I was wondering when the local TV media was going to pick up the pickle the YMCA of Greater Brandywine organization, Upper Main Line YMCA and Easttown Township have found themselves in. Boomchakalaka, today was the day and this was literally just on 6 ABC Action News Philadelphia a bit ago.
Yeah whatever, it took me by surprise and the beginning of the video is wobbly. The report was completely unexpected. I can’t believe someone other than myself and Savvy Main Line is actually covering this. I have no objection to pickleball per se, no matter what people want to say, but I did not like the way the neighbors have been treated to date.
Below are links from just 3 meetings where pickleball and the Upper Main Line YMCA (UMLY) were discussed:
As I reported on May 17th, the neighbors are taking UMLY etc to court. I do not feel the neighbors wanted to do this but they were not being heard were they? And they were not being heard for a long time, weren’t they? And now media is catching on.
Once again the peeved and pickleball aggrieved will say anyone supporting the neighbors and the affected neighbors are horrible, terrible people. Well maybe if UMLY which now says they want to be good neighbors had been good neighbors in the beginning, this would not be where people are now, correct? And the YMCA of Greater Brandywine has been heavy handed before in dealing with people, haven’t they?
And people will say what do neighbors think buying a house near a YMCA, but to them I say oh really? UMLY is located in a historic resource…in a residential district, so wouldn’t common sense dictate they should try harder?
Residents are entitled to a reasonable expectation of quiet enjoyment, and people might like playing pickleball at UMLY but the residents do indeed have to be considered. And they were not being considered. Neighbors have apparently been trying to deal with this for a couple of years? These neighbors are far nicer than UMLY deserves. Personally I would have given them six months.
Anyway, now the news is settling into covering this. UMLY and Easttown sadly, could have avoided this, couldn’t they have?
Sooooo…. I had written an update to the pickleball issue at Upper Main Line YMCA with their neighbors. Apparently the pickle pusses didn’t like it and for a while it was a barrage of nasty comments and impersonation of an actual friend (that he thinks he has possibly traced to the source incidentally.)
But hey, attack me like I am the only person talking about this. Yep, here is the fan mail. I dressed it up for Christmas below. The milk of human kindness overflows. If this is the camaraderie and hail good fellow well met of this sport, well isn’t that sad?
No one I have heard of over there or anywhere wants pickleball to leave, the neighbors just want fair treatment. And pickle heads targeting me? That accomplishes nothing except maybe I write about it more? Good job, then.
Again, maybe the neighbors have rights too? They should. Time will tell in Easttown.
Well I know this has been brewing a while but wowza. I feel sorry for the neighbors. I don’t play pickleball, so it means nothing to me. I have friends who play and love it. However I do know that it is unusually noisy.
I did a little nosing around and found out this has been going on for a while (as in more than a year? Maybe two years almost?) AND if you listen to the entire meeting somewhere a neighbor says pickleball courts were built without permits? I did a screen record of the meeting because Easttown has their meeting on You Tube but unlisted so that makes me think they could disappear so….
I found the Upper Main Line Y response ineffective. I am told that the Brandywine Y (which I guess owns them now?) has or has had similar issues? I remember a big issue when they wanted to put pickleball in Lionville a year or so ago.
So things about the meeting that made me laugh out loud: kind of asking Eattown to pay for or pay towards noise mitigation with some special fencing? Umm I am still wondering HOW they built the courts without permits?
Back to the meeting. The residents were well spoken and polite. Many of the Upper Main Line YMCA (“UMLY”) supporters and patrons…less so.
One person, can’t recall her name, was as rude and dismissive as could be…and is the apparent chair of the Willistown Planning Commission? Well we all know how Willistown residents get so wonder how she would be feeling if it was next door to her ?
Some of the patrons of UMLY were pleasant-ish and polite, as I mentioned. But so many of the others? Asshats with a misplaced sense of entitlement. I did not hear any neighbor say take away the pickleball courts, only that the noise HAS to be dealt with. Some of the most immediate neighbors, like on Longcourse Lane (a great street, incidentally) are showing by my research as being in Tredyffrin. So accomplishing anything is harder because UMLY is in Easttown.
