what political party you belong to when you’re working for a common goal and a greater good, you leave that bickering at the door. You need to forget the whole thing about oh if we just do this one little thing for this politician then they’ll help us. No they won’t. The goal of them and their campaigns is to make all of you come around to see their perspective. As we learned years ago fighting eminent domain mean in Ardmore, you have to flip that perspective.
And if the politicians make hollow promises, then you vote them out and you start all over again. And you keep repeating the process till you have government that you can work with, that works for the people.
And I have to say after doing the whole thing in Ardmore, also gave me some of the most amazing friends as an adult. I remember the first event I attended that the Save Ardmore Coalition did years ago. I entered a room a stranger and left with new friends, Friends I still have almost 20 years later. I did not start at the very, very beginning. I heard what they had to say, and I knew I wanted to be part of it. Oh and one election cycle we flipped half of the Board of Commissioners in Lower Merion Township to politicians of BOTH political parties who made our issue theirs. And they kept their word and ended eminent domain for good a few months later. As opposed to that eminent domain circus in East Goshen recently , it didn’t take a year to unwind. That my friends was BS, just like the self-aggrandizing Libertarian “award” , “honor” or whatever was bestowed upon supervisors or one supervisor in general, like the day before their spouse became the head of the Chester County Libertarian Party. That was no better than a publicity stunt. And it made me very sad.
So now that the elections are over, it’s time for communities across Chester County to come together to save what’s left of their character. Yesterday because we were going to visit friends further out in the county from us, we had this gorgeous drive back and forth. It made me think. It made me appreciate all over again the beauty of where we call home.
This also means that we have to start getting busy with our state elected officials, the lame ducks and the ones poised to take office in January. They need to start helping us preserve where we call home. And that means changing certain laws so that is possible.
One big thing requiring change is the Municipalities Planning Code. It hasn’t been comprehensively updated seriously since like 1969. And the last time it was comprehensively updated, do you know what one of the developments was that happened as a result of changes? Chesterbrook. We need fewer developments and that means we have to lobby for these people to get off the rear ends and enact an act of the state constitution. We need to redefine suburb and exurb. We need more meaningful historic preservation and land preservation with built-in components to make it more attractive so that more people are interested in doing it.
This isn’t my job to do this. I am a curtain raiser, and I am once again drawing attention to this very important issue. We live in a beautiful place that is not that far off of being completely ruined forever. And those of us who come from the Main Line can tell you all about that because once upon a time the Main Line was truly beautiful and somewhat magical with amazing homes and properties. Now it’s just a suburb with too many people with misplaced senses of entitlement.
And that suburban sprawl continues to move west, or should I say march west because it’s not flowing, it’s attacking. Every time you turn around there’s another development planned. Or land getting gobbled up now by things like data centers and worse which we don’t know enough about here in this area, but in other areas of the country they’re fighting tooth and nail to get these things out of their communities.
We also don’t have to scream to be heard. When we scream we’re no better than those people that annoy the crap out of us at every school board meeting because they are undoubtedly uncomfortable with their own sexuality, so everything they perceive as different, is bad.
Anyway, it’s not just t-shirts and post cards and endless lawn signs that are going to bring us change. It’s involvement in our communities. And it’s consistent involvement, not involvement when the horses are out of the proverbial barn and nothing can be done.
Since the onset of Covid we have the ability in a lot of places for hybrid meetings. They are both virtual and in person. And most meetings are recorded now, and if you are in a municipality that does not record their meetings, start there. You have a right to have your meetings recorded, and/or you have the right to record the meetings in their entirety and broadcast them on YouTube or Facebook live or whatever.
I think the beauty and character and history of this county are worth preserving. That’s all I have to say. But people have to be willing to get involved and stay involved.
I am a realist. Not every old house can be saved, not every old farm can be saved. But I think as an extended group of communities, we can ask better of our elected officials all the way to Washington DC when it comes to this. But we all have to put the political BS aside and try.
Oakwell. 1735 County Line Road, Villanova, PA. Originally part of Stoneleigh…..
