Category Archives: historic preservation

to air bnb or to bnb in chadds ford…that is the question

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Chadds Ford, PA is actually Delaware County, PA but to me has always felt more Chesco than Delco. Chadds Ford has beautiful twisty roads, some gems of homes and estates, and used to be quite understated. I say used to be, because like every other slice of heaven between Devon and Wilmington….there is development.

Anyway in April, 2024 an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer by a reporter whom I respect and follow caught my eye:

Owners of a Chadds Ford home once owned by the du Ponts have been fined $17,000 for renting through Airbnb

Short-term rentals remain a thorny issue for many towns.

by Frank Kummer

Published April 9, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET

Well…noise travels, doesn’t it?

Then the Philadelphia Inquirer had another article in the form of a newsletter in the same month of April, 2024. By another reporter I follow:

Real Estate

$17,000 in fines for renting estate as Airbnb | Real Estate Newsletter

And ‘million-dollar’ Pa. communities.

by Michaelle Bond

Published April 11, 2024, 6:20 a.m. ET

Smithbridge goes to court novDownload

So it looks like Smithbridge Partners (or maybe their lawyers since do we think the owners will go to court?) has put off their court date until after their zoning hearing board hearing event which looks like October 22? Now zoning hearing was put off from September, correct? When I last looked they were supposed to go to court this week on the fine stuff, and now the dockets read November?

And what is it to be at zoning October 22nd? If it reads like September 4th which was postponed it will be “1465 Smithbridge Road – Appeal of Zoning Code Enforcement/Variance to operate B & B”?

So are the owners going to be ON PREMISES to run a B&B AKA Bed and Breakfast Inn? It’s kind of 24/7/365 as I have known people who have operated B&Bs and one who still does? As a matter of fact, one person I know operates a B&B in PA and has a separate Air BnB in another state which is professionally run by a real estate company with strict rules.

So how come that Air BnB became such a mess? Did the property owners think neighbors would just give up their personal reasonable expectations of quiet enjoyment for the profit of others? I mean if there is the money to do things right, why not do just that?

https://delco.today/2024/04/chadds-ford-airbnb-citations

https://www.suburbanrealtorsalliance.com/news/2024/04/12/delaware-county/chadds-ford-fines-owners-of-former-du-pont-home-17k-for-renting-through-airbnb

https://www.the-sun.com/news/11049874/fined-17k-after-renting-home-airbnb

So would you want to be known as the people who purchased part of a former Du Pont property and then was all over media for this? Supposedly, these folks own about 400 acres of land in Chadds Ford between Smithbridge and Ridge Roads? Below is what I found on various properties under or affiliated with this entity:

Now with regard to the Air BnB at 1465 Smithbridge Road I have to ask, what is currently going on? Is it now empty or is it still being rented out as an Air BnB? Another wrinkle is a conservation easement on the property perhaps? It is (and already was when they bought it) under conservation easement with Brandywine Conservancy, correct? The easement states, “No industrial or commercial activities shall be conducted or permitted on the Property, with the exception of agricultural and livestock activities.” The conservation easement is copied below.

1465Easement copyDownload

How is either an Air BnB or a B&B not a commercial activity? What does the esteemed Brandywine Conservancy say about this? And if there is an easement, can you use the easement as in is there a trail? if so, is it maintained and by whom? I ask not because I know anything suspect, I ask because we have all heard of properties out here with conservation easements and I am guessing someone does maintenance so they can be used the way they are supposed to be used, right?

So the Air BnB of it all got a cease and desist letter in 2023:

Violation_Letter 2023-04-11Download

So what is the end game with the thing going to zoning later this month about being a Bed and Breakfast? Is this just to wiggle a door back to Air BnB? And given the other properties they own are any of them regular rentals? If so why can’t 1465 Smithbridge just be that? Or don’t they have any relatives who could live there and just let it be a normal property in a beautiful area with a conservation easement? And again where is the Brandywine Conservancy on this?

Now I asked around to those who know more than I and they came back with a famous court case that seems similar. There’s is interesting and relevant legal precedent for this case. The “Slice of Life” case was heard by the PA Supreme Court in December of 2018.

In its opinion, the Court concluded that even though the applicable zoning ordinance did not specifically prohibit the short-term rental of residential homes, such use was nonetheless prohibited. The Court stated that prohibited uses of real property do not have to be expressly excluded on a zoning ordinance.

The critical inquiry for the PA Supreme Court was the interpretation of the term “single housekeeping unit.” Past court decisions in PA have consistently applied this functional standard in its analysis to cases with similar facts. For example, courts have allowed the use of a residential home by a homeowner to provide lodging, meals, and care to physically and mentally disabled persons in their home. Conversely, courts have determined, under the same standard, that a residential home is not allowed to be used as a half-way house or a group home for foster children. These decisions turned on the fact that the average stay at a halfway house (2-6 months) and at a group home was too short to be compatible with the single-family concept.