Here is where UMLY is on the zoning map. Notice the R-1 AKA Residential:
Here is the another attachment – a land use table- I found in e code 360 on zoning:
So again, not a zoning professional. Not an attorney. But I can read. And I have to ask if UMLY is playing a game they can win? And yes I suggested a land use lawyer to a friend to pass along to the residents. Ask the residents in Narberth and even Willistown who have used this man and they will tell you worth every penny.
I added the lighting component of the zoning code because that is also a consideration. Hypothetically, lights might be on later than needed in part to liability concerns. However, I also have to ask WHY those courts are not locked up at the close of every day and even seasonally when it’s too cold to play pickleball or tennis for example? I am asking because residents said at this meeting where pickleball was continuing AFTER operating hours at UMLY? And I will note at present in Radnor an elite private girls school is being rude to neighbors with super daylight bright lights at night shining into windows of neighbors. They lock their courts but say they have to keep lights on and they are not down shielded so I have been told you can wake up at 1 AM and it’s like noon. That is light pollution and that also has serious environmental impacts. It affects bird migration and other things.
Residents are entitled to a reasonable expectation of quiet enjoyment, and people might like playing pickleball at UMLY but the residents do indeed have to be considered. And they are not being considered. Neighbors have apparently been trying to deal with this for a couple of years? These neighbors are far nicer than UMLY deserves. Personally I would have given them six months.
UMLY needs to be told a cautionary tale: the tale of Dink City Pickleball that opened for a brief time at Valley Forge Military & College….and closed because the neighbors in Tredyffrin had enough of the noise rather quickly.
Dink City Pickleball was forced to close due to a violation of the township’s R1 (residential) zoning code. The business received a notice of violation in July 2023, giving them 30 days to appeal or cease operations. No appeal was filed, and the business announced that August 14, 2023 would be its last day.
Finding the holy grail – a place to play pickle – just got easier, Main Line.
Two enterprising locals just opened what they say is the largest pickleball facility in the northeast: Dink City Pickleball at Valley Forge Military Academy & College.
And unlike YMCAs, country clubs, and Malvern’s new Bounce Pickleball, you pay only for your reserved court time. No need for a membership….With the tagline “community at play,” Dink City is more than cushioned courts, painted lines and regulation nets.
“It’s all the social things around pickleball that we offer – that’s the differentiator,” Norton tells SAVVY.
Think food trucks, corn hole and music on weekends, plus lessons, clinics, leagues, tournaments, pro shop, private events and birthday parties….“I love getting out on the court and getting a good sweat on,” says Norton who’s played pickle for nine years. “But just as much as that, I like hanging out with friends and family afterwards, maybe having a beverage or a taco or something from a food truck. That enhances the experience for everybody.”
The courts have lights for evening play and will be available year-round. “There are some hard core pickle-ballers out there who will play in the cold,” Norton says. “It’s like paddle – once you get moving, you warm up a bit.”…The two decided to cash in on the craze but make it community-oriented rather than an exclusive club. A real estate broker connected them to Valley Forge Military, which has been seeking new revenue streams to offset falling enrollment. (Since 2010, VFMAC has sold 20 acres to Eastern College, five acres to Bentley Homes, and most recently, 23 acres to developer Rockwell Custom for a new senior living complex.)
“The quickest win,” the partners say, was repurposing the lightly-used tennis courts on Radnor Road in the Tredyffrin section of campus. They loved the “heart of Wayne” location – a stone’s throw from St. David’s Golf Club and close to multiple schools, campuses and country clubs.
And if all goes well, outdoor courts in Wayne could just be the beginning for Dink City. VFMAC is in early talks to turn its equestrian center into a sports complex that might include Dink’s first indoor courts. Craft and Norton are also looking at properties in and around Philly and Maryland – although they haven’t yet quit their day jobs.
Yeah and then a few weeks later, it was sayonara Dink City, again I refer to Savvy Main Line:
IN A PiCKLE IN RADNOR. Just two months after they cut the ribbon on a popular new 16-court pickleball facility at Valley Forge Military Academy, Dink City Pickleball is closing.
The trouble began with a “handful of complaints” about noise from neighbors, according to Tredyffrin Zoning Officer Erin McPherson. When she investigated, she found the commercial business was operating in violation of the township’s R1 (residential) zoning code. She sent a notice of violation on July 14, giving Dink City 30 days to appeal for zoning relief or cease operations. No appeal was filed, she says, and today Dink City announced that Monday Aug. 14 will be its last day.