I wrote briefly about Oakwell at the beginning of this year. I wasn’t going to care. I don’t live in Lower Merion any longer, so why should I care? Then a friend sent me photos. She had gone on an impromptu tour of the grounds, and met Dr. Bennett who is the man who first was selling to Villanova, then Lower Merion School District had it’s greedy paws out.
But then down the rabbit hole I went because a friend was there this weekend and sent me photos.
It started with the tea house. Such a folly. I had seen photos of them in Victorian estates. And then I saw the life size terra cotta warrior. A Chinese warrior. I find the Chinese terra cotta warriors fascinating. I have a small replica of one. (Check out the Smithsonian article HERE on them.) I have only seen life size ones in this area one other time: a few years ago for sale at Resellers Consignment Gallery in Frazer.
Then I read some fun history the Save Oakwell folks have dug up:
1921 Olmsted Brothers map of Stoneleigh property that become Oakwell in 1922: Greenhouse Complex, Superintendent’s Cottage, Squirrel Inn dormitory for women in the gardening and horticultural training program. White oak indicated in red box. Source NPS Olmsted Archives, Job #3577
In 1919, William Bodine was making preparations to build his new house on a portion of his father’s Stoneleigh estate, a property that came to be known as Oakwell in 1922. The famed Olmsted Brothers firm had been Stoneleigh’s landscape architects since 1908, and there are hundreds of pages of their records for both properties accessible in the Library of Congress and the National Park System’s Olmsted Archives showing the level of expertise and thought that went into the stewardship of this place through the 1950s.
What was Olmsted Brothers’ main concern when it came to placement of the new house and driveway along County Line Road? Almost 103 years ago to this day, this telegram to their client William Bodine, along with other correspondence, shows that their main concern was situating these structures in order to “save trees.”
~ Erin Vintinner Betley “Save Oakwell” Facebook Group
Friday May 23, 1919 was a busy day for Stoneleigh’s Eleanor Gray Warden Bodine.
Bryn Mawr College was hosting the 5th Annual Conference of the Woman’s National Farm and Garden Association. As an association member, Mrs. Bodine listened to talks on topics ranging from War Gardens to Community Gardens to the Woman’s Land Army.
Two years later, an article in House & Garden titled “Consider the Gardener” again shone a public spotlight on this program for training of young women, “offered by Mrs. Samuel T. Bodine of Villa Nova, Pa whose extensive estate and eminent superintendent-gardener, Mr. Alexander MacLeod, have formed an exceptional combination.”
After the program, the conference attendees toured 4 nearby farms & gardens, with Stoneleigh the last stop of the day. Eleanor Bodine would have welcomed attendees to view Stoneleigh’s magnificent gardens at the front of the property but given the interests of the membership, the back of the property likely would have been center stage. For this is where Mrs. Bodine and her superintendent Alexander MacLeod hosted an innovative gardening and horticultural training program for women, centered on a greenhouse complex and Superintendent’s Cottage designed by noted architect Frank Miles Day sometime before 1903 (both structures became part of her son William Bodine’s Oakwell after 1922). The women in the program lived in a dormitory they named “Squirrel Inn,” built specifically for them by the Bodine family, near the sprawling fruit and vegetable gardens where they spent their days (these were Victory gardens during WWI).
The article focused on the need to foster the interest of more young people in gardening and horticulture, with these lines that resonate 101 years later: “nature study classes and school gardens are awakening special powers of observation and emphasizing the practical value of patience and diligent perseverance…. public and private enterprise must combine to throw searchlights on the path to be chosen, revealing the mysteries of science related to horticulture [because] even soil… teems with history, science, poetry and religion.”
~ Erin Vintinner Betley “Save Oakwell” Facebook Group
So Oakwell. Was (again) literally once part of Stoneleigh. Stoneleigh as in the house was built in 1877 by Edmund Smith, a Pennsylvania Railroad executive. Pennsylvania Railroad money built a lot of the Main Line of a certain period, didn’t it? When the Bodines acquired the estate, in the early part of the 20th century, what is now Oakwell and Oakwell land was gifted to William Bodine. William Bodine’s house “Oakwell” was built in 1922. In 1932, it was subdivided off of Stoneleigh.
