Delayed hearing for senior zoning set for Aug. 19

A public hearing on a controversial zoning plan for farmland that was delayed due to coronavirus restrictions has been scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 19.

The request is from developer Jon Benson, who heads Artisan Construction Group LLC.

He wants to create a new zoning overlay district to allow for the construction of age-restricted housing. He has previously sought permission to build 211 homes on a portion of the 66-acre Ruth farm at 446 Stony Run Road.

The current low-density zoning would allow for about 40 homes.

The proposed new zoning overlay would only apply to properties 60 acres or larger in a low-density housing zone and identified on the township’s comprehensive plan as “residential infill.”

It would allow for increased density development by using a land conservation method called “transfer of development rights,” or TDR, from existing farmland, thus preserving that land in exchange for the increased density at the development site.

Artisan also owns 1235 and 1241 W. Bridge St., and 1605 Ellis Woods Road, according to a legal notice published in The Mercury Aug. 12. The plans call for transferring development rights from 98 acres at 1241 W. Bridge St. to increase the units allowed on the Ruth tract.

A project developed under this new zoning would require a “master development plan,” and could be single units a minimum of 5,500 square feet, or twin units of 2,500 square feet each. It would also allow a senior/community center, and require a pool or other recreational resource for the residents, according to the text of the proposal.

At least 30 percent of the development must be dedicated to open space, according to the text.

According to the legal notice, the hearing begins at 7 p.m. and will be held at the township building at 262 Ridge Road. Due to coronavirus restrictions, “seating will be limited,” according to the legal notice.

However, the hearing will also be available online.

Information about how to participate online is posted on the township website — www.eastvincent.org — which recommends sending questions in ahead of time. They can be emailed to info@eastvincent.org

“Questions will also be taken the evening of the meeting; however, in consideration of all, repetition will not be entertained, and rants will not be entertained as COVID and its many restrictions have made this untenable. Also, the question period may end if the questions become repetitive or the hour becomes late therefore, it is advisable to send your question before the meeting if possible,” according to the post on the website.

The township post further notes that “the hearing may conclude, or it may be continued to September 2nd, however, a decision will not be rendered the evening of the 19th.”

Opposition to this plan in the spring was fierce and sparked a petition to restrict it.

A large group of residents attended a March 4 meeting when the subject was on the agenda.

Two Facebook groups that focus on township matters — East Vincent Voices, which is public, and EVT Advocacy Group, which is by invitation only — have taken up advocacy on the matter.

Another petition has been created for the new hearing.

During the March 4 meeting, Supervisors Chairman Ed Dracup struggled to keep public questions about Benson’s plans restricted to the topic of scheduling a hearing for the rezoning request.

He told the audience members “Vernon Ruth has been trying to sell this property for a long time,” and assured the audience “we don’t want to see the township destroyed any more than you do.”

The parcel was the site of a proposed continuing care retirement community in 2006 and again in 2008.

“If that had been built, it would have been five stories and 1,000 units in and of itself, and it would have changed the landscape of East Vincent Township forever,” West Bridge Street resident Jeanne Damon told MediaNews Group in March.

Damon lives across the street from the Ruth tract and said at the time the group’s concerns are broader than the one development proposal.

“We’re focused on this project now because it is coming to a decision point, and our primary purpose right now is to make sure the township sticks with the existing zoning,” Damon said.

“But this is more than just a group of West Bridge Street and Stony Run Road residents,” she said. “We are strategically looking at what we need to focus on town wide.”

East Vincent’s comprehensive plan was adopted in 2018 after a volunteer task force conducted a township survey and held public meetings on visions for the township’s future.

Among the goals that plan set are:

• Promoting development along the Route 724 corridor, which amounts to about 170 acres on 20 parcels;

• “Designate areas to accommodate future development at appropriate densities. Recognize existing protected lands and recommend additional conservation actions;”

• And to protect historic and natural resources “to retain the township’s rural character.”

And the rural character of this 13.6-square mile township has changed over the last 28 years.

According to the comprehensive plan, since 1992, when work on the previous plan began, acreage developed for residential use in the township increased by nearly 2,200, acres or 198 percent.

In that same time period, the township lost 1,687 acres of land once used for agriculture, a loss of 41 percent; and another 47 percent, or 1,260 acres, of vacant or undeveloped land.

As it stood in 2017, 36 percent of East Vincent’s land was developed for residential use, the largest single use. Agriculture takes up 27 percent.

The plan notes that the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission projects another 1,900 residents, a population increase of more than 21 percent, in the next 10 years.

The plan designates the eastern portion of the township along Route 724 and up against Spring City Borough where more road and sewer infrastructure exists, as the “growth area.”

It recommends steering development away from the more rural western portion of town.

Damon said the comprehensive plan anticipates 600 new homes being built within the next 10 years.