Slice of LifeDownload

Now the Slice of Life of it all came up again in a New York Times article this past spring about a community in the Poconos. I have been to one of the fancier of the cabins/lake of it all communities up there years ago now. It was beautiful and closely held to keep out short term rental issues. It was so beautiful and natural. It was a delight. And tiny Medford Lakes, NJ has legislated against Air BnB type short term rentals in their community to preserve it’s character.

Here is the New York Times article:

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO READ

Air BnB rentals have created controversy in all sorts of communities in Southeastern PA, and in Chester County I can think of West Vincent and Willistown and West Chester Borough. I still do not know who is on first where.

Now one of the other properties these Smithbridge People own is of interest to me. And octagonal house.

https://chaddsfordlive.com/2023/02/07/from-a-schoolhouse-to-church-to-a-home

Has anyone been by this lately? What’s the current condition? Now that could make a great long term cottage rental couldn’t it?

I don’t really have much else to say on the topic. I definitely don’t have a horse in the race, except I have to say while I would not mind a traditional actual owner operated Bed and Breakfast Inn in my neighborhood, I can say the big old no to the Air BnB of it all.

This is still a situation to watch. I will be curious what happens to 1465 Smithbridge and the cool little octagonal house.

Thoughts?

back to lloyd farm and caln township. crucial meeting this thursday, september 26th.

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One photo is what Lloyd Farm in Caln used to look like – Next to it is today.

Main Line Health is interested in putting medical on PART of the property. I foolishly thought that they would carve off their part and do their thing and leave the Lloyd Farmhouse and land intact but that was just wishful thinking I guess?

More dirty deeds done dirt cheap on the part of the developer who has sat on this property??? And this was part of yet ANOTHER Penn Land grant and they have allowed an 18th century farmhouse to rot and be destroyed by vandals, and then there is the part Caln Township has played in this, right? Legally the house should have been secured, right? The township should have been on top of this right? The township should have been looking for a better solution, right?

Yeah, not so much, right?

The planned MOB (Medical Office Building) will be 4 stories high and residents say changing zoning from R4 that permits medical but also commercial? Residents fear the property owner / developer will come next with apartments or offices and get all of this and the house will be taken down? There’s a story behind all this isn’t there? There is always a story and as always with Caln there is zero transparency and mostly murky, right?

But hey Commissioner Lorraine Tindaro can live in her little house of hoarders and they at Caln look the other way right? Do any of those commissioners out there have clean hands? (HINT: buy them soap for their holiday gifts perhaps?)

Residents are further concerned that more is afoot. They say look at the proposal. They say it is very oddly drawn and interferes with the extension of GO Carlson Blvd to Rock Raymond Road that PennDot is doing for their expansion of 30 bypass? Its suspicious because they couldn’t explain it and why couldn’t it be explained? Does developer landowner have a secret pan?

GO Carlson Blvd is a road that runs parallel to Business 30 East to West. Lloyd will be cut off and the entrance moved to Rock Raymond Road and Rt 322/Manor Avenue and no one can explain that? Why???

The answer is it’s always fishy in Caln, right ?

GO TO THE SUPERVISORS MEETING! CALL YOUR FRIENDS AND REPORTERS.

And to be clear: if medical use was merely being carved out and the balance of the property was being carved out and house saved that would be different, but once again residents are waiting for the hidden shoe to drop in Caln once again. And if this is all true how cruel is it to use much needed medical in this part of the county as a Trojan horse for more development that no one needs on the rest of Lloyd Farm?

Caln Board of Commissioners Meeting is Thursday, September 26th 2024. 6 PM.

The notice on the township website starts with their projected end time of the meeting. I think that is done on purpose to confuse. The meeting starts at 6 PM. Show up a little earlier and get a good seat.

Bring your pitchfork. Actually kidding on the pitchfork, just SHOW UP. You seriously need to rally and pack the meeting.

Caln Municipal Building is 253 Municipal Drive in Thorndale.

If you care, show up. No excuses, no one knows if this will be it or not so no meeting skipping you have to show up if you care. No one likes to make the time for this stuff but if you live out there and you care or your historic preservationist and you care, show up.

https://www.calntownship.org/board-of-commissioners.html

tsk tsk limerick….hood mansion….human remains….data center plans???

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It’s time to drag out that AC/DC song again:

I just don’t pretend to understand what’s going on. Just when you think it can’t get any more twisted and insane over at the Historic Hood Mansion in Limerick, it just does.

A little while ago I wrote about how Hood Mansion was facing destruction from warehouses, End it seems that according to Limerick’s zoning officer, Greta Martin Washington, data centers are a form of warehouse, so was this the plan all along?

So why the switcheroo of what was previously being built versus now? I mean OK if the zoning says a data center is a kind of a warehouse and then they put that in a public notice that might possibly be the letter of the law, but is it the spirit of the law and does the spirit matter at all here?

