Tag Archives: east vincent

pennhurst in east vincent is already haunted so why curse it with a data center?

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I love historic preservation. But even I don’t love Pennhurst. I think the whole thing, all of the buildings, should be razed.

However, it does NOT mean that I think East Vincent Township should sit on their collective hands and allow a data center. And I actually did say that to the township manager. And I think more people should stand up and be heard.

From what I understand, East Vincent wanted to create an ordinance regarding restricting data centers and then a plan came in and was filed under the wire so to speak?

https://vista.today/2025/09/former-pennhurst-state-hospital-data-center/

East Vincent drafting data center ordinance

East Vincent had wanted to adopt a zoning ordinance for data centers before a formal plan is filed to redevelop Pennhurst.

But as of 9/17/25:

https://www.eastvincent.org/index.asp?SEC=015E8651-3650-4039-87BA-9B4C74591337&DE=66A36F14-8175-4B3D-8A4D-23727AFD8324

Click here for the draft ordinance stuff:

https://www.eastvincent.org/index.asp?SEC=015E8651-3650-4039-87BA-9B4C74591337&DE=03C4B456-8BB6-4541-8450-665567B3CD24

There are special meetings in East Vincent this week- starting with the supervisors Monday AND you can register via Zoom (you know that handy tool that East Whiteland recently ditched?)


Special Board of Supervisors MeetingThe Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting on September 22, 2025, at 6:30 PM at the Municipal Complex and at 7:00 PM will hold a public hearing and could vote to adopt an ordinance entitled “Data Center and Energy Technology Campus Ordinance”.  Copies of the proposed ordinance are available for public inspection at the Township Office and on the Township website.  This hearing will be held in-person meeting attendance and via Zoom Live Stream.  Please click here to register to attend via Zoom.  Please click here to view the ordinance.  

Special Planning Commission Meetings:The Planning Commission will hold special meetings onTuesday, September 23rd, Wednesday, September 24th, and Thursday, September 25th all beginning at 7:00 PM at the Municipal Complex.  The purpose of these meetings will be to review and discuss the Data Center Ordinance. These meetings will be held in-person and via Zoom. To attend Tuesday the 23rd via Zoom, click here.  To attend Wednesday, the 24th via Zoom, click here.  To attend Thursday, the 25th via Zoom, click here. 

https://www.eastvincent.org/

I am not sure at this point who all owns Pennhurst and I am all ears if anyone cares to update the information, at the bottom line is we don’t need data centers. They hog our energy, they cause pollution, they destroy our open space, create water issues, yes? (See articles at end of post.)

I remember an article in 2021 about funding for redevelopment for certain properties and Pennhurst was one of them. Why does redevelopment have to take the form of a data center? Back then the article I saw in the Daily Local said the following in part.

The Chester County Economic Development Council will administer the funding for the two Chester County projects while the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Montgomery will handle the Rohm & Haas project.

The projects are:* Pennhurst LLC was approved for a $4 million grant and a $6 million loan to assist with the redevelopment of the former Pennhurst Hospital site. BOS funds will be used for environmental remediation, demolition, roads/streets, excavation/grading, and engineering.

The cost is $13.2 million for remediation and site prep work for the project that is expected to eventually create around 600 new jobs, the state said….Derek Strine of Delaware is the developer of the Pennhurst site, which has a sordid history.

Opened in 1908, the Pennhurst State School and Hospital was closed for good Dec. 9, 1987….Located off Route 724 near Spring City, it has 23 buildings totaling more than 600,000 square feet on it. The buildings contain asbestos, Grigalonis said of the environmental hazard there.

Strine said the developers decided residential development was out of the question for the 100-plus-acre property due to its notorious past. He plans to put industrial, commercial and medical office uses on the site.

The state, he said, left a lot of environmental and safety issues when they closed the hospital. Most of the buildings will be demolished but a “core” of six may be saved to make some sort of museum or remembrance to the former state hospital.

“It’s not something you want to forget or ignore,” said Strine, whose company is based in Wilmington, Del.

In all, Strine expects the project will have a value of about $113 million. Work, he estimated, would start sometime in 2018 after the state approves his work plan for the site.

“The goal (of the remediation work) is to make it shovel ready,” he said.

Again, as was the case in West Whiteland I invite people to do things like Google Loudon County Virginia. Google the fight in West Whiteland. And if you live in a municipality, that could be targeted by mega warehouses, bio digesters, and data centers, you need to make your supervisors earn their keep because if you think it can’t happen to you, it can. Can it be said that local government will only try to protect you if you open your mouths? Can it also be said the state doesn’t give a crap about you with these things even if your state elected officials are against these projects in certain areas?

Projects like these in communities mean that residents have to stand up and be heard and it’s never going to be just one meeting. So if where you live is important, get busy .

What if a REAL hospital that Chester County actually NEEDS could be built? Or a combination hospital, low density housing, and open space? Make something good come out of a place that did so much wrong?

I still think the haunted asylum of it all is horrible. They are making money off of a hideous site in a garish way. A ghoulish side show is not a way to even begin to be respectful of what happened there in my opinion and neither is preserving any of the buildings.

Sorry not sorry, but not only does the data center plan need to be scuttled but so does the “haunt season” events over there.

Honestly, you have historical markers so raze what is left of the buildings and since the site seems to have think was remediated with that remediation money, why not put something positive and necessary on the acreage? Why not a hospital and senior living as the housing alternative? Chester County actually NEEDS both right?

