Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
PRESERVING LAND AND HISTORY
The centerpiece of West Vincent Township, Bryn Coed Farms, saved by Natural Lands Trust
WEST VINCENT >> Supervisor David E. Brown III moved to this northern Chester County township in 2004, from the suburban sprawl and congested population density of Lower Merion, Montgomery County, and soon realized that he and his family had found a true home.
“I just loved life in the country,” Brown said in an interview on Friday. The mixture of open fields, deep woodlands, rolling hillsides and open room to breathe took hold of him.
So when in 2011 a township official approached him and let him know that one of the largest pieces of open space in the township, Bryn Coed Farms, was being considered for sale to a developer who would turn it into a massive housing project, Brown was “appalled.”
“It is the centerpiece of West Vincent Township,” he said. “A large development would put a huge number of homes there, and it would permanently change the character of West Vincent Township. It would change us from rural to suburbia. It would no longer be the country.”
So when on Tuesday Brown was able to break months of “sworn secrecy” and announce to members of the township’s Open Space Committee, on which he serves as a member,
“The committee broke out in something of a standing ovation. There had been rumors of deals before but they didn’t happen. No one had ever gotten this far, to have an agreement of sale.” — Supervisor David E. Brown III
that an agreement of sale for the 1,505 acre property had been signed, not by a housing developer but by the Natural Lands Trust conservancy organization, he said his feeling was one of “terrific relief, verging on joy.”
“The committee broke out in something of a standing ovation,” Brown said in the interview after the plan to conserve the property had been announced by the land trust. “There had been rumors of deals before but they didn’t happen. No one had ever gotten this far, to have an agreement of sale. I cant say enough about the (property owners) and NLT. They put their muscle into it and made it happen.”
Bryn Coed Farms, which straddles St. Matthews Road in Chester Springs and is one of the largest single tracts of open space in the greater Philadelphia region, would be largely protected from encroaching housing development under the terms of a plan put together by the Mediabased land trust. Officials said the trust had reached an agreement of sale with the Dietrich family, heirs to the Luden’s cough drop fortune and owners of Bryn Coed, that would fully protect about one-third of the land stretching across three townships in northern Chester County.
The rest of the land would be sold as large, 30to-50 acre lots for singlefamily homes that would be placed under conservation easements, according to the announcement. Those homes would be placed in the interior of the property so as not to disturb the unique and iconic views of the landscape seen by the public.
The trust came to the agreement with members of the Dietrich family on Sept. 28, and now has six months to conduct its due diligence on the property, including environmental testing and funding strategies for its purchase.
“It is the embodiment of the landscape in northern Chester County,” trust President Molly Morrison said in an interview Friday. “Of rolling hills and wooded landscapes, dotted with farms. It means a lot to Natural Lands Trust to be part of the process to protect it from development.”
In its release, the trust said the fate of the property has been the subject of much speculation over the years as development pressures have increased in the region. Located primarily in West Vincent, with portions also in East Pikeland and West Pikeland, the property is one of the largest remaining undeveloped, unprotected tracts of land in the greater Philadelphia region.
Under current zoning, nearly 700 homes could be built on the property if it is not placed under protection. That would have significant impacts on the Chester Springs community, as well as the environment of the Pickering Creek watershed, those involved say.
Elected officials like Brown joined with residents of West Vincent on Friday in expressing delight in the news and praising the parties who have put the agreement of sale together.
“I think that this is wonderful news,” said county commissioners Vice Chairwoman Kathi Cozzone, who lives close to West Vincent in Uwchlan and knows firsthand the pressures of land development there. The number of acres that would be protected by the trust and the township — about 500 — is “roughly the size of a county park.”
“It is part and parcel of our wishes as commissioners to preserve open space in the county,” Cozzone said, confirming that the county had for the past four years been earmarking millions of dollars in tax dollars for capital expenses to be used to support the acquisition of Bryn Coed by a land conservancy. “We have been aware of the potential of this for a while, and we have been planning on participating when (an agreement) came to fruition.” She said there was an estimated $8 million in the county’s 2016 budget designated for Bryn Coed.
The property, which includes a 700-acre parcel that was home to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Robert, for which the area’s school district is named, is the “most critically valuable property to preserve in northern Chester County and will enable the rural character and identify of Chester Springs to remain,” said U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, R-6, of West Goshen who grew up in neighboring East Vincent and whose congressional district covers the property.
“This agreement signals that the real work of going about preserving the property begins with all interested stakeholders,” Costello said in a statement. “I know NLT leadership has spent many hours working toward this objective and they should be applauded, as should the Dietrich estate for their patience and perseverance in consummating an agreement that will benefit the greater northern Chester County for generations to come.”
Had the property been purchased by a home builder and undergone development, residents said that what has become a concern in the township over congestion and loss of environmentally sensitive land would have worsened, not to mention the impact on taxes and infrastructure.
“This is definitely a big win for West Vincent,” said Jamie McVickar, who lives less than five miles from Bryn Coed and who grew up in the township in the 1960s and 1970s, when it was an exclusively rural area. “It’s a big win for Chester Springs and Chester County.”
“We’ve been scared to death that some developer would come in and develop it,” McVickar said, adding to the traffic woes and the loss of open space he says the township already experiences. “Traffic in the morning is crazy. It’s three times what it is normally on Route 401 and Route 100 down to Route 113, at rush hour. Obviously, a development there on St. Matthews Road would only add to the terrible traffic.”
McVickar praised the land trust, as well as Brown and former supervisors Kenneth Miller and Clare Quinn for working to save Bryn Coed. “Supervisors here have always made an effort to limit the development in West Vincent, as opposed to a place like (neighboring) Upper Uwchlan, which is hugely overdeveloped,” he said.
West Vincent Open Space Committee member Sara Shick, who was present for Brown’s announcement Tuesday, said, “the community is thrilled” at the news. “There are people who want to throw a party for the Dietrich family to thank them. It is just amazing. It would have been a shame to lose that big, beautiful property.” To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.