Tag Archives: development

the rape of north wayne

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North Wayne in Radnor Township. Used to be one of my favorite places. Leafy trees, amazing old houses. Now infill development is getting it. First up today are the million dollar townhouses on N. Aberdeen Ave. where it used to be the I guess pool supply office. I think it was called American Pool Service or something. Well now it’s million dollar plus townhouses.

The townhouses have a pretentious, almost absurd for location name—- Rockwell on Aberdeen. I hate to break it to them. It will always be N. Aberdeen Avenue in North Wayne and some might say Little Chicago adjacent if not Little Chicago.

I had gone down to Penn Medicine in Radnor. I always cut over North Wayne to Saint Davids to Radnor. Every time I go down, I see something different. First, it was the ridiculously huge townhouses on the corner of Plant Avenue and Willow Avenue. So those have been up a few years now. And it was where the scary house was quite literally it looked like it was falling apart and even when it wasn’t Halloween, it looked like it was Halloween. Of course, the thing with those places are is the additional parking on plant Avenue and I don’t really know how to park. Next are photos from when they were being built.

And of course getting through North Wayne today was an obstacle course starting at 1 Pennsylvania Avenue where John’s Village Market is. From what I have gathered noodling around on social media the building was sold, and John’s is still open.

Today I thought they were closed for good, and you could barely get by on the street. There were so many trucks. If I could have safely taken a photo to show people exactly how many trucks were there your mind would’ve been blown. The only thing I’ve been able to find is a photo posted about what John’s market looks like I think this July, but there were no trucks in front and literally where that is is this sharp triangular corner and there were just trucks everywhere.

I do not know how Radnor Township can allow this to go on every day except it’s Radnor Township and they don’t give a crap anymore. This is an area where you have people walking to the train station as well as kids walking into Wayne, getting on a school bus, etc. maybe this new landlord has a lot of work to do on the building, and I don’t want to judge as far as that goes, but there’s a safety component that’s clearly being ignored here, and that is inexcusable.

So after seeing the ridiculously over, priced townhouses on Aberdeen, and going to Penn Medicine, I wound my way home, again going through North Wayne. What I saw along Radnor Street Road almost made me drive off the road. I’m guessing this is old Valley Forge Military Academy land that was sold to a developer. Fox Lane Homes “North Wayne” priced around $2.7 million. Never heard of this developer, but that doesn’t mean anything one way or the other. There are so many developers these days.

And again with the naked acres.

Main Line McMansions don’t need trees. It doesn’t matter that North Wayne had as one of its most beautiful points besides the Victorian and early 20th century architecture … the trees…..glorious trees and tree canopies.

And then, across the street from this development on land that I guess was also maybe possibly from Valley Forge Military Academy but I don’t know, was another house. Not a bad looking house truthfully, but no trees. Don’t people want trees or plants or gardens anymore?

And again, it’s North Wayne so North Wayne without trees is pretty weird. And it changes the whole ecosystem.

That’s why I call this post the rape of North Wayne. Infill development is bad enough when there is so much volume, but where a lot of these places are being developed had places with established gardens, mature trees. Like where the Wayne Bed & Breakfast Inn was torn down for the next CasVille. I didn’t have the opportunity to take photos of that today, too much traffic, which is just as well because it’s utterly depressing to drive by.

Now I am sure that these McMonsterosities will sell…the townhouses of pretentiousness on Aberdeen seems like the sold for over a million each?

But what is Radnor Township thinking? It used to be they gave a crap, but now? What are they thinking? How many will this add to an already bursting school district? How will this affect infrastructure including first responders pushing their limits now?

Come on now, you know what I am going to say: yet MORE examples of WHY the Municipalities Planning Code needs to be comprehensively updated. What makes where we live and even places we just drive through special are disappearing one bulldozer at a time.

But on a bright note to end on, I also visited the Wayne Natatorium historical marker. I did that. It was dedicated 13 years ago this month on October 17, 2010.

I had help from some amazing friends, two of whom are no longer with us, but this was my baby and it is a state, not municipal marker.

Why do I point this out? Mostly because it’s super cool history and I am proud of this as an accomplishment, but also because my critics love to say I never do anything.

Radnor Township Parks and Recreation Department could take the time to trim the tree in front of the sign, however. Except knowing Radnor Township they will just ignore the tree until one day they will probably just hack it down.

Have a great evening. Thanks for stopping by.

Expolore PA History: The Wayne Natatorium

hey east whiteland residents are you aware the weston development on w. king road in west whiteland is marching forward?

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Hi it’s me, the development critic. Weston is selling on West King Road across from Johnson Matthey. This is in West Whiteland, JUST over the East Whiteland border quite literally. I have written about this before:

oh west whiteland, what is up with weston property on west king road?
oh no…. in west whiteland along w. king road

So there was a meeting last night in West Whiteland. Planning. The Weston Development came up again. If it wasn’t for a West Whiteland resident looking at the agenda because they were at another meeting last night, I would not have known Weston was up again and with a zoning change going to zoning with I presume planning approval.

weston-overdevelopmentDownload

Now I have not seen the property change hands as of yet, but there is the possibility the sale is through since Chester County seems behind in what they record almost always.