So I have to ask with everything else Hood Mansion, did it come up at Limerick supervisor meetings? And since human remains were found there, what about them? Limerick seems a little bit shrouded in mystery and cloudy days, so I’m asking the questions. It’s another Nancy Drew mystery, right? Needs sunshine?

What is also with Nancy Drew mystery with Limerick Township are their agendas and their meetings because I don’t really see them talking about this unless I’m not looking in the right place? Again did the change get discussed at a public meeting or just in the notice filed in itty bitty print that no one reads?

Always read the fine print. It’s exhausting.

Yes, warehouses were bad enough right? It’s a historic site and it may quite probably have been on the underground railroad, and they recently found human remains right? So now it’s not mega warehouses, it’s mega data center time?

Gosh Limerick Township, that’s very Louden County, Virginia of you.

Yeah, I’ve written about data centers before. Here are the posts:

https://chestercountyramblings.com/2023/02/25/say-no-to-data-centers-and-a-new-power-plant-at-exton-park
and now an (official) word from east whiteland about data centers…and the media coverage (thus far)
another bite at the apple in west whiteland township?
a victory for residents in west whiteland….for now

I’ve also written about Hood Mansion before.

warehouses proposed at a historic site…in limerick, montgomery county…crucial public meeting tuesday, september 19.
random thoughts before an ophelia weekend

The media has spoken about Hood Mansion quite a bit…

Urban Explorers love Hood too:

https://www.phillyvoice.com/hood-manison-limerick-preservation-free-moved-historic/

And it’s also about the public notice:

https://www.publicnoticepa.com/Details.aspx?SID=ugtmfnusypjrkj4hq0uholrv&ID=1864474

Was this discussed in a meeting in Limerick as well? I know I’m becoming repetitive, but I’m just so curious as to how this all came about, or if this was the plan all along?

And people would ask why data centers? Will data centers get along very nicely apparently with nuclear power plants, correct? And isn’t Limerick literally like down the road across the road across the street or something?

And what made me think of that? A little Googling – I found this thing from May in Data Center Dynamics:

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/aws-granted-1600-acre-rezoning-request-plans-15-building-campus-at-pennsylvania-nuclear-site/

AWS granted 1,600-acre rezoning request, plans 15-building campus at Pennsylvania nuclear site

Company going big at nuclear site acquired from Talen

It’s a pretty big article and it’s fairly interesting. I would suggest people read it because it’s a road map isn’t it? Aso basically, it’s like these people want to do this in Limerick right? They knock down the Hood Mansion they don’t care about the human remains or the history and they build a data center and they’re across the street from Limerick or whatever, right?

And don’t forget data centers also go hand-in-hand with those lovely hydrogen plants don’t they? We learned that in West Whiteland didn’t we? MACH 2 Hydrogen Hub anyone?

If you’re interested in that, check out this Delaware Riverkeeper video :

I will close by suggesting everyone read what’s below from this August- It’s a big long article I’ve taken a big old excerpt, but go to the source and read the whole thing. I think this is the game plan. Of course, I have no proof and I also have no inside information. It just seems to make sense because there’s a nuclear power plant at Limerick and then there’s the Hood Mansion and they want to put a data center form there now, so has this just been hiding in plain sight all along?

Time will tell and all of the people who live in that area of Montgomery County need to wake up, not just a historic preservation types who want to save old structures like Hood.

There’s a big picture here. Lots o’ money in data centers and things data centers love and interact with right?

Don’t forget Louden County Virginia – down there those residents in those developments next to data centers can tell you how noisy they are. There are tons of articles.

Sigh. Here comes a data center circus.

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/virginias-loudoun-county-to-remove-data-centers-as-by-right-use/

https://virginiamercury.com/2024/05/28/virginia-explained-data-center-expansion-with-all-its-challenges-and-benefits/

https://www.loudounnow.com/news/concern-grows-over-data-centers-power-lines-in-loudoun/article_29255f7a-ba1e-11ee-b337-0b0f125b94a9.html

https://www.bayjournal.com/news/energy/energy-demands-for-northern-virginia-data-centers-almost-too-big-to-compute/article_d64ab388-2cb7-11ef-a753-4ffcc056f619.html

https://virginiamercury.com/2022/12/09/virginia-has-a-data-center-problem/

https://wapo.st/3ZuPOos

https://wapo.st/3TzZKJI

https://protectpwc.org/2024/04/17/washington-post-internet-data-centers-are-fueling-drive-to-old-power-source-coal/

Something really does smell like dead rotting fish in Limerick, PA doesn’t it?

And my opinions are bought to you courtesy of the First Amendment

https://spectrum.ieee.org/amazon-data-center-nuclear-power

chester county views

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We live here….not developers.

We need to stand up for our communities.

