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

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:

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.

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.

today at ebenezer, hope rose like a phoenix from the ashes

This won’t be a particularly long post and over the next couple of days I will be going through photos from the sign ceremony to post but today my heart was happy and full of joy.

I love this site, and I love the history it represents, and today I felt hopeful. Today I felt the old souls were pleased… and I could also feel more recent souls who loved Ebenezer whom I knew, Ann Christie and Al Terrell were smiling.

Also something unexpected happened. Today I got a thank you for my contributions to Ebenezer. That is a place that is so special to me, and the thank you was heartfelt. It came from Pastor April Martin and Bertha Jackmon. Coming from them that really meant something special to me. No one really has ever publicly recognized my efforts, and it’s one of those things where no brass band was ever needed, but a simple thank you today meant the world.

My relationship with the East Whiteland Historic Commission doesn’t really exist. I genuinely like a couple of the members and a few members past and present have always been truly really nice to me, and I enjoy speaking with them and knowing them a little bit, BUT I know most of those people do not like me, and a few do not go out of their way to make me feel welcome. And part of the things that have upset me about Ebenezer was trying to talk to them over the years. None of them are bad people, but they are quite cliquish, and not necessarily welcoming to someone like me, or anyone who isn’t their normal person.

Part of what I realized today is I don’t need their approval or permission to love local history. They honestly did a really nice job with the ceremony. Ebenezer’s graveyard is nicely cleaned up. A bunch of stones have fallen over but it’s partially the site itself, and there are new homes being dug around it. The plan is to restore the stones and cap the church ruin which is perfect.

There is a brand new website and fundraising will need to be done for the future and if there are folks who can set up a non profit to help Ebenezer live long into the future visit https://www.historicebenezerbactonhill.org/

It was really nice to visit Hiram and Joshua today too.

Many thanks to Chair of the East Whiteland Supervisors Scott Lambert and Manager Steve Brown for their support of preserving this historic site and for arranging all sorts of things today and East Whiteland PD for making a sometimes busy road behave today.

Again, I will post photos over the next few days. In the future I would like to plant daffodils and snowdrops by the grave stones after they are reset.

ebenezer is getting a historic marker…finally

I am not trying to be sour grapes here, but when you read this press release disguised as an article embedded below makes you feel like a couple of recent people did everything with regard to the ruin of Ebenezer with no help from anyone else ever. The truth is, there have been a lot of people involved, who should be remembered and thanked.

It’s like a very large village has loved this site and helped and tried to help over the years.

Those of you who know me know that I have worked on this personally for years. I have made publicly available all the information I found and shared loads of photos.

I do not do things like this for atta girls or accolades, but people could say thank you once in a while.

And folks could also say thank you to the families of the late Al Terrell and late Ann Christie as well. And former scout Luke Phayre and his mother, historian Catherine Quillman, Tim Caban former chair of East Whiteland Historic Commission, Theresa Schatz and Susan Evans -former member of East Whiteland Historic Commission, and even Dr. Bill Watson from Immaculata who is always so patient and helpful when you have any questions. There are also all the people who once lived in the area who contributed to the oral histories I posted up and gave me photos to use. Like the artist Claude Bernardin.

Or how about Chester County resident and retired Air Force Colonel Howard Crawford West Chester Veterans Council and commander of the American Legion Post 134 who was instrumental in our Veterans Day ceremony in 2016 on the site? Or Doug Buettner and others over the years who helped clean up the site? Or how about those wonderful East Whiteland police officers who showed up in 2016 to help direct traffic during the Veterans Day ceremony and became part of the honor guard?

Ebenezer is very special to me, even if I am a middle-aged white woman with no relatives in the cemetery.

I am so happy that historical marker is going up here and that there is now a small chance and hope for preservation in the future that lasts. I know that the ruin is too far gone to do anything but stabilize because a few years ago I was the one along with my husband, who had a structural engineer who dealt with historic properties look at it and give a report.

I will attend this ceremony, and I will have a happy heart and a smile on my face, as I am grateful that this is getting some more recognition. But I just want people out there to recognize that there are a lot of people who have cared about this site over the years and helped to the best of their ability.