I am kind of pissy about this. Right or wrong.

One reason WHY I am pissed is I have been on zoom calls of other meetings involving this property in the past. I even contacted them in writing as did many others from EAST WHITELAND. As a COURTESY, you all should have let East Whiteland residents know. I know full well they know how to reach me, and if not me the peo in East Whiteland Township.

This plan will drastically impact residents of East Whiteland who live on roads off of W. King or who are in the many houses that pepper W. King Road in East and West Whiteland.

It would be common courtesy to let your neighbors know when ANYTHING happens with this property because ANYTHING that happens with this property or the acreage across the road being sold by Johnson Matthey WILL AFFECT MORE THAN WEST WHITELAND, correct?

There is quite the eco system on that property. Has a property search been done as to any special special like bog turtles which might reside there? How many and what trees will be removed and how large will the trees be? And any tree planting should NOT be developer specials lined up like for a firing squad (what Toll brothers does) and left to die.

Also, the neighbors want a traffic signal as in yes a light right there at the mouth of that development at King and Weston Way. Otherwise, NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO GET OUT. And speaking of not getting out, has West Whiteland been monitoring the intersection of Ship and King lately? They should. And the guy who zips around on W. King in the motorized wheelchair in the lanes of traffic with nothing reflective? They should pay attention to him as well, and get him like those big reflective triangles Amish buggies have. It’s terrifying to be on W. King with traffic with him zipping around like he is driving a car.

West Whiteland approving a development of this size is going to affect the neighbors in more than one municipality. I saw a reference in old materials about a neighbors’ meeting in 2022. I don’t recall hearing about that. Thankfully this development will only overload West Chester Area School District.

I feel East Whiteland is completely out of the loop on projects that they border with West Whiteland and other municipalities and this has to stop. Soon we will not be able to navigate around the area with the development approved in West Whiteland on Route 30 from the Laborers past but including Ship Road and east on Lancaster to the municipal border with East Whiteland. Oh and this latest developer seeking big bucks at the expense of Chester County residents has a very similar plan to this brewing in Willistown. They are from Blue Bell which I sadly remember the farms and open space there before the developers moved in.

I am pretty tuned in to what happens around here, and I was a little distressed to see this all moving forward without us lowly East Whiteland folks being clued in.

Also has West Whiteland forgotten the pipelines that run through this property? Still want people running uphill or whatever?

I go out of my way to try to get East and West Whiteland to communicate. It’s only COMMON SENSE. Yet here we are.

Like I said, I can’t stop this development but I will talk about it. West Whiteland will have conditions of approval on this project and respectfully, one of those needs to include A TRAFFIC SIGNAL as well as answers to environmental questions.

It’s nice they are saving the historic structures, but as is the case with a lot of these things, seeing will be believing.

When I lived in Lower Merion they would create resident email lists for development projects. Someone in planning and/or zoning would notify residents of actions on a particular plan. A lot of your projects don’t just affect residents of just ONE municipality, they also affect residents of bordering municipalities.

It drives me CRAZY that no one in Harrisburg wants to get off of their asses and do a comprehensive non-Band-Aid update to the Municipalities Planning Code (MPC), since hello the MPC drives our zoning. The last comprehensive update circa 1969 is what cause the first monster project to tear apart Chester County and blow up a school district: Chesterbrook.

It drives me CRAZY that municipalities that border each other and often have similar issues act like independent island nations. When there is collaboration there is often greater success. And West Whiteland and East Whiteland had success, great success years ago over what Rouse had planned for Church Farm. More recently, residents banned together to stop a hydrogen plant.

Development rant over. For now.

meet meadowbrook manor in west west whiteland

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I have friends who live in Meadowbrook Manor in West Whiteland. It’s a wonderful little cluster neighborhood of adorable little houses. Many of the residents have lived there for decades.

These residents have seen a lot of change. They have literally seen development gobble up big parts of Exton, and West Whiteland in general. They are also pipeline victims and part of hell on earth ground zero of those blasted pipelines.

Some folks from Meadowbrook Manor in West Whiteland have asked me to share the photos you see in this post and the videos. And they sent me a little statement as well which I am sharing with my readers verbatim:

Meadowbrook Manor built in the 1950s before anyone ever thought about floodplains or storm water management. We are one of (if not the) lowest point in the Whiteland valley. There are two streams that wind through our development; Valley Creek and an unnamed stream. As big, new developments have popped up along Valley Creek, one has to wonder how all the building and impervious ground cover impacts those of us downstream.