“This is not the end,” wrote owners Bryson Craft and Robbie Norton in an email. “Dink City will be back better and stronger than ever.”
The partners – both young local fathers and pickleball enthusiasts – had leased four lightly used tennis courts from Valley Forge Military Academy and invested big $$ converting them into a state-of-the-art pickleball center with leagues, clinics, “Dink and Drinks” nights, summer camps and more. (See our story in the June SAVVY – link in profile and scroll down.)
“We tried to resolve the issue with the township but they wouldn’t accept our proposals,” co-owner Craft tells SAVVY.
Dink City will refund Open Play memberships and any account balances as of Aug. 15
Pickleball noise is a real problem. There is even a group on Facebook devoted to it – all areas of US and Canada:
IMPULSIVE/IMPACT SOUNDS: By definition, an impact sound is simply the solid collision between two objects, such as hammering, dropped objects, a door slamming shut, metal-to-metal impacts, etc. Impulse sound is defined as the product of a force and duration with which the force is applied. More specifically, impulse is the time integral of force from an initial time to the final time, the force being time dependent and equal to zero before the initial time and after the final time (ANSI S1.1–2013). – ……. The measurement of impulse noise is becoming increasingly common within the industrial hygiene field. Issues for measuring impulse noise issues include dynamic range, frequency range, anti-aliasing, microphone/preamplifier/power supply, sampling rates, etc.. Whether an SLM, dosimeter, or computer-based recording system is used, good impulse noise measurements are not trivial to make. The limits of the microphones may be reached. The influence of nonlinear acoustics can dramatically affect the measurements. – Taken from The Noise Manual, 6th Edition.
Like many pickleball players, when I hear (another) story about how noisy pickleball is, I simply roll my eyes and spew a few snarky remarks about how some people just can’t let others have any fun.
So, you can imagine my response when I discovered there was a Facebook Group called the “Pickleball Noise Relief Group.”
My eyes rolled back, my lips curled, and I prepared to write something blasting a bunch of Karens for wanting to shut down pickleball.However, after a few conversations with the group’s leader, Nalini Lasiewicz, and actually listening to what they had to say, I realized that automatically labeling them as a pickleball hate group that just wanted to ruin our sport was completely off base.
And my preconceived notions about people complaining about pickleball noise couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Basically, I was … I am wrong. And so are many of us who think that pickleball doesn’t actually have a noise problem.
Because for these people and many others who are too afraid to speak up, it’s a serious problem that’s causing them health and mental issues.
Pickleball players: it’s time we admit that there is a pickleball noise problem.
Meet Nalini Lasiewicz
Nalini Lasiewicz is a resident of a Los Angeles suburb who first got involved with pickleball noise issues during the COVID lockdown….Nalini says this exact scenario has played out countless times since she became an administrator of the Facebook Group created by Rob Mastroianni, a Cape Cod resident who had to sell his family home due to the noise becoming too much to deal with.
The group is dedicated to finding and supporting others across the country in similar situations. For many, it’s a platform that allows them to find ways to regain the peace they’ve lost in their neighborhoods.
Look, NO ONE IS SAYING NO PICKLEBALL. But UMLY needs to do right by the neighbors. And that doesn’t mean Easttown Township and taxpayers should be paying for noise mitigation. And If Tredyffrin shut it down at Valley Forge Military Academy and College, zoning is not so different from municipality to municipality given that the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of PA guides it all, correct?
I have no horse in this race, but I have been watching pickleball issues out of curiosity for a while. So Easttown and Tredyffrin residents near UMLY, I hear you and I am not hearing anything other than wanting your environment back. You aren’t being unreasonable. But UMLY and Upper Main Line Y? They are. And still I ask…how did they build pickleball courts without permits if that is indeed true?
Easttown Township needs to deal with this and not play kick the can. Tredyffrin Township could step into help residents if the supervisors can stop contemplating their collective navels long enough, yes? Expectation of quiet enjoyment? It’s a real thing. So pickleballers? This is a real issue. It’s not the noise you all are hearing, it’s what the residents are hearing and that is NOT the same thing.