To get to this point, it’s not just because of recent events, there are years of things behind this and lots of people who cared. Other friends like Christine, Tia, Dana and Keica.

And when I first moved here, East Whiteland Township didn’t truly give a crap about the site. East Whiteland beyond some of the member of the historic commission started to give a damn when Scott Lambert became supervisor. As a matter of fact, when we did the Veterans Day ceremony in 2016, not one supervisor showed up. I remember at the time those of us who worked on that couldn’t believe that. We kept wondering what would it have taken for any of the three supervisors or manager to have shown up even for a few minutes?

I realize I’m like the inconvenient guest at a dinner party because you never know what’s going to come out of my mouth, but I think it’s important to recognize here that a lot of people, not just me, have contributed to saving and trying to save Ebenezer.

If you go to visit this site, I hope you feel all the happy souls like we do when we’re on the site. If you go tomorrow, that is when the marker is being unveiled at 1:30 PM on Bacton Hill Road in East Whiteland.

immaculata hit with federal law suit…my my my…

My goodness. It seems Immaculata is on the receiving end of a Civil Rights/Employment Discrimination suit from someone who appears to have (or have had) tenure and is (or was) a department head?

Oh yes, indeedy. Meet Grimes vs. Immaculata University (2:23-cv-03357 filed August, 2023)

Civil Rights. Employment. Federal.

I have been hearing rumblings about Immaculata for a couple of years. To be honest, it totally bums me out. I mean you don’t want them to become the next Cabrini, right?

Anywhooo I have a soft spot for artists and the woman who filed is an artist and professor. Diane Grimes. On LinkedIn is says she is (was?) chair of department unless I am misreading? But not on Immaculata’s website?

I also heard recently that Immaculata’s former head of nursing left for Gwynedd Mercy, so is there something going on? As the years have progressed, is it fair to say fewer Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are around and it’s more lay people in leadership? The nuns always ran a tight, happy ship, so perhaps the new world order at Immaculata is having growing pains? Considering the amount of acreage they own that could be sold off, sure hope not, right?

Diane Grimes is quite accomplished. I do not know her, but I know she exhibits her art, which is beautiful, and she is a published author.

Soooo I don’t know but it’s a thing waiting to happen I am sure. These suits aren’t easy and here is what is on PACER is below. Here’s wondering if the media will find this interesting and how long it will take for someone to say I am “bashing” Immaculata for posting this.

Academic drama popcorn, anyone?

pa dep holding public meeting on bishop tube 9/12/23 at general wayne elementary in malvern

  • On Tuesday, September 12, 2023, DEP will host an in person public meeting to discuss the Site and the implementation of the response action.
    Location: General Wayne Elementary School – Auditorium
    20 Devon Road, Malvern, PA 19355
    Time: 6:30 pm -8:30 pm
  • Planning for additional pre-design investigation activities.
~PA DEP

Unless you have been living under a rock, you should have heard of Bishop Tube, that delightful toxic playground on Malin Road in East Whiteland. It is remarkably still up for residential development. Same guy as Rock Hill Farm proposed development in Willistown for you all new to this.

BISHOP TUBE PAGE ON DEP WEBSITE: CLICK HERE!

https://www.eastwhiteland.org/351/Bishop-Tube-Land-Development

https://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/ongoing-issues/bishop-tube-development-proposal

Media and Chester County Residents take note of this meeting.

octorara and east whiteland are not generally two places you find in a sentence together…yet here we are….sadly

Sadly it’s about the email trail. I wrote about this awkward topic in June:

Sadly, this is still giving me major pause. And I don’t want to be that person, but this person running for school board in Octorara, where he is a current school board member. His name is Anthony Falgiatore, and he is also a Sergeant in the East Whiteland Police Department. I do respect people that follow their passions, but while many members of law enforcement might have side gigs and second jobs, for most people that is not a job as an elected official in the same county, but different municipality from where they work.

For those who are not familiar with Octorara School District it was founded in the 1950’s and is serving a still fairly rural area of Chester and Lancaster counties.