Yes, every new development must submit stormwater management plans to the township, but do those plans only protect the new construction from flooding? It is my understanding that new developments are not required to make things better for those of us downstream, but they certainly are not supposed to make it worse. Who is measuring and how is that determined, because things have definitely gotten worse. I have lived here for 26 years. The house next door didn’t flood even with hurricane Floyd, but in the last three years, it has had up to 10” of water inside. The poor young couple who bought it, has been displaced three times in three years. The house next to that has suffered the same fate. Some may blame climate change, and the intensity of recent storms, and I’m sure that is part of it.


The township has expressed sympathy, but we need action.


We need township engineers to follow the path of these streams and find places where more retention basins can be added to slow the tsunami of water that is engulfing homes with each heavy storm.

So won’t you be their neighbor, West Whiteland? When you look at this you realize exactly why Chester County needs to do better. And yes Chester County Planning Department this is why you all need to do better and get an executive director who is from Chester County and lives here. And then there are our state representatives and state senators who need to step up and get the damn Municipalities Planning Code updated and to protect our communities better.

I see all of you in Meadowbrook Manor. I just wish I had a magic wand.

same old song, different day

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Toll Townne on Route 100

Oh, I know people are tired of my posts about development. I don’t really care because in my opinion, all of this infill development combined with other elements like climate change are a recipe for disaster in Chester County.

I was speaking to someone recently, who had served on a planning commission in the region about all of the development in Chester County recently. They interpreted what I was trying to articulate as I was against new residents in Chester County. And no that couldn’t be further from the case, it’s about the number of residences.

Our communities are on overload. Our infrastructure can’t handle the current pace of development, and neither can things like our hospitals and schools and that’s not fiction. That is a fact.

Infrastructure would be not just the roads. Infrastructure includes things like our first responders and other municipal personnel. A lot of municipalities don’t have rental inspection ordinances, and a lot of these developments are purely rental. The increasing number of rental properties is also creating a more transient community and it is also driving the real estate to the point where people can’t stay in their own communities.

The people getting priced out of their communities are various business service workers, for example. Individuals getting priced out are also like the people that serve on our police forces, in our fire companies, and who teach our kids. In addition there are the elderly who raise their families here and wanted to end their days in their community. Or the younger folks, who may be newly married, and are looking to start and raise their families and put down roots where they were raised.

We have seen what this has done to the Main Line. And frankly, these are just the same developers moving west. They don’t care about our communities and they will pay lip service to whatever, and a lot of municipalities are dumb enough to think that ratables will get them by. And possibly Emperor’s New Clothes Syndrome, yes?

From township to township they march. Gobbling up acre after acre. And as acre after acre are gobbled up, in addition to the aforementioned issues I have pointed out about infrastructure stresses and overcrowding the school districts, look at today’s thunderstorms and flooding. Yes, climate change.

Flooding today

All of these townships, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania pay lip service to the environmental issues we are seeing increasing day by day. If they really cared they would not only do something about pipelines in Chester County and across the state, they would update the Municipalities Planning Code of The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to protect our communities environmentally. But they don’t.

Until then, people from municipality to municipality in Chester County need to go to their local meetings. You can go to the meetings via Zoom, or you can go in person, but you can’t just complain on social media or expect your friendly neighborhood blogger to carry all of your water.

Downingtown PA today

And even if you can’t go to every meeting, that’s fine, we all have lives. Just take a stand and be counted. It’s your right as a resident. Even more important, is to have a basic awareness of what is going on in your municipality and so many people do not.

Ship Road Development

Recently I was somewhat floored when someone asked in a social media forum what was going on around Ship Road and Route 30 in West Whiteland. It was almost incomprehensible that people and even residents of West Whiteland have no idea what has been going on there and what has been planned there for almost 10 years at this point! Even if you don’t go to meetings, that’s a really big development issue that’s been covered in local media.

Ship Road Development

Something else that is cropping up all over are “rain taxes.” Essentially, it’s a direct result of other development and municipalities. It’s been raised as an issue in West Goshen and West Chester Borough, and other places. Well this showed up as also as a current hot topic in Tredyffrin:

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/te/i-told-you-2019-nodx

Development has consequences. And the fact that we pay for those consequences comes down to simple economics as well because the developers take the profits from their projects and they simply move on to the next municipality leaving all the residents and taxpayers holding the bag. Bag men one and all is ok with all of you?

Ship Road and Route 30: Ground Zero in West Whiteland including development all around this development

Adaptive reuse and preservation is possible. Even with the rampant overdevelopment occurring in West Whiteland Township for example, you have bright, shiny gems of preservation in places like the Benjamin Jacobs house and the Benjamin Pennypacker House as but two examples.

People do love our old structures. They love our open space we need to do more to preserve that. We need to do more to preserve our communities as well as foster a sense of real community.