No one will do it for us.

#downwithdevelopment

hey saguache county, colorado why not leave little villa grove alone? they don’t want a giant cell phone tower and why won’t county officials talk to a denver tv station if this is all above board?

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Villa Grove, CO

I’m rambling west for something that interests me. And it has nothing to do with Pennsylvania or Chester County Pennsylvania.

Today, I am taking my readers to a place I have never been but want to see some day. It’s a place where it is literally one of the last great open spaces of this country in the American west. It’s in a state where a few Pennsylvanians I know have settled. Including in some of the historic parts like Fort Collins and Villa Grove and elsewhere. Some came for the larger suburbs near Denver, other near resorts like Aspen. There are actually quite a few Pennsylvania ex-pats who call places in Colorado home that I can think of.

Someone I know in that part of the world sent me this story. Remarkably, a news station in Denver covered it. I say remarkably because this is Villa Grove, Colorado. In Saguache County. Population? According to my research literally like 260 – 300 people, but maybe only 30 full time residents. It’s a tiny frontier town 4.5 hours from Denver I believe so a news crew covering this is huge.

Residents in this tiny town don’t want an almost 200 foot cell phone tower taller than any tree a few hundred feet front where they live and less. Can you blame them? No one wants to live in the shadows of those wires here . Think of it as a giant abstract metal penis on a plain.

As Denver’s NBC affiliate Channel 9 news says:

VILLA GROVE, Colo. — Nearly a third of the full-time residents who live in the small town of Villa Grove in Saguache County are now suing county commissioners after the approval of a 195-foot-tall cell phone tower in town. The county wants to build a massive telecommunications tower right on the edge of town, just a few hundred feet from the few homes there are in the picturesque town outside of Salida. 

“Even our trees, which are the tallest things in town, are only about 60 feet,” said Paula Maez, one of the plaintiffs suing the county commissioners. “I’ve never sued anyone in my life, but I felt strongly enough about this that I stood up and will continue to stand up.”

Maez said there are only around 30 full-time residents in Villa Grove. There are no stoplights and only a handful of stores. Most people who live here have been here for decades…. “We recently had our Saguache County commissioners approve conditional land use for a cell phone tower that’s going in just to the northeast of here, basically right on top of our little town,” Maez said. “195 feet of metal monstrosity.”

Commissioners and the cell phone company both say that the tower would help with cell phone service in the rural area. However, the lawsuit hoping to stop the tower states it would only impact cell service within a five-mile area. 

9NEWS wanted to talk to the Saguache County Commissioners about why they approved the cell phone tower even after more the half the town showed up to commission meetings to speak out against it. Their attorney said they won’t be talking about it. 

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/next-with-kyle-clark/residents-villa-grove-sue-county-proposed-195-foot-tall-cell-phone-tower/73-ee21be1e-2704-4552-9b78-2544681092c6

So Saguache County, you don’t want to talk about it to the affected residents, media, or anyone else about a MAJOR decision to affect a small tight knit community that I bet you ignore as often as possible? Gosh, that’s so wonderful of you! (Yes, dripping sarcasm here.)

And this tower will have limited practical impact or value since it will only improve MAYBE a five mile radius?

Seriously ? Makes you ponder another question doesn’t it? Exactly WHO is getting paid WHAT to shove this cell tower in, Saguache County, CO?

Given this website (link right after this paragraph) I have to wonder since Villa Grove is an unincorporated town if this county is getting ready to tart the town up for their profit? It sounds very Yellowstone the TV series as a motive, but heck most things like this are about money, aren’t they?

Villa Grove has hot springs nearby they say, and beautiful vistas, why not fill the county coffers and make it super tourista, right? County profits? And I’m not saying that to be anti-progress, I’m saying that because progress that works needs resident input and participation. Duh.

https://crestonecreations.com/saguacheorg/towns/villagrove/index.html

So how did this tiny blip of a town that just wants to be as it is get its start?

Well as per Wikipedia:

The town of Garibaldi was established by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1870.[2] The town served as the southern terminus of the Rio Grande’s narrow-gauge Poncha Pass line from 1870 to 1890.[2] The town was named for Italian revolutionaryGiuseppe Garibaldi.[2] The Garibaldi Post Office opened on June 13, 1870.[5] The town’s name was changed to the less political Villa Grove on January 19, 1872.[5] The spelling of the town’s name was changed to Villagrove on October 12, 1894, and back to Villa Grove on July 1, 1950.[5]

http://www.townofsaguache.org/

Saguache County Colorado has issues if you dig around for articles, so maybe the thought that it is all about the money in the San Luis Valley is not so far fetched? And Villa Grove is considered the northern gateway to the San Luis Valley?

A couple of years ago there was a Live Nation music festival around Villa Grove called Seven Peaks Music Festival. Supposedly drew thousands of people to this tiny town? But then Dierks Bentley got fickle and moved it? Or does he always just move it around? Or was trendy Red Rocks his goal all along?