Pay attention to the Model Noise Ordinance video I embedded here. They talk about the expensive anti-noise fences/barriers. They are discussing how it doesn’t work….
Ok Christmas is not going to decorate itself around here. Have a good night.
On July 31, 2024 the Chester County District Attorney’s office formerly charged Kathryn Calmus Frankel with arson after the July 23rd SECOND destructive fire at 400 Leopard Road in Berwyn, in Easttown Township. The FIRST destructive fire of May1st I guess is still under investigation? There have been no updates that I know of, do you?
Now the preliminary hearing was scheduled in front of Magisterial District Justice Mackenzie W. Smith at his court on 1572 Paoli Pike in West Chester ORIGINALLY on August 5th. It has been CONTINUED to September 9th and she is represented by Joseph P. McMahon of Lancaster, PA.
I have no news on the actual house. I have driven by a few times since the July fire and it is surrounded by chain link fencing and is so sad to see. I do not know if it will ever rise from these ashes, and if they demolish it I hope people document that in photos. It is a great loss as a historic asset.
Last night was a hell of a storm. And no one can say “Oh they are just 100 year storms” or whatever. We are getting these destructive storms out of Mother Nature more and more often. You can thank climate change, you know that thing that no one wants to acknowledge exists?
Personally, I did not get much sleep last night. The storm howled over, through, and around us. The sky was incredibly lit up by lightening and the roaring of thunder.
An Easttown Resident Video: Where is the Stormwater Management??
From my friend Michael:
Storm Water Management
I understand that not everything in life can be prevented. However, 3 Supervisor meetings ago myself and a neighbor specifically complained about storm water management on Bartholomew Rd. Yes, that is where I live. Please allow me to be provincial.
The irony is that the water surge was so strong last night that my neighbor who was with me at that meeting almost had an unspeakable tragedy. A huge tree fell through this house. His son was 3 feet away! The dust was so thick they could not see their way out!! By the grace of God, no one was hurt. The house looks a bomb hit it. I won’t post any photos out of respect for my friend. It looks like a war zone. It will be months before they will be able to live in a home on that land.
Water played a part in this. No more looks of anguish from certain Supervisors. No more “well the water has to go somewhere” comments. No more, “well, it is a 100 year storm”. It isn’t when it happens almost every year. I have no interest in debating why. It is time for action. There is simply too much water flowing down my street. I believe the construction on Waterloo has made it worse. It was a river last night. Yes, we still would have had flooding even with better management.
Let’s focus on preventing people from dying. This one was a close call. We need action on this issue.
Transparency!
I know personally what it is like to have a tree come down on your home. We experienced it during the ice storm of 2014. A tree literally came within inches of my husband’s head. We got through it, and that is what I am so diligent with tree work (a conversation for another day, but also important.)
Because I know what it is like for a tree to come down like that, every time there is one of these storms, right or wrong, I kind of hold my breath until they pass. Last year the Derecho wind storms wreaked havoc in Chester County including all around where we live.
Bartholomew Road. Berwyn. Easttown.
Stormwater management is something I feel most municipalities pay lip service to. They are more interested in salivating over ratables. Easttown is just one of the local Chester County Municipalities playing fast and loose with the well being of residents by just approving development after development willy nilly.
Water during these storms has fewer and fewer places to go. That is just reality. Which means our municipalities NEED to pay attention to density and for what they are approving, the stormwater management needs to be substantial.
Richards Road Last Night. Berwyn Fire Company Photo.
Last night’s storm also produced at least one sinkhole. Berwyn and Midland Avenues. Adjacent to a utility pole no less:
Mother Nature will be Mother Nature, but as communities we can do our part to do better. Which is why municipalities also need to pay more than lip service to responsible development as well as stormwater managerment. Below are snippets of video also from Berwyn and a couple of photos. I guess I am kind of wondering why the construction site was seemingly unprepared to deal with runoff? I know this was a big storm but still…
Today social media groups on the Main Line are all abuzz about a particular development plan. It is proposed for Bryn Mawr. I think it’s awful.
This was the proposed “Berwyn Square” that Easttown recently said no to.
It is the same developer apparently as the “Berwyn Square” that Eastown just said no to. Which was truly remarkable because Eastown never says no to anything.