This development is not sustainable anywhere long-term. You can’t just continue to say build it and they will come because what do we do with all of the people what happens as we are replacing our farm fields with plastic townhouses or apartment buildings?

People on planning commissions and elected officials have drunk the KoolAid to a degree in so many municipalities. And the officials who haven’t drunk the KoolAid are then often outnumbered by those who have. And then the good guys get blamed along with everyone else. It’s a vicious cycle and problems are precipitated by other factors including a lot of people simply do not understand how the planning and zoning processes works and don’t seem to wish to learn.

People love to talk about what they don’t like. But people don’t tell their elected officials and local leaders and they have never attended a meeting. And now there are ways to attend meetings virtually as well as in person. Even I Zoom meetings. If you don’t want to speak in public you can often submit a written comment.

The more land that is gobbled up and the less open space there is and the increase of impervious surface coverage also is important because whether you subscribe to climate change or not, our environment is changing and water, flood waters in particular, will seek their own level. And voila, flooding. All this development means the water simply has no place to go.

So pick your poison people. Take a stand. We live here. We should have greater rights to help decide how our communities are preserved and shaped for the future. Real rights. And until we can get the bozos in Harrisburg to update the Municipalities Planning Code we can and should ask for every other protection we can legally get.

Our elected officials CAN implement conditions of approval that help our communities.

Our elected officials CAN enact rental ordinances.

Our elected officials CAN badger Harrisburg and Washington DC for more meaningful historic and land preservation…including protection for our farmers.

Our elected officials CAN say no to rezoning a property from commercial to residential. (Hey East Whiteland Township are you listening? You CAN say no to rezoning Clews & Strawbridge on Route 30 so there are fewer rental apartments including on Route 30, can’t you? But will you? )

The entirety of Chester County needs protection from overdevelopment. People, find your voices. Hold elected officials and municipalities accountable, but learn how to do it properly.

And above all else don’t become political pawns of political parties. Why do I say that? Simple. These issues are actually non-partisan. Make the politicians endorse all of you and your positions/issues out there. Stop endorsing them because all that accomplishes is you get them elected and then they dump you once they have gotten what they wanted: your vote. Your vote should be earned by them.

Have a good evening.

Please wake up Chester County. Before it’s too late.

dear developer, try harder in east whiteland

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Remember, I wrote a post recently about a developer buying the Clews and Strawbridge site and wanting to plunk down yet more god damn apartments on Route 30 and in East Whiteland?

wtf development proposed AGAIN in east whiteland…

So that screenshot you see above is the letter that the developer is dropping by the businesses on Route 30 in East Whiteland seeking support. Well, I shouldn’t say the developer personally because then you would see him and his vanity plate on his car… nope he’s sending minions.

I just love developer minions, don’t you?

This means that we need to keep writing East Whiteland Township and keep voicing our opinion, and going to meetings. Because if they thought getting their rezoning and everything was a done deal, they wouldn’t be sending minions would they?

Thank you developer minions for amusing me.

they all look the same.

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These are the apartments in Frazer known as “The Yards.” And like everything else being built today they look pretty much like everything else being built today.

I don’t find them attractive. I don’t find them architecturally significant. It looks like Legos put together for grown-ups to live in.

And these are the buildings that are being erected in communities all around the area. And it doesn’t matter who the developer is THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME.

Probably one of the only ones that I don’t find as offensive in Chester County are some in Paoli behind the train station. The Airdrie. But it’s still a similar design, only that has some actual setbacks, so it doesn’t smack you in the face along Lancaster Avenue and elsewhere.

But if you drive around, and you look at all of the apartment complexes being erected, they all are the same variations on a similar theme.

It’s NOT architecture.

I really started noticing these buildings when Eastside Flats in Malvern Borough were built. Most of these buildings have lousy setbacks, ignore human scale, ignore the architecture that exists around them, pretty much ignores everything that makes Chester County special.

The design in a word in my opinion, sucks. This is all about these developers, making money and moving onto the next project. It’s not about enhancing a community or enhancing a sense of community. These developers don’t care about our communities, we are just an area where they can make a profit.

From municipality to municipality it’s all the same. Literally Lego boxes for people to live in or plastic mushroom houses squished too close together.

Somebody gave me a hard time for saying I think these apartments are also ugly etc. and then they told me I was insulting people’s homes. Apartment dwellers don’t move into communities and stay forever. They are more transient it’s the nature of apartments.

If it’s a senior living community, it might be a little different, but the architecture is all the same and it’s all bad.

These developers are changing the nature of community quite literally. More and more. All of the rentals mean people stay for a while. They don’t stay like buying a home in a neighborhood. And even the nature of those neighborhoods with single-family homes are changing. Front end loaded cheek to jowl. No gardens. Just boxes with bad siding.

The developers are driving the real estate prices which is driving how long people stay if they stay. Sometimes just flip property and leave and so on.