So Stoneleigh survived, was donated by the Haas family to Natural Lands, yet Oakwell, which is a place that should be part of a similar preservation and conservation conversation is at risk. It is fascinating that there has not been more noise about this. Maybe people are just tired of Lower Merion School District taking properties or causing reassessments and increases in taxes. The Lower Merion School District is a greedy behemoth and I don’t think those in the administration have ever cared about other that what can be gotten in the name of the school district.
Ok yes, a lot of this is memories of days gone by, but properties like Oakwell? Legendary. Why shouldn’t a place like Oakwell live on with an adaptive reuse? The gardens although a wreck, are all still there! The tree are amazing. There is literally a small oak forest. And all of this is supposed to be flattened for TURF fields? For MIDDLE SCHOOLERS, no less? Is this an actual need, or a want?
Hidden City Philadelphia wrote an amazing article a couple of days ago. The talk about Oakwell being a historical resource. I will remind people this is Lower Merion Township and I watched Addison Mizner’s La Ronda get demolished. Being a historic asset may buy some time, but we live in a private property rights state, so it can sadly only delay the inevitable. And Lower Merion needs to pay more mind to demolition by neglect, in my humble opinion.
Here is an excerpt:
….The Oakwell estate’s current resident, Dr. John Bennett, founder and CEO of Devon Medical Products, has lived there for 25 years. He intended to sell the sprawling estate to Villanova University to be used as a retreat. However, in December 2018 the school district elbowed out Villanova and voted in favor of condemning Bennett’s property.
This is not how the school district sees it. “After a long search, the school district paid more than $12.9 million for the contiguous properties, which had both been offered for sale by their owners, for use as playing fields for Black Rock Middle School,” said Amy Buckman, director of school and community relations for Lower Merion School District.
Bennett disagrees. “I had the property under agreement with Villanova and, just prior to closing, the school district took it by eminent domain,” he said. “I didn’t want to see it go to baseball fields, destroying the ecological setting we have here. I went to court to fight them and lost. It’s a travesty.” The school district paid Bennett $9.95 million for the property.
“I offered to remain on the property to care for the house, but they want me gone so they can claim that it is abandoned, allow it to deteriorate, and tear it down.” Bennett has kept the entirety of the estate well maintained and still lives there with his daughter and grandchild.
The day that LMSD condemned 1835 County Line Road allowing it to be taken by Eminent Domain, the property was effectively titled to the LMSD. The only option available to the owners to get their property back is to fight a legal battle in court.
Lower Merion Township, PA — Fraud, collusion, and bad faith are alleged in court documents filed on February 7, 2018, by attorney Michael F. Faherty on behalf of his clients, township residents John A. Bennett, M.D. and Nance Di Rocco who are in a legal battle over the taking of their property by the Lower Merion School District.
How was Stoneleigh able to block the school district, while the historic landscaping, Acorn Cottage, and horticultural structures of the Oakwell estate, originally part of Stoneleigh, at risk? “When the historic resource inventory survey was conducted in the late 1990s, the greenhouse buildings were overlooked. However, this parcel is historically associated with the Stoneleigh estate and warrants similar protections,” said Kathleen Abplanalp. director of historic preservation at the Lower Merion Conservancy.
“From the very beginning, the entire 13-acre property has fit into our mission goals for historic preservation, open space preservation, the health of the local watershed, and sustainability,” Abplanalp said. “We are vehemently opposed to the current plan and hope the school district will compromise some of their programmatic needs.”
Erin Betley, a conservation biologist who lives in Lower Merion, views the pending destruction of the estate’s landscaping and historically significant structures like the greenhouse complex as lost opportunity. “Oakwell’s intact landscape provides a hands-on educational opportunity for our children, and our community, to learn about ecology, conservation, environmental science, gardening, sustainability, history, natural history, historical preservation, and more,” she said. “Historical records reveal that Stoneleigh’s greenhouse complex and fruit and vegetable gardens were educational spaces for young women during and after WWI, where they gained practical training in gardening while also feeding the community. I hope this can be viewed as a chance for this valuable place to come full circle and used in a way that takes inspiration from our collective past to inform our collective future”…A single mature oak tree can consume more than 40,000 gallons of water a year. Where will all that water go when the Oakwell estate’s trees are gone?