This site is 112 acres. It could have a viable use as in not a data center or mega warehouses or building bio digesters.

Also is it true that the reason a data center is even lurking as a possibility is because of the former manager now assistant manager in East Whiteland? And I am allowed to ask that question because I just don’t know. I’m just looking for clarity.

All I do know is people need to get to these meetings in East Vincent and you need to stand up and be heard. You can zoom it or you can go in person. Don’t underestimate the power of packing a boardroom, however.

Has anyone told the Delaware Riverkeeper organization about this for example? What is happening at the site of Hood Mansion in Limerick is bad enough. Don’t let it happen here. Besides this Pennhurst location is actually close enough to Limerick that why do we need two mega data centers so close?

I end this post before the links I am providing with the opinion that the nightmare history doesn’t need to be turned into another potential nightmare use.

Stop the latest madness at Pennhurst before it’s too late.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/technology/meta-data-center-water.html

https://virginiamercury.com/2025/09/19/loudoun-transmission-line-debate-aims-scc-to-respond-to-data-center-needs-resident-concerns/

Rapid Data Center Development Challenges Grid Reliability, NERC Report Says

https://youtu.be/Bh2VkhhXjSA?si=sJoyMRwrOiHycC8H

https://youtu.be/RWn_xww-mvs?si=y_lO8zxYkcGatMcP

https://youtu.be/KlmtUlY52Ic?si=MwIKj8RVNLHXRu3D

https://youtube.com/shorts/sjPg3LsMhP0?si=uKG3oCY27t-yGXy4

https://youtu.be/wPlblHK5c6Y?si=mLTH4U7F8_Ke2WyF

sheeder bridge in daylight (post weekend accident)

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UPDATE 2 PM: A source tells me the following:

Bridge is NOT open

Boards were dry at time of accident.

Speed and uneven boards were the problem.

Very minor injuries.

(PennDOT apparently delivered big old pieces of concrete at some point today to keep people OFF the bridge.)

EARLIER:
Someone else was kind enough to send me some photos today. Except for the one above I have cropped them in a little so people can see the damage that occurred with the accident over the weekend.


This particular photographer and I were discussing how someone would wedge their SUV in the middle of the bridge, and we came to the conclusion that there must’ve been some kind of speed involved, and quite possibly someone both unfamiliar with the road and driving on wooded covered bridge surfaces.


I know for example when we go over a covered bridge, we treat the wood surface with respect and go slowly. A lot of people don’t – they fly. You combine that with Saturday’s weather conditions where we had had our first freezing rain/sleet of the season and even though the road surfaces were too warm for anything to stick long-term, it could’ve very well made everything quite slick. Or at least the road leading to bridge.

I hope the people who were in the accident are OK – I don’t know who knows which ambulance company responded or if the people went to a hospital.  I also hope that the people who were in the accident we’re not impaired in anyway because that will make this an even more expensive accident for them.

I am told PennDOT was out today. Thank you blog friend for the photos!

another chester county covered bridge seriously damaged

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I took the above photo in November of 2012. Late November, 2012 as a matter of fact.

That same day I also took this interior shot as we drove through:

Well as of the wee small hours of today (Sunday, November 20, 2016) yet another Chester County historical covered bridge is on the seriously injured and disabled list.  Check out the photos that the Eagle Service Center in Chester Springs Posted on their Facebook page :

Photo from Eagle Service Center Facebook page

Your eyes do not deceive you, that is an SUV wedged, yes wedged in the bridge.

Eagle Service Center said when they posted the accident photos (which are perfectly legal as the photos were taken on a public bridge on a public road):

This crash happened early this morning in the wooden bridge at French Creek Road and Hollow Road. The bridge was damaged during the crash and is currently closed.

An additional notice came out through a Chester County alert system today announcing:

The Covered Bridge on Hollow Rd between Pughtown and French Creek in West Vincent Twp. is closed due to damage from an accident.

Was this a slippery road or bridge surface that caused this, or was it reckless driving or a DUI?

How on earth does this happen?

This is the Sheeder-Hall or Hall Bridge and it is on the National Register of Historic Places!

According to Pennsylvania Covered Bridges:

According to county records, Chester County once had 85 covered bridges, 21 of which were shared with other counties. The earliest recorded covered bridge in Chester County was built in 1807 and the most recent in 1899. Only 15 covered bridges remain today, the oldest being the Hall’s Sheeder Bridge built in 1850. The covered bridge played an important part in the transportation system of the County throughout the 19 th century. Many of the bridges were built to serve local mills and the transportation of agricultural produce to market.

The bridge in Valley Forge just reopened. How long will this one be down? With a crash like this, there is undoubtedly severe structural damage possible, isn’t there?

Why are people so hard on our covered bridges?

I have been told by someone who looked at the bridge who saw it after accident and said it was dark, but they could I’d see there were a few new gouges in the Burr truss timbers. They were going to see what they could see in daylight – fingers crossed.

Burr truss is the design – the combination of arch and multiple “King posts” – originally designed by  Theodore Burr in around 1804  and  patented in 1817. The bridge also interestingly enough has steel beams, and no weight limit. The truss structure really only supports the walls and roof.  

But last time we went over this bridge I did notice that it had some deferred maintenance going on. I am not sure technically who owns the bridge. Is it PennDOT or Chester County. This is the oldest bridge in Chester County still in active use.