There is quite simply put too much development. And there especially seems to be too many apartment complexes being built Chester County is looking more and more like King of Prussia. Does Chester County want to look like King of Prussia? Or Bensalem? Does Chester county want all these apartment buildings creating urban landscapes?

And when you post the pictures of these developments, people think someone’s palms are being greased. I don’t know anything about that what I do know is what allows these buildings, and these developments to march forward. The Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or MPC.

The MPC has not been comprehensively updated since circa 1969. The MPC guides all local zoning. No one holds state representatives and state senators accountable for this. It is their job to an act an act of the state constitution and get off their asses and update the MPC .

However, there is also the fact that people really don’t bother to learn what is going on within their communities until there’s a crisis. People do not keep up with what local government is doing and what plans are being presented for development and there’s no excuse now really because meetings are hybrid and in person and recorded so if you can’t make a meeting, you can watch a recording of a meeting or you can watch a meeting via zoom platform or even YouTube.

If people went to meetings, local government would have a better idea of what they didn’t want before it actually happened. It wouldn’t necessarily be within municipal power to deny a plan, but they might be able to mitigate certain circumstances or conditions of approval.

Or when municipalities are updating comprehensive plans for municipality to municipality it’s not necessarily super exciting but it’s also something that residents ignore the opportunities they have to comment on these plans so again it’s another avenue of being able to get your message out there as a community as to what you want to see vis-à-vis development or not see.

And basically the hands of local officials are truly tied from protecting communities from bad development without the proper support from not only county planning but primarily because the MPC is so out of date.

It’s all a drag. I’ve spent years going to meetings and listening to meetings and going to meetings now via Zoom for a few years, but if you don’t pay attention to what goes on in your own community, you never learn.

I’m really sick of people that either want to complain to me about development or criticize me for not liking development. if they use half the amount of energy participating in their community as they do coming after me for my opinion, think of everything that could be accomplished from municipality to municipality?

I’m sure I will receive criticism for this post. I’m being mean I’m being unfair. Whatever. I don’t like all of this development. It all looks the same. It’s ruining the landscape that once was Chester county. And that people is the bottom line.

Happy Monday.

mall news that could affect exton square mall and west whiteland ?

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Yesterday a friend of mine posted a brief video on social media of the ghost town that the Exton Square Mall has become. So I took a couple of screenshots for this post…..

It’s creepy empty at this point. It used to be a thriving mall. Sometimes I have wondered if this mall ghost town has been created by shifting retail trends or by mall owner design?

I ask if by design because there have been plans floating around West Whiteland for a while about developing a lot of the mall into apartments which makes perfect sense to developers because what else can you shove into communities around here besides crappy all look the same Lego looking apartments or cheek to jowl lemming like townhouse developments, right? Especially in West Whiteland, right? [CLICK HERE TO GO TO WEST WHITELAND’S WEBSITE]

Anyway some recent news will just make you wonder even more what is up. First there was the interesting blog article on More Than The Curve about Plymouth Township according to PREIT who owns that and Exton Square Mall, “ghosting” the mall owners. Apparently Plymouth Township isn’t interested in their mall dream of apartment Valhalla? (And yes kinda like the mall dream Valhalla proposed for Exton Square Mall.)

Owner of Plymouth Meeting Mall claims it has been “ghosted” by Plymouth Township

That definitely made me think. I mean if heavily developed Plymouth Township doesn’t seem so interested in this why should West Whiteland Township be a Guinea Pig here?

But Vista Today pointed out yesterday some even more troubling and interesting news concerning mall owners PREIT. (PREIT a stands for Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, incidentally.) Vista pointed out a potential board shake up worthy of Succession (HBO MAX series). 7 board members tendered resignations:

Among the resigners were Chairman and CEO Joseph Coradino, Temple University Interim President JoAnne Epps, George Alburger, Michael DeMarco, Mark Pasquerilla, Charles Pizzi, and John Roberts. Each received more withheld votes than votes for as they were up for reelection. PREIT’s proxy statement requires that board members who get more withheld votes than votes for must tender their resignations.

https://vista.today/2023/06/exton-mall-preit-resignations

Also covered by More Than The Curve:

Potential shakeup of the board of the owner of the Plymouth Meeting Mall

Sooooo….is this God opening a window to let some reality in (you know God closes a door, opens a window of it all?) Maybe West Whiteland can just pause the thought of any redevelopment there at Exton Square Mall until they get their sheit together at PREIT? Oh and did you know Vanguard Group has their paws in PREIT? Read that in an Inquirer article.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Majority of PREIT board offers resignations after shareholder vote

The latest sign of trouble at the huge Philadelphia-area mall owner could be a sign of a sale to come.

by Jake Blumgart and Joseph N. DiStefano

Published June 8, 2023

Now a ghost town mall sitting there is not so fabulous but West Whiteland and municipalities with PREIT properties that are floundering maybe shouldn’t have to entertain their grand plans for redevelopment while this corporate fallout is swirling around? I mean why approve yet more apartment and lemming friendly development if you don’t even know in what form at this point this company will shake out at?