Doug Tallamy, a conservationist, author, and professor of agriculture and entomology at the University of Delaware, agrees. “If you replace a forest with a lawn, you are generating run off,” he said. Tallamy was involved with preserving Stoneleigh. His message to the school district? “Find another place without cutting down hundreds of trees.”
I am a huge fan of Doug Tallamy, own his books, have heard him lecture a few times now. I also live with a woods full of oak trees. I love them. I am attached to my woods and the creatures and plants in them, much like the folks who live around Oakwell.
This property would be better suited as a retreat, which is I think what I heard Villanova wanted to do with the property.
And not to skip around but is all of this crap being done by Lower Merion School District going to cost Lower Merion Township big time when it comes to public works, police, fire, EMTs? So when will they have to put in another firehouse and where exactly?
Here are some links which I saw on Save Oakwell which some of you might find of interest:
What do I think? I am not sure as on one hand, this is such a complex tale that I do not know if we will ever know the whole story. BUT on the other hand I am so tired of major properties being demolished and I am definitely of the school of thought that Lower Merion School District need to be stopped. After all, #thisplacematters and has anyone gone to the National Trust for Historic Preservation yet?
And let’s talk about the trees. 500 as in FIVE HUNDRED. Yes, that is the destruction number. That makes me want to throw up.
Isn’t it time to curb the rabid dog of destruction that is Lower Merion School District? From the historic preservation aspects to land and environmental preservation aspects, sadly Oakwell has it all going on. Yet people are being too damn quiet about this. Natural Lands needs to speak up. Hell, they know what it is to have to fight Lower Merion School District over eminent domain and also, the eco system that is their Stoneleigh will be threatened and altered and affected irrevocably if the mass destruction of Oakwell succeeds. Natural Lands speaking up now is very important, and I don’t quite get their silence, do you?
Oakwell need a reprieve. But more people need to care. Not enough people seem to care or are willing to stick their necks out. I really wish that someone would sit down at Oakwell with people who had lived there, or whose family has lived there and film an oral history. Well that should have happened before I think. And where are elected officials on this? Not just statements of Lower Merion Commissioner, but State Reps, State Senators, Congressional representatives, etc? County Commissioners? State environmentalists?
Where. Is. The. Really. LOUD. Public. Outcry?? And more media or do they only cover bad politicians and crime in Philadelphia?
People. We need to save the region’s history. That includes gardens too. Trees. Houses. Tea Houses. I don’t have the answers. God I wish I did. But if we allow this to happen, in the end we will all be sorry. And I have to ask, is Radnor Township asleep here? Their township is quite literally across County Line Road. Radnor residents will be affected too. One would think the Radnor CONservancy might feign an interest, but that would mean getting out of their bubble, right?
Oakwell needs some big hitter angels, do any exist for this property? Why is it in other areas of the country, properties like this are revered and preserved?
RANT ALERT. If you don’t want to hear it, turn away now.
Traveling back from whence I came, or visiting issues in Lower Merion Township is always amusing albeit somewhat disturbing to always be amazed at the blind devotion to Lower Merion School District especially when once again they are doing something destructive.
The comments from the blind faithful THIS time are over Lower Merion School Board plans to bulldoze a beautiful swath of woodland unnecessarily is truly something which will take your breath away. I am not giving those comments air time because they are always the same thing: when it is distilled and boiled down, Lower Merion School District is perfect.
If you disagree with Lower Merion School District cheerleaders no matter what they are trying to do you are at a minimum a bad person. Or you are NIMBY, which doesn’t apply unless it’s in your neighborhood and even then it is just a knee jerk pejorative term most of the time. These folks want to drive their status symbol green friendly Teslas, but when it comes to actually doing better the environment in other ways, or even just preserving an area to keep a bit of charm, that is far too inconvenient.
And OMG you would think Lower Merion School District was in dire peril if they don’t get their way every single time.
MISPLACED SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT. Lots of school districts excel and thrive on far, far less.
No Lower Merion School District is not perfect and it has decades of issues to prove that. And no I don’t think highly of them.