So allow me to share two snippets of the August 21, 2023 Octorara School Board Meeting:

Here is the entire meeting:

Here is the verbiage of what Mr. Fox said:

For anyone unaware, the District is involved in two legal actions concerning Mr. John Ryan Miller: a federal civil suit, and he was arrested on our campus in September for criminal trespass and possession of a weapon on school grounds.

I’m presenting an email to the board and the public. Miller provides this email, and its string of forwarding actions, amongst his filings in the federal civil suit.

It shows Mr. Falgiatore, in a breach of confidentiality, forwarded an email sent by former Superintendent, Dr. Orner. The email was on the topic of school safety and security.

Mr. Falgiatore forwarded this email from his Octorara email account to his personal email account. Within 3 minutes, through another intermediary email account, it was in Miller’s hands.Mr. Falgiatore forwarded this email knowing Miller had been arrested on our campus and awaiting trial for the criminal trespass and weapon charges.

The public handout is 1 page as the body of Dr. Orner’s email isn’t included because of its sensitive content. Start near the bottom, you see the original email header from Dr. Orner to only the board from March 2022. For the board handout, look to the bottom left for Dr. Orner’s email header. The board copy has the pages side-by-side.

Reading up the page, on Feb 8, 2023, Mr. Falgiatore forwarded this email twice. First to his personal account, then within 1 minute he forwarded it from his personal account to an email address of Whizwit. The unknown Whizwit then forwarded to Miller. All of this in 3 minutes.

You’ve breached confidentiality.

You’ve done so with sensitive information on the safety and security of our school.

Through your action, the person arrested on our campus and awaiting trial, received this information – all in a matter of minutes.

This is kind of a big deal, which leaves me even more uncomfortable. See a video about testimony in this case:

 

Anthony Falgiatore’s testimony begins at about the 1hr:14min point in the recording.

It’s because of Sgt. Falgiatore’s position as a police officer, his external sharing of confidential information related to safety and security entrusted to him, his statements during his testimony, and uncertainty of how he would respond to a call at a local school in his jurisdiction that causes concern, and is that over reaction and unreasonable or reasonable?

So Sgt. Falgiatore, I find myself torn and a bit stuck here. I applaud you living your passions, but this has been a very strange case and your own boss is among the people this Mr. Miller is trying to sue so how does this work? Our first loyalties are to ourselves and our family for sure, but you are an officer of the law and also a politician so don’t you ever feel conflicted by this? How can you compartmentalize? How can you be proud to be endorsed by Klanned Karenhood?

And then there is this from April:

Sir, I guess I am asking which do you wish to do more? Because this dual work life/political life thing is possibly not working? And why would you forward emails, internal emails to a person suing your school board, your boss, and who knows whom all else in Chester County?

I think gob smacked applies here as a term of expression. Maybe you need to choose what matters to you most in an effort to pay forward the greater good? Do you want to be a politician or in law enforcement? No offense, I don’t think you can do both.

Maybe it’s time to choose? If you were retired from law enforcement and then chose to be a politician, no one would have a problem with that. But this whole have your cake and eat it too is not working so well, is it? Or maybe you think it’s fine. Have a ponder on it.

That’s all.

we knew this billboard was coming and can it be seen from space ?

This looks terrible and is it actually dangerous ? This was taken last evening 10:30 PM or there abouts.

A friend asked if PENNDot was going to add strobes to the regular lights like they have on Route 100 so people pay attention to the traffic signals not the billboards? People are afraid of distracted driving accidents and adverse neurological reactions and perhaps that is indeed more than a little justified?

But hey, I never hold out hope on PENNDot. They can’t even add a four way stop on Providence Road and Warren Avenue in Willistown, and God knows the accidents justify it.

These billboards are bullshit. And another thing allowed thanks in part to the Municipalities Planning Code not providing protection for Pennsylvania communities, only developers.

East Whiteland could have gone balls to the wall and said no to billboards, but I don’t think they really could afford to sadly.

But East Whiteland? Time to deal with how this looks and the problems that will occur if not dealt with.

I am amused by all the people who are so oblivious to what goes on where they live that they were surprised this billboard was going up. I am also amused by all the people who said they would fight this particular billboard and then essentially vanished from the issue, like happens with so many issues around. Now I know people will take umbrage at my comments but sometimes residents actually have to actively participate where they live.