Seems like the proverbial hot mess to me, doesn’t it?

If you ever wondered if giving municipalities in Pennsylvania the ability to have a temporary moratorium on development was a good idea, this is a great example where it would be a great idea. Hit the pause button already. I mean in 2022 it was announced that Exton Square Mall was being sold to a developer yet that didn’t seem to actually happen?

Exton Square mall being sold to a developer

….And then that deal fell through didn’t it?

https://vista.today/2023/05/preit-buyer-exton-mall

Philadelphia Inquirer: Facing almost $1 billion in debt, Philly mall owner PREIT emphasizes strong sales and high occupancy

Pennsylvania largest mall operator faces severe headwinds and says it’s exploring all possibilities for the future.

by Jake Blumgart
Updated on Jun 4, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

Ummm Coradino says they’ve been “ghosted” by one township (Plymouth) where they have a failing mall yet magically they are the “best” group to redevelop another failing mall in another township (West Whiteland)? Ok yeah that’s some Kool Aid he’s drinking, huh?

West Whiteland get legally creative and put these people on a shelf until they figure their stuff out. I mean talk about the handwriting on the wall, right? From a practical standpoint you can’t really trust them to do anything right now can you? I mean what if they started something and you all were left with a giant hole in the ground or Tyvec waving in the breeze off of some unfinished something or other?

Pause pause pause! Warning warning danger ⚠️ Will Robinson! Proceed with caution ⛔️!

this is why municipalities need ordinances that correct wrongs

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219 Namar Avenue, Exton, PA

Namar Avenue in Exton/West Whiteland is one of those little neighborhoods of post-war (as in World War II) housing and earlier. There was a housing boom in Chester County before and following World War II which is how places like General Warren Village in East Whiteland came to be for example, and parts of Northeast Philadelphia too. This house is in Whiteland Crest I believe the name of this little area in Exton. And that area started coming into existence I think in the 1930s and most building was done up to the 1950s at some point.

Sadly this cute area is home to a rather derelict house.

Can you imagine living with this derelict house next door to you? It was sold most recently in 2021. It is the first photo in this post and the two just above.

But if you just Google the address, that house has had a lot going on for years:

I think there is probably a rather sad story here PRIOR to 2021 but the new owners have continued to let it rot since 2021, so what gives?

My point of this post is not all negative. My point actually is there is hope for dealing with properties like this at least in West Whiteland since is West Whiteland is a municipality that approved a property maintenance ordinance in March. Now if that ordinance had been in effect before the property changed hands in 2021, the township would have perhaps been able to help the homeowner find a non-profit group to help them clean up. But since this property changed hands in the fall of 2021 it has continued to dangerously deteriorate, so now this code will also be of help to the neighbors who deserve better than this.

I remember when I first moved to Chester County, in East Whiteland there was a derelict house on Morstein Road. The police had to babysit it because kids kept going in etc. Eventually the family sold it for a two lot subdivision. But if there had been more of a maintenance ordinance then in that township, maybe it would have been different? I also think this West Whiteland ordinance will also address people building structures without permits that require permits. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Along with ordinance like this there should be rental ordinances. Not just life and safety and inspections required when a property changes hands. The developers have introduced so many apartment complexes and developments that are loaded with rentals that it is desperately needed.

And student rental ordinances. East Whiteland is home to Immaculata, as an example. And there is no rental ordinance or student rental ordinance is there?

What made me think about those kinds of ordinances again in particular were comments on NextDoor about Frazer Crossing Apartments which used to be known as William Henry. But I thought about rental ordinances when the whole human trafficking thing happened in East Whiteland. It just made me wonder if there were rental inspection ordinances, would there have been rentals with human trafficking going on? Or would that bad row of houses just past the Wawa at 30 and Planebrook Road exist if there were actual rental ordinances in place?

It’s a shame that we no longer live in a world where people will do the right things, but if people don’t know what the rules are will they do the right thing today? My thoughts on ordinances like this are nothing new. I wrote about the need for rental property ordinances in April.

I see West Whiteland as taking proactive steps in ordinances surrounding property maintenance and rental properties. It’s a good thing, it will create a level and safe playing field. Here’s hoping some of her neighbors follow suit.

Thanks for stopping by.

why townships need rules on rental properties

wtf development proposed AGAIN in east whiteland…

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Start around the 1 hour 20 minute mark.

WTF East Whiteland Township? HOW MUCH ROUTE 30 DEVELOPMENT DO WE NEED? MORE FREAKING APARTMENTS?

OH BARF.

I mean seriously what is this bullshit?

This is planned for the Clews and Strawbridge property. 310 Lancaster Avenue Malvern/Frazer. Otherwise known as where the 18th century farmhouse has been rotting for YEARS and YEARS.

rotting 18th century chester county farmhouse in east whiteland.