And Lower Merion Township has contributed to issues surrounding Lower Merion School District vis a vis development. Sure they are separate entities autonomous from one and other, yet they have a weird codependency since what they do as individual entities affects the other. And when you overdevelop and they come, it overcrowds the school district, correct?
A few years ago now, Lower Merion School District had a failed attempt to seize land from Stoneleigh, the 100% preserved property donated by the Haas family to Natural Lands to remain preserved in perpetuity for people (and nature) to enjoy.
Then when Lower Merion Township School District couldn’t get their greedy paws on Stoneleigh, they acquired the old Clothier Estate and it was happy bulldozing. Oh and I forgot, before they attempted to get Stoneleigh, there was that whole situation where they made a play to take Ashbridge Park. Yes a park.
So then there was the whole thing of they still need more land and that old disco song “More, More, More” comes to mind because with Lower Merion School District more, more, more is always their mantra. Nothing is ever enough.
As a school district they could have sent representatives to Lower Merion Township for years to express concern over infill development, but they didn’t. And once upon a time, they had other schools, that they closed. They closed Ardmore Junior High School around 1978, they let the Ardmore Avenue School (elementary) rot and eventually closed it (that caused redistricting back then didn’t it although it was also integration?) they closed Bryn Mawr Elementary School, and the Wynnewood Road Elementary School.
So in my humble opinion, Lower Merion School District has always had issues and always been a crappy neighbor. In the vein of that opinion, their still current and fractured relationship with neighbors over field lights at Arnold Field. And remember redistricting again in the not too recent past and the case Students Doe v. Lower Merion School District which made it to the U.S. Supreme Court although it was not heard?
So back to Villanova where the new middle school with the stupid name that means nothing but could have meant something if they had bent their absurd rigidity and allow it to be named after beloved educator, Sean Hughes. Anyway, Lower Merion swoops in and elbows out Villanova University using eminent domain once again to get 13.4 acres on adjacent sites to Stoneleigh at 1800 West Montgomery Ave. and 1835 County Line Rd.
Oakwell. 13 acres of old growth woods and heritage trees, mostly majestic oak trees. HUNDREDS of them. This property was in play for a while and I believe the former owners just dangled a juicy carrot until they had enough people salivating. First it was Villanova University (which would have been just as bad owning this property in my opinion.) But you know Lower Merion School District and their favorite billy club of eminent domain, right?
So now it is to be turf field city, the hell with trees and species like the great horned owl which remarkably DOES live there? This is also still a threat to Stoneleigh in my humble opinion. This is also an enormous environmental threat to the entire area and will affect not only Lower Merion Township residents, but Radnor Township residents who literally are on the other side of terribly narrow County Line Road. And of course one can’t help but wonder, does a new school mean the need for another outpost for first responders? Where would THAT go if so?
This is post is truthfully an addendum to a last-minute call to arms the other day for anyone who grew up in Lower Merion Township or lives there still today.
Please continue to send emails telling the Lower Merion School District to NOT bulldoze down many acres of a pristine old growth oak forest. They want to destroy a valuable natural resource that will affect Stoneleigh immediately adjacent, and neighbors in Lower Merion Township and Radnor Township just so middle schoolers can have a few turf fields.
FLOOD THEIR EMAIL!
I hate to sound as old as dirt but we had plain old grass fields and survived quite nicely. It’s middle school. Of course ironically it’s also the place in school where they teach or used to teach earth science and this property is like a giant living earth science lab complete with great horned owls.
The school board keep trying to do an end run around neighbors who want to have a zoning hearing board meeting on this issue. I think it behooves all of us to support the neighbors and environmentalists on the front lines of this issue.
This property they acquired adjacent to Stoneleigh is irreplaceably special. It has mature woodlands with all sorts of flora and fauna species as well as the oaks. Those old growth oaks in particular are extraordinarily valuable, and not just monetarily. They are also heritage trees.
This property has been evaluated by experts and it is a treasure trove of species. It is home to many, many migratory birds, etc.