Seven Peaks music festival won’t return to Colorado’s San Luis Valley

But back to the county. Because anywhere you go in the US if a town has a problem, first problem stop is always the county, right?

The Crestone Eagle: Proceeding with caution in developing Saguache County

January 6, 2023

Well, that article makes you wonder doesn’t it but again I ask and it’s a pretty simple question: if an idyllic tiny frontier town in Colorado doesn’t want a cell phone tower in that town where else can I go? And is it really necessary RIGHT THERE?

And as is the case in any article in any paper across the country, politicians will talk a good game, but are they actually talking to and with their constituencies? It seems like in this case, the Saguache County commissioners here are merely ignoring these residents. If these are residents living there and paying taxes, why do they have to play mother May I with everything ?

And let’s talk about the natural beauty of the area as well as it being one of the last frontiers. I point out to you an article from 2009.

https://www.chieftain.com/story/lifestyle/2009/10/20/grave-images/8707984007/

Allow me to quote:

A Pennsylvania photographer is among the souls who’ve been branded by the high valley’s exquisite light.

Kathy Hettinga – who grew up in Alamosa and now is a professor of art at Messiah College near Harrisburg, Pa. – has returned to the San Luis Valley year after year, responding to its mystical lure and desolate beauty. She’s taken more than 10,000 photos in the valley’s historic cemeteries, recording the graves of generations of residents, some of them prosperous, most of them poor. She’s captured the plastic flowers, the plaster and enamel saints, the wood and metal and concrete crosses that mark the graves, and the churches that bear silent witness to the mortal comings and goings of the faithful.

A fraction of Hettinga’s 15 years worth of photos has been compiled into the book, “Grave Images: San Luis Valley.” She wrote the text and also helped design the book…. “I have a studio in Colorado (near Villa Grove). I still do consider the valley home,” Hettinga says during a phone interview. “I go there every summer and last year I was on sabbatical and spent a lot of time in the valley. I got to see the aspen and the beautiful light.

“The light in the San Luis Valley is really special: There’s the big sky, the 8,000-foot-elevation valley floor, the clear air – there’s a lot less atmosphere. Growing up, I loved it.

I think there’s a lot going on here. And I think, keeping a community the way the community wishes to be kept is not high on the priority list of Saguache County. To that end, they offer zoom meetings and I encourage nationwide media to attend it September 3 and anyone else who is interested in helping a small town preserve their way of life without a close to a 200 foot metal penis plunked in their town. Take a peek at their agendas and see how you can register. They can try to deny you but legally they cannot. It’s a public meeting.

https://saguachecounty.colorado.gov/

Saguache County Board of County Commissioners Agenda September 3, 2024

Saguache County Commissioners

Preliminary Agenda

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

Join Zoom Meeting 

Meeting ID: 823 7485 1681

Passcode: 793384

https://saguachecounty.colorado.gov/board-of-county-commissioners-agendas

Here is the information on the Saguache County Commissioners:

Commissioners 

Liza Marron – District 3 (Chair) 

Email: lmarron@saguachecounty-co.gov 

Phone: (719)-937-8423 

Lynne Thompson – District 2

Email: lthompson@saguachecounty-co.gov

Phone: (719)-221-1881 

Tom McCracken – District 1

Email: tmccracken@saguachecounty-co.gov 

Phone: (719)-221-1822 

Address 

501 4th Street 

P.O. Box 100 

Saguache, CO 81149

Phone: 719-655-2231

Fax: 719-655-0152

I searched the county website for Saguache and came up virtually empty as to information on this cell tower. I guess I’m just used to the websites around here that when you have a land use issue like that, the municipality or the county will have documents up that people can look at as to who wants to do what basically and where and how you provide input. I found mentions on one agenda, but I don’t find meeting recordings after the fact unless I’m not looking in the right place. Except, I don’t think this is the most sunshine, friendly county government is it?

I’m not quite getting the executive session on an issue that’s kind of public? Does the county on the land in this little town where the cell tower is going up?

As for the two LLCs mentioned – I didn’t find too much either, which is not unusual. There are LLCs all over the place.

Mountain Tower & Land LLC was founded in 2010 unless I Googled the wrong thing.

Industrial Tower West LLC has its own website: https://www.industrialtowerwest.com/

Googling Industrial Tower led me to this guy : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-becker-90204a20

Then I found this site which I guess shows where these folks put up towers:

https://towers.induscom.com/tower-site-locations

So that’s all I’ve got and this is literally a Nancy Drew mystery and it’s kind of concerning because this is the kind of thing that happens in more places than anyone wants to acknowledge. But I think a little frontier town in Colorado deserves a little sunshine here because this will affect their town and their properties and their way of life. And if people are saying yeah, we have cell phone service why do we have to have this giant tower? It makes a person wonder why the crickets as in political crickets as in no one is telling these people that are about to be directly affected much of anything? It’s only going to affect 5 mi.² or something than what is actually being planned for this area by that county?