Billboards are not about improving communities, only destroying them. They are a monument to ugliness.

landfilla estates?

So here we go again…sort of. This article showed up on a random news app:

Smart News: Philadelphia Business Journal

Toll Brothers pays $33M for Malvern land, plans 280-home development

August 16, 2023
BY
PAUL SCHWEDELSON

Fort Washington homebuilder Toll Brothers is building 280 luxury townhomes in Malvern after acquiring 159 acres of undeveloped land.

The three parcels, at 272 Lapp Road, 278 Lapp Road and 367 Old Morehall Road, are just north of Route 202. Vanguard’s Quarry Ridge office building and Knickerbocker Driving Range are east of the property. Toll Brothers bought the Chester County land from Knickerbocker Lands LLC for $33 million.

The sale did not include the driving range.

Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) is naming the master-planned development Anfield at Malvern and plans to open it for sale in spring 2024. Site improvements on the property are underway. The townhomes will range from 1,825 square feet to 2,995 square feet and include basements. Prices have not been disclosed….The development is expected to include a clubhouse, fitness center, gathering room, outdoor pool, pickleball courts, walking trails and a dog park. The site is located within the Great Valley School District….In the second quarter of this year, Toll Brothers built 2,492 homes at an average price of $1 million. The company’s townhome developments in the region include West Chester Crossing, Doylestown Walk and Overlook at Town Center in King of Prussia.

This is also in Vista Today.

OK they’re always Trendy Wendy so they are enticing people to live on top of an old landfill with pickleball. That makes me laugh because in Tredyffrin Township they were Pickleball courts that had open on Valley Forge Military Academy, and College land that I’ve just been shut down for noise and other zoning things according to Savvy Main Line:

So pickleball is not a slam dunk. I also think that I remember the plans done by Jason Dempsey/DP Partners, the last developer on that site, that the plans they had approved were slab on grade no basements? Or am I incorrect?

Just so we are clear information wise, this is the former Knickerbocker landfill owned for quite a long time by the Rubino family.

Next a reader of mine chimed in when I initially posted online and shared the article:

I’ve assisted in the redevelopment of many former hazardous waste sites of different kinds, but never for building homes on a full-blown landfill that received hazardous wastes — and this one also has an 8-inch oil pipeline through the middle of it. It’s common to install a cap (permeable geotextile topped with 2 ft of clean soil) over historical fill and then build on it, I’ve helped with that all over Philly, Camden, and Wilmington — but that fill was emplaced when the cities were built, not in our lifetimes. And it wasn’t hazardous waste, either.

This screenshot is from the 2021 plan, and at that time they still needed an environmental investigation via soil borings throughout the area to be developed. I’m curious whether that was done and what they found.

I also wonder what the geophysics are like on an old landfill like that and how thick the trash is where they’re going to build. There’s a clay cap over the entire surface, so they’re going to have to bring in soil to put over top of that (probably over geotexile), but I wouldn’t feel good about pouring concrete slabs for houses on top of a landfill and hoping they don’t eventually sink and/or crack. Ugh.

Older Knickerbocker stuff:

https://www.mindat.org//feature-7270226.html?mibextid=Zxz2cZ

https://www.eastwhiteland.org/376/Knickerbocker-Tract

Some Knickerbocker history
Re: East Whiteland meeting.

Well…sigh…

Apparently this new Toll Brothers project represents the entire project that Jason Dempsey/ DP Partners was developing .. .The early plans did include an additional 102 building units on the driving range but the entire supervisors board voted that plan down, didn’t they?

So we shall see.

I found stuff on East Whiteland’s website about Knickerbocker:

https://www.eastwhiteland.org/376/Knickerbocker-Tract

https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/CurSites/srchsites.cfm

https://eastwhiteland.org/DocumentCenter/View/1637/Applicant-Petition-to-Amend-Zoning-Map-and-Comp-Plan?bidId=

I wrote about Knickerbocker two years ago:

Here’s a post about Knickerbocker and history around the area:

So Chester County and East Whiteland will be dancing with Toll over Knickerbocker I am sure. A friend came up with the catchiest name for the project:

LANDFILLA ESTATES

Perfect name. Ciao for now.