People time to contact East Whiteland Township. Go to meetings. Like yesterday. Chester County is going to sink under the weight of development. Our infrastructure can’t support this, our school districts can’t support this, we can’t continue to live like this.

If you live in East Whiteland Township or drive through this area or live in a municipality on either side of this area, please contact East Whiteland Township. It’s time for us to start standing up for what we want in our community and not just standing idly by like a bunch of sheep.

Stop the madness. Slow down development.

Supervisor E-Mails:

slambert@eastwhiteland.org

rorlow@eastwhiteland.org

pfixler@eastwhiteland.org

Township Manager:

sbrown@eastwhiteland.org

Assistant Township Manager:

cricardo@eastwhiteland.org

Be polite but if you OBJECT, PLEASE speak up.

NOT RELATED but Also don’t forget about the FIRE at a new construction site in West Whiteland on Lancaster Avenue right near Church Farm School. It was May 5th. As described by West Whiteland Fire Company:

At 8:18AM The West Whiteland Fire Company was dispatched to the 800 block of E. Lincoln Hwy. in the new neighborhood under construction for a commercial building fire. The West Whiteland Township Police Department arrived to find heavy smoke showing.

Employees tried to extinguish the fire with an extinguisher prior to calling 911, unfortunately giving the fire time to grow. Initial arriving crews stretched two hand lines to the first and second floors. Crews found fire coming from the floor of the second floor. An attempt was made to extinguish the fire, but the fire had already spread throughout the void space between the two floors. Due to collapse concerns crews were ordered to evacuate the building. The fire continued to grow rapidly and reached gas lines. Eventually the fire reached the attic space and caused a collapse of the HVAC system on the roof into the second floor. Crews then went into defensive operations with master streams. The fire was placed under control in just under an hour and a half. Crews cleared the scene at 1 PM after extensive overhaul.

Thank you once again to our mutual aid partners for your assistance at todays fire. Lionville Fire Company, East Brandywine Fire Company, First West Chester Fire Co., Engine Co. 51, Goshen Fire Company, Uwchlan Ambulance Corps, Good Will Fire Company #2 of West Chester and East Whiteland Fire Company.

Also, a big thank you to The Paoli Fire Company and their crew for standing by while we operated and helping our crews get the apparatus cleaned and back into service.

~ West Whiteland Fire Company 5/5/23

oh no…. in west whiteland along w. king road

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We all know that “UHHH OHHH, OHHHH NOOO” feeling when we see something. Like the real estate sign above. It is one of the two parcels that make up Johnson Matthey. To East Whiteland residents, Johnson Matthey is also a familiar name as one of the successor names to Bishop Tube over in General Warren, but I digress…only not really because things all seem to be related around her, right?

another bite at the apple in west whiteland township?

Another bite at the apple above was a post referring to the where’s Waldo as it keeps popping up issue in West Whiteland as to data centers and hydrogen plants etc there. It was a topic for discussion at the West Whiteland Planning Commission this Wednesday (oh and West Whiteland, that person your zoom bouncer didn’t let speak was ummm the chair of East Whiteland Supervisors, and since we all don’t live on islands, maybe learn who is on your calls. A neighboring township being interested should have some sort of professional courtesy, don’t you think?)

So. WHY is this 15.70 acres which is wooded with a cell phone tower of concern? Well Johnson Matthey wants to sell this chunk of their land on West King turning onto Phoenixville Pike is right on border with East Whiteland. Johnson Matthey is TWO parcels totaling 35+ acres.

And this is a real worry as to what kind of developer would snatch it up. Whether industrial or residential the scenario sucks. Because is it someplace they could put an Amazon hub for example? Or try to put a Data center or a hydrogen plant for example ? Or God knows how many townhouses or apartments?

And let us not forget Weston is across W. King Road, correct? And although residential plans have been shopped there it does have the labs and offices thing going on, right? And Johnson Matthey land has industrial going on correct? Is it as simple as 1 + 1 = 2? I hate to be a conspiracy theorist but this area right there in West Whiteland is truly the perfect storm for data centers and hydrogen energy plants, right? Are we wrong worrying about this? Like is the land at Johnson Matthey clean? As in DEP and EPA clean and isn’t that reasonable to ask considering it’s industrial?

The Johnson Matthey land for sale has a sign up and a listing on Loop Net for 15.70 acres. East Whiteland and West Whiteland need to pay close attention. They have to. First of all, how much more stress can W. King Road and that stress of Phoenixville Pike take? People who live on those roads have a hard enough time up and down getting out of their driveways and the ever increasing problematic four way stop sign and intersection of King and Ship is just up from there. It is already a shit show from existing development including West Goshen Township’s development. And next there is the piggy glut of development coming to Ship and 30 (Lancaster Avenue) and the rest of the development on the other side of the traffic light past the old Ship Inn, and east on Lancaster Ave towards the boundary there with East Whiteland.