People wonder where series like Yellowstone and 1923 and more get their inspiration. Isn’t the inspiration from life, history, current events?

So Taylor Sheridan? I think we have a new story for you. 👇 Yeah Villa Grove, Colorado why not contact him?

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brief update on 400 leopard road

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My photo earlier this month.

On July 31, 2024 the Chester County District Attorney’s office formerly charged Kathryn Calmus Frankel with arson after the July 23rd SECOND destructive fire at 400 Leopard Road in Berwyn, in Easttown Township. The FIRST destructive fire of May1st I guess is still under investigation? There have been no updates that I know of, do you?

News Release Women Charged with Arson in Easttown TownshipDownload
district attorney charges in 400 leopard road.

Now the preliminary hearing was scheduled in front of Magisterial District Justice Mackenzie W. Smith at his court on 1572 Paoli Pike in West Chester ORIGINALLY on August 5th. It has been CONTINUED to September 9th and she is represented by Joseph P. McMahon of Lancaster, PA.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v Kathryn Calmus FrankelDownload

I have no news on the actual house. I have driven by a few times since the July fire and it is surrounded by chain link fencing and is so sad to see. I do not know if it will ever rise from these ashes, and if they demolish it I hope people document that in photos. It is a great loss as a historic asset.

That’s you update, thanks for stopping by.

when all else fails, attack the blogger? really?

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I don’t know who this person is. Her social media Facebook profile says that she’s only here to keep up with her child’s school and Facebook marketplace and likes Downingtown STEM. Yet here she is sharing the love towards me? And apparently according to her I stalk people with larger followings than mine? Really? I am not an influencer earning money on clickbait or a compensated blogger, and the whole thing about followers is pretty much always amusing to me because I don’t get it. And I will also never get that how so many people who don’t know me, have never met me, and whom I don’t care to know can take so much time to actually hate me? And while they claim I am the big old hater, it’s ok for them to hate me? Pretzel logic, my favorite kind.

This person posted the above about me because I posted about what was happening over in Westtown on the blog’s Facebook page. And I’m not going be called hypocrite or anything else by them. They need to be reminded of the following:

  1. I shared a news item.
  2. I did not create the news item.
  3. I am not the architect of the crime.
  4. I actually don’t go near the place, except to occasionally go up and down 926 which means a drive by on a public road.

I should not be an adjacent topic to the news item, and even if I have reservations about the fauxmer over at Westtown, I would never ever condone what has happened inside that historic barn. It’s wrong. It’s disgusting.

My crime as it were is I had shared the news articles about what is going on at the old Pete’s Produce, now Farmer Jawn at Westtown. My other crime is I am not a fan of what I have seen over there since the new tenant moved in.

And again, no matter how sketchy I feel in my opinion the whole successor to Pete’s Produce is, when have I ever said or thought that disgusting hate symbols, vandalism, or graffiti were ok anywhere? You can answer or not answer, as you choose. The answer is the first day of never. I’ve covered all of these topics over the years.

Of course, this woman did not unfollow my blog’s Facebook page on her own, she was removed. They all announce when they come with their criticism and their nasty thoughts that they’re going to unfollow or some actually message me and tell me to do it for them, but they never do it on their own. That is one of the funniest things about Facebook, especially. Every day, someone in some group or on someone on some page announces their departure….and then sit there and lurk.

And being outraged that anyone would do this to a historic barn on a property owned by a Quaker school makes me a hypocrite? How? That’s ridiculous.

It’s like saying you are a racist because merely as a nanny nanny boo boo retort if you say something that makes them uncomfortable in their rainbow farting unicorn bubble of a world. I find that despicable as well.

We live in this ridiculously political correctness society. All of these people expect you to listen to their perspective, chapter and verse, but if you say something that is out of the Stepford wife, category of safe topics, or if you are not a Disney mom cruise blogger, you are a baaaad person. You can even be the same political persuasion as someone but if you veer off a safe, Stepford wife topic you are a baaad person. It’s funny, except it’s also pathetic and overdone.

I am a baaaaad person here because I have questioned the authenticity of Farmer Jawn and that is my right. And that doesn’t make me a racist, either. Oh yes I am deliberately being repetitive, because the only way to get a message across with some of these essentially drooling idiots is to keep repeating yourself.

People are super accusatory just because. Not because they have anymore depth than a fruit fly or have done any research into anything. They will say someone is bad horrible nasty, pick your pejorative adjective because somebody told them that that’s what they should say. Or just because you are different from them and they can’t understand that.

Of course these are also the same people that vote every single election how someone else told them to vote, without doing any of their own research into whomever the candidate is. It’s the grand land of sheeple, and a misplaced sense of entitlement.