Here is whom you address your email to (and YES include LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP):
The zoning meeting got cancelled on this topic this week. It is rescheduled. Do not know exact date. Including Lower Merion Township in your email will probably be the only response you get. And it will be from the current Township Secretary and it will be terse and may even feel somewhat rude, but you have put your sentiments on the record which is important in any issue. Don’t expect great things from the Township Manager, Ernie McNeely, and if you don’t believe me just ask folks in West Chester Borough where he came from before he became socially upwardly mobile and moved to Lower Merion, right?
By all accounts, Lower Merion School District finally has a decent superintendent. But he inherited a legacy of bad decisions and bad apples in my humble opinion. This was set into motion by the previous superintendent who was even worse than the one he succeeded.
Middle school kids can play just fine on grass fields and the new middle school has field space too. They could have fields on this latest seized property and save the woodlands. Saving those woodlands gives them opportunities from other than turf fields. Kids could learn from actual nature, not what is projected on a screen as they sit growing like mushrooms while they are looking at their phones anyway. Nature gives kids room to be kids.
Middle school kids aren’t competing for the Heisman Trophy or Soccer World Cup, maybe less playing fields and letting kids still be kids at that age would be more productive? But then the soccer moms and dads in their expensive athleisure wouldn’t be able to drive their giant gas guzzling or environmentally appropriate SUVs through the Starbucks drive thru with casual disregard for other drivers and pedestrians only to scream and yell at the side of a field and because it’s Lower Merion expect others to clean up their Starbucks cups, right?
Hell yea I am on a rant. This is ridiculous. I don’t always agree with Lower Merion resident Phil Browndeis, but his thoughts posted with his video shared above, struck a chord:
This is the last winter for a stand of old growth trees in Lower Merion. The Lower Merion School District plans to clear cut the trees to build new athletic fields for the new middle school. So much for carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat and all the other good that trees provide us.
Lower Merion Township is facing a great challenge which must be addressed with urgency: the Township is under tremendous development pressure which is being allowed to continue under old building and development and land use codes that do not protect and preserve the Township’s shrinking remaining environmental assets. This is a matter of grave concern: our tree canopy is under attack. Our waterways, already polluted, are being further compromised. Our cost to correct the adverse impacts of this type of development may greatly exceed whatever short term benefits may be derived.
An environmental tragedy is unfolding. Over 482 trees over 6” in diameter (which probably understates the number of mature trees) including 26 giant oaks, a magnificent oak savannah, and a densely treed mature woodland are slated for removal according to a proposal before the Township for their approval. It would be hard for this proposal to be enacted under the current zoning code, but this proposal is sadly grandfathered under old rules.
Due to an unfortunate set of events that occurred a few years ago, a wooded parcel was acquired by the School District for playing field development. This parcel is located at 1800 Montgomery Avenue and 1835 County Line Rd in Villanova. The plan involves an almost complete deforestation of the parcel including a clearcutting of vast swaths of trees. Neighbors say it is a stopover for migrating birds including snowy owls.
At the same time that this project is moving forward, the Township is in a planning process to write and implement a Sustainability/Greenhouse Gas Reduction plan and is considering adopting a Net Zero Carbon Emission resolution. The destruction of the woodland would be a self-inflicted wound making it far more difficult and costly to achieve the sustainability and carbon reduction we so desperately need. In addition, the children cannot walk to the proposed playing fields. They will have to be bussed. So we hope another site could be equally viable.
We are simply asking the Township authorities and the School district to work together to exhaustively and completely explore all other options. We must be stewards for our children and our children’s children. We can do the right thing, its not too late.
I don’t hold out great hope here, I am a realist and this school district is always selfish and so are the majority of their narcissistic blind faith devotees. However, you just don’t know and if we can save these woods, it is so crucially important to the are and to nature herself.
Thanks for allowing the rant, you know I love my oak trees and owls and woodpeckers and other critters. Visit Save Oakwell Sister to Stoneleigh on Facebook to keep up with what is happening. I guess I am a tree hugger after a fashion. And I definitely don’t agree with yet another bad plan by Lower Merion School District.
Maybe this in the end is just another Don Quixote tilting at windmills issue, but I still think it is something to talk about, and why not object to the plan? After all WHY couldn’t they preserve these woods and use other open space on property for fields? Why CAN’T they be part progress part preservationist? These trees are actually important and I am completely unapologetic to those who cannot see that.