I didn’t just connect the dots to all these development plans, Savvy Main Line did it for us (CLICK HERE FOR SAVVY)
Too. Damn. Much. Development.
The Bryn Mawr plan is shocking. Having grown up on the Main Line, and especially because where I went to high school was Shipley which is in Bryn Mawr, I spent a lot of years in Bryn Mawr. And I can tell you a great deal of the wonderful “village” feel disappeared when Bryn Mawr Hospital supersized. But a plan like this? I think it would kill what is left of the small town Main Street kind of vibe.
Obviously I no longer live in Lower Merion so even though I sent the commissioner for the ward that contains Bryn Mawr an email, I know my opinion doesn’t matter, I just gave it anyway. I figure he owes it to me to listen since way back when he wanted to become a commissioner in the first place a group I was part of helped him get elected.
The other reality of this plan and if you look at the last screenshot in this post it shows a rendering of sorts, and it also totally doesn’t show you what that Lancaster Ave (Route 30) intersection in Bryn Mawr is really like. It is an extraordinarily busy and accident prone intersection. It’s where Morris Avenue ends and Bryn Mawr Ave. begins. It’s where Ludington library is, the main and original branch of Bryn Mawr Trust Company is there. It’s where the train station is and a block or so from where the hospital begins.
2007 Accident Bryn Mawr.
The above photo was taken in 2007. One of the many accidents at this intersection. This particular accident I believe resulted in the fatality of the driver in the car in front of the bus. I also had another friend who was hit pushing her babies across the street in a stroller on a pedestrian walk signal at this corner. At that time, there was an NBC10 report on that accident.
No one is going to say that the building currently on the corner where they are proposing to put this apartment development is attractive. It’s never been attractive. But every development that is proposed is overly dense no matter where you live and whichever township or county you call home.
Downingtown PA development on Route 30.
The above photo is a development in progress in Downingtown. Another massive development. And none of these developments are particularly distinguishable from each other. Which is why I find great humor in the “brynmawr square“ and “Berwyn Square” development proposals
Development in East Whiteland along Route 30.
Above you see the development often discussed in East Whiteland. I don’t understand how the people who are paid to do the planning for these townships as well as elected officials have no vision.
At the end of the day this is why we desperately need to update the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This amount of development is not sustainable. And I will never believe the emperor’s new clothes fairytale that it is.
It’s very sad that it has come to this, but pick the township, town, and county and there’s always a bad development plan or several bad development plans. We are the ones that live in these communities and it’s time for elected officials to start listening to us.
Thanks for stopping by and stay safe in the snow.
Proposed “Bryn Mawr Square” Lancaster Ave (Route 30)
A friend commented today that whomever thought all this new construction was a good idea has hopefully made buckets of money ruining the area.
Among other things I blame the Chester County Planning Commission as well as the various municipalities.
Now these aren’t thoughts I wouldn’t expect from this person but are they wrong? So much construction and so many unfortunate, truthfully ugly apartment buildings. It’s just too much.
Start in Easttown and move west. From fakakta apartments they want to build essentially in the shadow of traditional and lovely Devon Horse Show neighborhoods via rezoning, to the supersizing of Berwyn Village.
Move onto East Whiteland. Apartments everywhere in various stages of development. Ugly, architecturally unfortunate buildings utterly devoid of charm.
And West Whiteland. Oh we can’t forget West Whiteland. A sea of apartments and wait until they develop at Ship Road and Lancaster Avenue which will create the urban canyon corridor from hell.
Here we are at King of Prussia west. And it literally sucks.
The tale of two cities errr ….Chester County.
Here we are in one of the most beautiful counties in Pennsylvania. But due to greed and urban sprawl, how soon before Chester County is referred to as formerly one of the most beautiful counties in Pennsylvania?
We are getting towards the end of 2020 and even in this brutal year of the global pandemic known at COVID19 the development has continued it’s relentless march across Chester County.
I have to ask when will it stop? Single family, multi family, fake carriage homes, apartments, town houses whatever it is ALL TOO MUCH.
Eastside Flats in Malvern Borough. Still don’t like them how many years later, although I do support the businesses. So who owns Eastside Flats now because I am uncertain at this point who owns the development and who manages it? It’s not the original developer.