Like this woman today who is only on Facebook for her kid’s school and Facebook marketplace who also told me I was an embarrassment to this entire country. I just have to laugh out loud and ask who died and made her George Washington? Do they even understand that our rights as Americans is what gives us all the right to question and speak out or speak up, and more?

Now I’ve asked around in the Quaker community and people who had kids at the school who either graduated or left, and neighbors. Apparently, there are people who have been upset with the school past and present. I was reminded of the whole nastiness with turf fields, and I don’t remember how many years ago that was. Is this nasty business the work of kids who are just jackasses or adults and why? Someone in the area also told me that the school also has overnight camps during the summer? That could mean quite a bit of other than normal human activity, right?

And the hate symbols with regard to the swastikas? I have been told this symbol is used not just against people who are Jewish now like white supremacists which I had forgotten. But I am sure yet more people will surface and blame me for all of this for questioning Farmer Jawn in general, and I will REMIND them, I am not the only one who has asked questions, there have been questionable business things as in several other things seemingly failing correct? And I still think that was a big ass grant to give someone who really hasn’t demonstrated a consistent track record, and saying that has never meant that the ideas aren’t good. It’s a lot of money for someone without a proven track record. Have you ever done anything with or for a non-profit? If so you would know how hard it is to get ANY grants.

And I do have many questions about this whole thing from beginning to end. And the media reports say this happened as well in the spring and did anyone hear anything about that? Wouldn’t you have thought Westtown School would have said something? Did they not report it to the police?

If anyone knows who did this, they absolutely should come forward.

I will finish with the Inquirer article. Whatever is happening, those symbols and whatever the other racist stuff was is really disgusting and horrible. Only time will tell if this latest venture at Westtown will be a success, but were you surprised to essentially hear not much security seems to be over in that part of Westtown’s sprawling acreage? And I am not saying that is the responsibility of Farmer Jawn, Westtown’s tenant, but I am kind of thinking Westtown should have already had a lot of security in today’s world because most schools do, don’t they? I was honestly surprised.

And to the Inquirer, I feel the need to remind them that questioning this place etc., doesn’t mean all of who have are running around with paint and messing up historic barns. And people weren’t upset at the actual farm fields laying fallow in advance or organic conversion, etc., people were upset at the weeds growing all over the FRONT where the store is and THAT is an important distinction as well.

Inquirer: FarmerJawn targeted with racist and antisemitic graffiti in Chester County
Police are investigating after the farmer discovered a swastika spraypainted in her barn this month.

by Jesse Bunch

Published Aug. 13, 2024, 11:14 a.m. ET

does anyone remember a farmhouse and barn demolished in paoli probably after 1970?

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You know how random memories float to the surface? I remember a farmhouse with a barn my aunt and uncle rented when I was quite small in Paoli off of Lancaster Ave, Route 30. My uncle was a corporate America guy from that era and while climbing the corporate ladder they were transferred around for years until settling eventually back in the Philadelphia area, but this was during a period of (if I remember correctly) being in between Cincinnati, Ohio and someplace in Florida.

I remember the house they rented at that time was on it’s own road off of Lancaster Avenue. I do not necessarily remember it being marked and I do not believe it was South Valley Road. I think it was on the right heading west. Mind you this was around 1968 – 1970.

It’s amazing the postcard images that show up on Ebay.

It was a white farmhouse, probably 19th century but I do not know. It was a large house, there was a barn to the side. I remember open space like a field across from the house which was on this road or lane.

The house (white with black shutters) had a big front porch, and inside it had a pretty staircase. There were also back stairs off of the kitchen. I remember a back staircase off of the kitchen and back of house. I spent one weekend there or a few days with my cousins one summer, but not my sister, she was a toddler just walking. We had one Thanksgiving I think it was there. I remember the grown-ups and any high chair kids in the dining room and the kids table was a card table with a white tablecloth. I remember the dinner because that was the first time I ate black eyed peas.

It was a cool house, and I remember at some point after my aunt, uncle, and cousins moved back out of state, the property was torn down for a store or stores. I believe it was gone before the Bicentennial.

It was a pretty big house and I often wondered what happened to it. So if anyone has any memories of a house like that with a barn to the side that is no more, please let me know. Below are two old images of two inns that are no more from the general vicinity, that remind me of my memory of the house. I also don’t know if this house may have had something to do with either the Dingee or Biddle farms which if memory serves were horse farms in the area.

so…. the story of 400 leopard road in berwyn has taken a twist

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Neighbor photo

Yesterday I wrote about the lightening striking twice at 400 Leopard Road in Berwyn. We had watched the massive local media cover this home, a very historic home to Easttown and Berwyn beginning on May 1, 2024. Yesterday morning I received a call from a friend who lives in that area in tears about 400 Leopard Road in Berwyn again.