Toll Brothers Upper Uwchlan- hideous

well hello opdenaker, would you like to dance?

One month ago, I wrote about A J Blosenski which was sold to Waste Connections. My email went all the way up the corporate ladder. I spoke with some really nice people at Waste Connections, whom I thought had straightened out my neighborhood’s trash dilemma but apparently NOT.

Once again AJ Blosenski just arbitrarily skipped recycling in my neighborhood. I don’t do trash left on the street in the summer. I don’t do trash left on the street at any time when you’re paying for a service so I’m actually pissed now.

I was mildly annoyed before but then my husband looked in our account and although Waste Connections said we were going to get credited for the three weeks of missed service we experienced before, we never got a credit and they were happy happy happy to take money today for the next month yet they skipped recycling and didn’t call didn’t email didn’t text. And our service has been reduced to one pick up a week, which is really no big deal, except there was no reduction in cost. There was a vague promises of an extra trash bin, but that never materialized and then there’s the issue of the three weeks of missed prior service we were supposed to get credit for and we never got credit for.

Fool me once shame on you. For me twice shame on me. That being said, Opdenaker, would you care to dance? Yes I am calling them tomorrow. I had checked y’all out before because you offer rather good recycling. Like all other refuse and recycling companies you also have mixed reviews. But you aren’t Whitetail Disposal whom I found incredibly offensive with the hard sell door to door ignore the no soliciting signs during COVID.

I have been pretty good trying to give Waste Connections/ AJ Blosenski a chance to improve after I wrote my last post.

And when you tell customers that you will credit them for services not rendered, that kind of makes you less likely to stay with a company as well.

I am not in the mood for trash issues again.

original 1989 scout report on ebenezer and an update

Dan Baker photo 1989

In 1989, Dan Baker lived in East Whiteland Township and was an Eagle Scout. He adopted Ebenezer, AME and her ruins on Bacton Hill Road for his Eagle Scout project.

Recently, Dan shared via Bertha Jackson, (who is an AME church historian) additional thoughts and a few photos from his project. Both his original project report, and this update are embedded in this post.

In addition, there was a very recent presentation given by my friend Tia Manon at East Whiteland Township. This was part of the presentation. Tia has ancestors buried in the cemetery at the ruin of Ebenezer AME. She still searches for another ancestor named Perry Ringgold/James Williams. He has two names because he was a slave who gained his freedom on the underground railroad. So he started as Perry and ended up as James. Apparently he may have shown up in Mount Pleasant. I said I think the Mount Pleasant section of Wayne in an 1880 census but he’s listed as white so we’re not sure if he was trying to pass or it’s not him.

From July, 2016 (I placed the article):

https://www.poconorecord.com/story/news/state/2016/07/17/community-wants-to-save-historic/27489162007/ (click to read)

I can’t even explain to you how it makes my heart happy that other people have taken up the mantle of Ebenezer. Of course, back when I started researching the AME church didn’t really admit that they owned it still, and then research led to the old deed, which apparently has never been changed in Chester County. So the AME church does now seem to acknowledge that they still own this amazing historic resource, which is good. I just wish their national church would maybe recognize this site a little more and help out with local efforts.

Dan Baker photo 1989

Once again baby steps forward. I know some people don’t understand why I love this abandoned site so much. I just do. I still remember the day that I discovered the ruined wasn’t an abandoned farmhouse, but a church and when I saw my Civil War soldier, Joshua.

Then I found recently online drone footage over Ebenezer :

It goes with a project from an archeology student at the University of Pennsylvania. Her name is Sarah Caminito. I am not sure if she graduated or not.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/f02c06d9edf84fbcb423f7e8f1b98258
(click to view)

Ebenezer AME also has her own page on Find A Grave.

So hopefully Ebenezer will regain her proper place in history and forever preservation will occur. I want to hope, sometimes I am afraid to hope.

My friend Tia will be writing about it and when she does I hope to share her thoughts.

Thanks for stopping by.

Dan Baker photo 1989