This could be another bad plan coming our way when this property sells, couldn’t there be?

I also have *heard* via sources the intimation that some of the hierarchy of the Chester County Democrats don’t want to appear business “unfriendly” which is undoubtedly putting pressure on Democrat supervisors locally…like in East Whiteland and West Whiteland, right? But if these honchos are worried about appearing anti-business, are they also worried about appearing anti-resident and anti-environment? I think that could come into play here, sorry not sorry.

I also feel that in West Whiteland there is ONE Supervisor you can count on to do right by residents every time and that is Brian Dunn. Theresa Hogan Santalucia is now an angry lame duck politician, so she won’t care these next few months and Raj Kumbhardare is more pro-development and pro-data centers etc than I am comfortable with. He is not a bad person, however my opinion is at times he just doesn’t get it, and I have watched all of them, and he can dig in his heels and not for the benefit of all. He’s in the data kind of business for example given his career, so he doesn’t see the pitfalls, does he? Or doesn’t want to?

So I find this section of West Whiteland far, far away from not only the West Whiteland Township Building but also where two of the supervisors in West Whiteland live at risk. There are also multiple pipelines running around here including Williams which was mentioned somewhere when the whole data center hydrogen plant came up, right?

While we are on the topic of West Whiteland and data centers, allow me to share an update Ginny Kerslake sent out:

Good news from the data center / power plant zoning ordinance discussion at last night’s Planning Commission meeting in West Whiteland Township!

Over 20 residents attended to listen to the discussion and provide input on the public’s strong, universal opposition to allowing this use near our treasured Exton Park in the Office/Laboratory District. As a result, allowing this use in the O/L District appears to be off the table as far as the WWT Planning Commission is concerned. They are continuing the discussion next month. From there it goes to the Board of Supervisors and a public hearing. It’s important that we stay engaged as this proceeds.

Meanwhile, a proposed southeastern PA “hydrogen hub” called MACH2 would mean the construction of more fossil fuel infrastructure right here in Chester County including power plants, and dangerous, unregulated, CO2 pipelines in existing pipeline easements, including Mariner East and others. And it’s reasonable to assume that the proposed hydrogen power plant near Exton in Park was/is part of MACH2.

The time is now to do what we can to stop MACH2 from being awarded federal and state subsidies which it would require in order to advance.

🌞 I hope you can join me and other community members protecting Exton Park this Sunday, April 23 from 3 to 5 PM at Stolen Sun in Exton for some food and drink (provided) to learn what next step you can take to stop this hydrogen hub …. and also celebrate our community’s recent victory in stopping the hydrogen power plant near Exton Park from progressing! RSVP here

Onward,

Ginny Marcille-Kerslake

MACH 2 is a bit scary. As per West Whiteland Residents for Pipeline Safety:

A proposed southeastern PA “hydrogen hub” called MACH2 would mean the construction of more fossil fuel infrastructure, subsidized by taxpayers, including power plants, and dangerous, unregulated, CO2 pipelines in existing pipeline easements. And guess who’s a key player in MACH2 – Energy Transfer (Mariner East)

West Whiteland and East Whiteland residents need to pay attention here. Big time. We are all at risk from things like data centers because of PA’s tax credits for data centers. And certain political factions are pushing for these things so their besties can get contracts and jobs. And no ones really tales into consideration that a lot of the jobs are much like the jobs for Mariner East / Sunoco / Energy Transfer – out of state workers, not local. And yeah, sadly there are certain Democrats in Chester County push push pushing these things when they should be paying attention to their county row jobs, because what happens if audits on their county row job or a right to know is filed on their hours there happen? What will they show? Of course county row jobs in Chester County are a conversation for another day. Suffice it to say more than a couple should actually be spending more time earning their keep along county row and if they think even Democrats, let alone Republicans are not paying attention? Well that equals sadly mistaken, yes? Quit shilling for law firms, solicitors, and your union buddies from OUT of the area. Be present, be local, be for the residents you serve, not higher ambitions.

I am including photos of the streetscape so people have an idea. Why can’t that be bought and just left open space? A trail park?

Well, think about it people, because a buyer will come, and then potentially this is a fair bit of acreage in play if Weston wakes up again, this is oh hell no again, right?

It is never over in Chester County. And a lot of this is due to….wait for it…the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which has not been comprehensively updated since 1969. It requires an act of the state constitution which means State Reps and State Senators and they never seem to want to deal with this, do they? It would be nice if they did. It would be nice if residents were protected better and had more of a say as to the way they want their communities to look like.

The Johnson Matthey Land and Weston land if improperly developed could drastically impact our eco system in that area and the environment. And then let’s look at traffic and infrastructure. And more.

Time to pay attention.

Happy weekend.