Guess what? It went up in flames AGAIN. July 23, 2024. Maybe once you would think was an accident, and honestly I never did, but twice? My opinion is that is not a coincidence is it?

Well….it’s now July 24, 2024 and guess what? The wife (or eventually to be ex-wife) of the couple who own the house is facing well…arson charges. It’s a twist. It’s a plot twist, but is it really unexpected?

Of course this is odd, because these were the original charges filed this morning and then mid-afternoon there was this:

Here is the docket as of 4PM, showing a bail bondsman and is she in or out of jail at this point?

commonwealth vs frankel 2 4 PMDownload

So, yes, again, this is the wife. And the chatter has bene insane on social media. I am not repeating it, because who knows what is true? I think a lot of it is, but I have to ask something now about the FIRST fire on May 1: is it true that had be marked as a fire of undetermined origin? If so, does that change now? I am asking because since May 1st nothing much has been heard. Yesterday around 1 or so, the Chester County District Attorney posted a very brief statement: “The Chester County District Attorney’s Office is aware of the fire that has occurred in Easttown Township and are working with the Fire Marshal to determine how it started.”

This brings us to today. I don’t get the whole firebug thing. It’s a compulsion I suppose like shoplifting or something? But is this woman a firebug or desperately unhappy and perhaps mentally ill?

A perusal on the Internet shows she is a doctor:

Now I went to the civil dockets after the first file because I was told this was a divorce house. Prior to the first fire there was a realtor sign on the lawn:

May 1st or May 2nd photo found on Facebook somewhere.

Someone messaged me today just a little while ago:

Sugartown Road is still blocked from traffic between Lenape and Leopard Road. AND… there are people all about the house and some sort of “command station” under a blue tent there as well.

Here are a few photos from today, I will post more if I get them. One is from a local who lives near by and others are from fire companies like Radnor.

Now I could post the divorce and child custody dockets, but I am not. I have to ask though if the dates on the dockets of court related events are related to the dates of fires? One was May 1st, then the fire later that day? Then other momentous events recently? Do people think that is all coincidence? In my opinion it is NOT, which is why I question WHY the May 1st fire had undetermined origins?

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/te/crews-battle-house-fire-easttown-tuesday

Someone who once called that house home said today in a comment:

Breeze Hill was built tough to have withstood what she did to it as much as it did. Not that I have any hopes for it now… How destroyed this woman’s soul must be to have done such a thing as this.

So 6 ABC and reporter Leland Pinder and 6 ABC updated their story from yesterday, so allow me to share :

Chester County woman charged with arson after home catches fire twice in recent months
By 6abc Digital Staff / Leland Pinder
Wednesday, July 24, 2024 7:32PM

There you have it. That is a lot of the chatter I heard. Of course I want to know why a house with no electricity and wasn’t habitable had the pool opened? Will Kathryn Calmus Frankel be retroactively charged with first fire? And if she is out on bail, will she go back there again? And the ATF is now part of the investigation? Will we ever hear from the Fire Marshall? Will a lot of the neighbors stop being frosty to media, I wonder?

Sign me disgusted. This woman Kathryn Calmus Frankel put neighbors and first responders at risk. And she is a doctor to boot so what does the Hippocratic oath actually mean to her? In my opinion, perhaps a study in hypocrisy? A lot of our first responders include junior firefighters and among those ranks is my friend’s daughter whom I have known since she was in elementary school. And she destroyed a local historic asset too. That is despicable.

Now what we all will want to know is can this house be saved?

historic house goes up in flames in berwyn
after the fire
400 leopard road in berwyn (easttown) went up in flames AGAIN so does lightening strike twice?

400 leopard road in berwyn (easttown) went up in flames AGAIN so does lightening strike twice?

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We watched the massive local media cover this home, a very historic home to Easttown and Berwyn on May 1, 2024. This morning I received a call from a friend who lives in that area in tears about 400 Leopard Road in Berwyn again.

Guess what? It went up in flames AGAIN. Today, July 23, 2024. Maybe once you would think was an accident, and honestly I never did, but twice? My opinion is that is not a coincidence is it?

Here is the link to the video of the live stream I took Thomas Primetime Brown got GREAT video:

I don’t know if the video will remain, so make sure to pay attention to what was said before live stream went soundless.

I heard firefighters or EMTs say on the live feed “She was in the house.”

“One person taken to hospital with burns.”

I wonder if the ATF is looking at this now? One fire, accident….MAYBE. But TWO fires? Does lightening strike twice? Gut check says no.

Now if you go to public court dockets, the owners of this house are embroiled in divorce and custody issues. Is that all related?

I am sure the media is digging in and and I will sign off with links to prior two posts. Again, does lightening strike twice? I do not think so, but it is up to officials to be transparent here. This is so not normal.

what 400 Leopard Road USED to look like
historic house goes up in flames in berwyn
after the fire