Does everyone remember a couple of different things that put Eastside flats in the news early on? The amazingly and shockingly low amount of ratables Malvern Borough would receive for approving a development still out of scale and character for the Borough of Malvern? And the other kerfuffle when The Whip Tavern said no to Eastside Flats in Malvern Borough?
But then everyone heard Christopher’s was coming to town. It was like that one thing changed a lot of perception about this behemoth of a development. I have always felt like Christopher’s was a kind of anchor that drew people to Eastside Flats and other people and other businesses quite possibly. I know they are what initially made me personally give Eastside Flats a chance.
Christopher’s made Malvern more of a destination, which in turn benefited other businesses and the borough itself. And if there was a community event, Christopher’s in Malvern was right there for the community the way Christopher’s in Wayne always has been.
And for years Christopher’s did things like featured local artists on their walls. And they had wonderful staff. If you told one of the Christopher’s waitstaff you had a particular food allergy or a series of food allergies, they all knew the menu so well that they could bring you a flawless order that wouldn’t make you sick. They did this for a friend of mine one time when we went in for lunch. She had a lot of food allergies and they took care of her so perfectly. (it’s because of all these things that I will continue to go to Wayne once life returns to a more normal pattern.)
Recently, Christopher’s closed their Malvern location thanks to the COVID19 of it all, to return solely to a Wayne which leaves a giant, gaping, empty hole in the streetscape,and also, well they will be missed. In addition to being a wonderful business, Christopher’s offered food that wasn’t formula pub food and you didn’t just go there because it was a bar. You went there because it was a restaurant and it was a nice experience for all ages. It wasn’t huge or cavernous and cold as a space it was kind of just right. But can you imagine what the rent nut was to cover in Eastside Flats?
COVID-19 has caused America’s hospitality industry from coast to coast to take a direct and brutal hit. The largest in history for that industry. Restaurants and other hospitality industry businesses are closing left and right from coast to coast. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that not only are they getting no assistance, it’s the rents they are being charged.
But I have to ask, what kind of rent do these commercial landlords think they will get? After all, we are in a struggling in the present economy at a minimum, and nobody wants to look at what the other potential downside is, correct? I also think overall the economy has not been as strong as we have been led to believe. And people will argue with me about that but that’s just how I feel.
Malvern’s charm is in it’s history and size, much like the village portion of Berwyn and similarly scaled small towns and villages. Berwyn is in Easttown Township and a present is suffering from potential development implications of its own, but I think they need to look at what’s going on in Malvern Borough right now.
These new developments come in and even with old developments they will offer a lower rent to get somebody in the door. Then those rents get jumped over time to the point that the businesses have to look at their own financial viability and decide if they want to put food on the table of their families and staff or food on the table of whoever the commercial landlords are.
I know plenty of people who have over the years owned other restaurants or brick and mortar stores in various communities who had to make the painful decision to close because after their initial honeymoon when they first came to town and did business with their respective commercial landlords, they couldn’t justify the rents any longer.
And commercial property owners don’t really necessarily care about the empty storefronts in our communities, it’s about what they can make. So they won’t look at continual lease turnover the same way a community might. If one of their property sits empty, I am told they apply those losses to the bottom line of profits from other properties, so for them, it’s business as usual if a place is empty, right? Greedy is as greedy does right? And a lot of these commercial landlords aren’t local. So they don’t get what happens locally nor do they really care do they?
So now we are here in 2020. In October 2020 which has to be one of the most stressful and heartbreaking years a lot of us have experienced in our lifetimes. And a global pandemic known as COVID-19 is bringing the economy down like a house of cards, card by freaking card isn’t it? Drive Route 30 alone from further west to east to the city line. You really see the empty store fronts. This is no joke.
When it comes to local restaurants, not all of them have the space to put things outside and not all of the communities have the wherewithal to let the businesses put tables outside. And because this virus is not under control, and there’s no shot for it, everything is two steps forward and seven steps back is what it feels like. We are in the midst of additional outbreaks now. Which of course then makes businesses fear they will have to shut down again.
Someone said to me that essentially politics is driving all of this. And you can’t just blame it on one party or the other. Especially out here in these smaller municipalities. They don’t really have political savvy or Wiley Coyoteness. And yes, in Philadelphia they do (cue Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and the giant mess there), but out here? The politicians don’t necessarily run much, they are kind of run, aren’t they?
So when I heard about Christopher’s closing, I mentioned it to a chef in search of a space. And they didn’t want just any space they wanted the right space. And this is a chef who will blow a lot of culinary minds. They have the international and national credentials, they have the knowledge base and experience. So I told them about Eastside Flats. Selfishly, I want them to open a restaurant in our area. A lot of people do. They are also the kind of person who would bring people to the community just the way Christopher’s did and say Alba and General Warren do. It would be win-win to our communities and existing fine dining.
I asked this person the other day whatever had happened with them investigating Eastside Flats. And I think suffice it to say, unrealistic rents on the part of the commercial landlord happened. Did I mention this is a person with business experience? They essentially told me that what was being quoted for rent wouldn’t be sustainable during a normal period, let alone a global pandemic. Essentially, a business needs to sustain itself and with what whomever over there at Eastside is currently thinking, it just wouldn’t happen, that they wouldn’t even be able to break even. It’s a typical commercial property dilemma, and the dilemma is the only party who would be making a profit would be the commercial property owner and what small business in their right mind wants to assume that risk?
I am not an economist, but I remember hearing somewhere once that most restaurants only start to turn a profit in the 3 to 5 year mark if they are lucky and survive that long. Profit is revenue minus costs, both fixed and variable, right? Starting a restaurant is fantastically expensive correct? Also what fits into the equation is also not confusing profitability with revenue generating, yes? Even if a restaurant is generating high revenue, they’re not necessarily reflecting a similar profit, correct?
So I think Malvern Borough and other municipalities need to wake up. Stop just bending over for absentee commercial landlords and developers. Recognize that compromise is something that they have to negotiate so we get quality non-formula and not just chain or franchise businesses in our communities. We need a retail mix that has better planning, essentially. In a lot of other areas municipalities have retail coordinators who help recruit businesses to the communities in which they work and help the negotiation process between potential businesses and commercial landlords. Even business district authorities and business associations will do this. And the simple reason for that is nobody is as invested in the community as the community itself.
Eastside Flats is kind of looking like a ghost town. And they just let a huge opportunity for our community and for them walk away because of unrealistic rent expectations. They might not like my opinion but the first amendment allows me to have it.
So that is your food for thought so to speak for the day. How are your communities being impacted by commercial landlords during COVID-19? And how will the hospitality industry survive and what will it look like after this? And when you are formulating your response try to leave the politics out of it because politicians and political parties come and go but these are our local businesses.
Also if you are interested Bon Appétit Magazine has a terrific article from the end of September on how you can help those in the restaurant industry.
As my dear friend (and beloved Madame President of The Tredyffrin Historic Preservation Trust) Pattye Benson said recently:
“The saying goes, ‘If walls could talk what stories they could tell’’ — Held annually since 2004, the Tredyffrin Historic Preservation Trust arranges for these stories to be told on its annual historic house tour. 15th Annual Historic House Tour tickets now available — www.tredyffrinhistory.org
Join us for another great tour of beautiful historic homes and gardens in Tredyffrin and Easttown Townships. Please support historic preservation and share the information!”
So true! And this year I am once again amazed at the absolutely splendid house tour that Pattye has put together! I was at the Jazz it Up Preview Party last evening at DuPortail and I know which houses are on the tour but I am sworn to secrecy!
You can still buy tickets for the tour which is Saturday, September 28, 2019 12 PM to 5 PM. They are moderately priced at $35 per person and all proceeds benefit historic preservation and the completion of the Jones Log Barn Living History Center at Duportail.
The Jones Log Barn
This tour is so much fun and the properties are always amazing. Seriously, this year is going to be crazy good. Your hint is everyone knows how much I love old farms and farmhouses, right?
The preview party was as always so much fun and I was thrilled to see so many people turn out for historic preservation.
Chester County Commissioners Terence Farrell and Michelle Kichline join my Savvy (and amazing!) friend Caroline O’Halloran and Michael Noone (First Assistant DA and candidate for Chester County District Attorney. Terence and Michelle both support this event annually! History is SO important!!)
Michael Noone with Megan King (Also in Chester County’s DA’s office and candidate for Superior Court Judge), and the ever lovely Elizabeth Mercogliano
The House Tour will be amazing, trust me, and it is a day full of super nice and knowledgeable people. The docents at each tour home know the property inside and out!
You start your day at the Tredyffrin Library (582 Upper Gulph Road, Strafford, PA, starting at 11 AM on Saturday, Sept. 28) where you pick up your tickets and tour package and then you are off!
My husband and I are event sponsors. I do not do as much in the area of volunteerism as I used to and this is my favorite sponsorship. I love historic preservation and I love house tours. Most of all I love house tours in a reasonably sized area where I can visit every home on the tour. This is a quality tour. Always exciting!
I really hope you will join me and other history buffs on September 28th!
DuPortail House in Chesterbrook. The gardens are especially lovely this year. You can rent this amazing historic house for events and they have ample parking.
Change comes to Frazer in leaps and bounds these days. On Sunday, John’s Pizza closes it’s doors and by Labor Day, the Alley Pub will be but a memory.
John’s Pizza closing is by personal choice of the family who owns it . That is a case of a well earned retirement.
But the Alley Pub? That’s development which has come calling. The accumulated parcels which also include the run down mobile home park and the old bowling alley Frazer Lanes according to the developer’s blog will result in over 200 new…apartments.
Now there is no doubt that the mobile home park was in bad shape. But had the township (East Whiteland) allowed that to deteriorate over the years by looking the other way when they should have maybe inspected more and what not? There is another mobile home park down the road from the now closed one. Different owner, better care taken of it. There is a mobile home on Barton Hill Road next to Ebeneezer’s ruins. Also in good shape and is more of a community.
But the thing about this mobile home park going away and it being replaced with apartments leaves me with mixed emotions. How many apartments, townhomes, townhouses, carriage homes do we need?? East Whiteland has soooo many development plans. And all of it except for a small percentage are higher density plans.
If you move west into West Whiteland Township then you have all of their development. And they are putting a lot of apartments on Route 30 and already have a lot of townhomes or carriage homes or whatever the hell you want to call them.
And then what if you head over to West Goshen for a minute? Have you seen what’s going on at Greystone Hall? (Hint, check out the next two photos)
And if you go back into East Whiteland Township has anyone been to Flat Road or that vicinity recently? (Hint: see the next two photos)
So here we are in beautiful Chester County. Or it was beautiful and sadly with all the development it’s less beautiful every day. And our local municipalities all over the county are allowing this one bad plan at a time.
But back to these apartments in Frazer. Are you really going to want to spend a couple thousand dollars to live in an apartment that’s next to a run down gas station and sort of across the street from what used to be a mattress store and Wawa?
Yet there are the slum lord properties that are ignored. These are in East Whiteland along Route 30:
So when you talk about the slumlord housing along Route 30 in East Whiteland combined with whatever is left of mobile home parks you’re talking about the entire supply of affordable housing if it is actually affordable because I don’t know.
And that’s the thing about all of these developments regardless of the municipality in Chester County: where IS the affordable housing?
That is one of the problems I have with all of this development no matter what township. Lack of affordable housing. Look at what’s being proposed in Easttown Township to the east of East Whiteland. More apartments and already cheek to jowl townhouses that are not attractive and not affordable. They are expensive.
And East Goshen. Even once sensible East Goshen is no longer immune from bad development plans.
I just have to keep shaking my head and wondering where are all the regular people who don’t want to live in McMansions or McMansion priced apartments and townhouses supposed to go? Where do retirees go if they can’t afford Hershey’s Mill or the other two places near it in the retirement Bermuda Triangle?
And what about the stress all this development places on our first responders, our school districts, our infrastructure? And when things like entire mobile home parks disappear what happens to the people that used to call it home? People in this country like to talk about helping the disadvantaged and the financially challenged or poor but really do they?
I don’t have those answers. But in my opinion all of this development is going to come back and bite every Chester County resident in the rear someday. This is why we desperately need better planning more sound and competent zoning and elected officials that actually consistently give a damn about their residents.
I am not against change as far as development goes as long as it occurs in moderation. But I am against all of this greedy ass development gobbling up acre after acre of Chester County like Pac-Men. And these plans aren’t even attractive. They are just designed to get each developer the most money possible out of each site.
