Development nears approval

DOWNINGTOWN >> After years of municipal consideration and decades of planning by the developer, the Trestle View Village is very close to becoming a reality in Johnsontown this spring.

However, first, the Borough Council must vote at its next public meeting, slated for 7 p.m. this Wednesday, April 7, on granting the developer a variance to allow 66 units — instead of 44, which is presently allowed under current zoning rules.

The Planning Board previously advanced the developer’s conditional use request, to allow more units to be built on the site than currently zoning permits, for the Borough Council’s ultimate consideration.

During the review hearing on the matter at the March 3 Borough Council meeting, which lasted twoand-a-half hours, several residents spoke up against the proposed development.

Randall Scott, a member of the Downingtown Community Focus Project, spoke at the hearing and said the organization “echoes concerns that new development will cause people to be priced out of their homes.”

Scott said, “We need to grow our community in a way that doesn’t force people, who are poor or are on fixed-incomes, out of their homes or out of the borough.”

Downingtown native Francis Taraschi is the builder behind Trestle View Village’s proposed development in a rather secluded area of the borough called Johnsontown, along the Brandywine watershed.

Of the location for the proposed Trestle View Village, the property does not comprise a single parcel; it is a combination of about nine or 10 properties in the borough neighborhood of Johnsontown from Willow Street to Keene Lane, according to Taraschi in an email to the Daily Local News on Feb. 5, 2020.

Last winter, Taraschi said the proposal had been considered a revitalization infill project by borough staff and himself for 18 years. He was unavailable to comment for this report as of the press deadline.

If the Borough Council approves Taraschi’s conditional usage request, construction will begin in the near future to build 11 units per acre to create a new development of luxury townhouses in Chester County. Sidewalks for the neighboring community are also planned.

The borough did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the Trestle View Village, as of press time Monday evening, despite repeated requests.

After last month’s hearing, social media erupted with concern from some residents.

Downingtown Community Focus Project wrote: “On March 3rd, the DCFP attended the hearing for planned development in Downingtown, called Trestle View Village. People of Downingtown, we don’t have to allow the developer and council to decide what our town looks like: Our voices matter, too!”

In response to the post by Downingtown Community Focus Project on Facebook, several people commented notes of concern.

Ann Trethewey rhetorically questioned: “Do we really need more units !!!! ”

Jodie Boggs said, “This is absolutely ludicrous. It’s already complete gridlock and during COVID — I can’t imagine what it would be like with 66 more units in the area it already takes 30 minutes to get from Boot Road to Route 30 after 3 p.m.”

Boggs added, “Scary to think, if there was a disaster, we would never make it out alive? When does the madness stop?”

Sonya Little Legere asked, “How do we protest this idea?”

“Complaining won’t alter the trajectory of over development that Downingtown is on,” said Marianne Goddard Ruffini. “How do we take action?”

Downingtown Community Focus Project said on Facebook that residents have a number of concerns about these townhomes, including increased flooding and traffic in an area where infrastructure is already insufficient, raising property taxes and rent, pricing people out of their homes, and contributing to overdevelopment.

Downingtown resident Kellyn Handforth told the Daily Local News in March that the residents in Johnsontown are very concerned about this development going in for several reasons, adding that their voices have basically been reduced to the word: “traffic.”

“Traffic” for many residents is, rather, an important keyword to a bigger crisis where overdevelopment threatens the well-being and future of a much-loved, and rather low-key neighborhood of D’Town.

“This is a big deal in our community,” Handforth said of the proposed Trestle View Village in the Johnsontown section of Downingtown. “I know this because that’s where I live.”

She said, “the land is only zoned for 44 homes and they are trying to squeeze in 66. This has major implications for flooding in an area that is already not properly irrigated.”

Further, Handforth added, “The proposed development is on a hill. Flattening and paving the land will cause massive runoff and flooding for the homes at the bottom of the hill, every time it rains heavily.”

And Handforth said the land, presently undeveloped, is home to hot springs.

“The land under the proposed new development is laden with hot springs,” Handforth said, “and adding an excess of 22 homes than what is zoned for, may have major structural implications for the homes and the land itself.”

Handforth cited property taxes as another area of concern.

“This will affect property taxes, cause rent hikes, and price older generations of residents out of their homes, effectively gentrifying one of the least wealthy, least white areas in Downingtown,” Handforth stated.

“Johnsontown is not separate from Downingtown,” said Handforth. “To the residents who live here, we consistently see the other side of town receive all the funding.”

Furthermore, “we don’t even have crosswalks across Bradford Ave. — one of the busiest roads in Downingtown.” Handforth continued, “It’s a school bus route, and it’s primarily families with children that live here. We’ve asked for them, but keep getting ghosted or told to wait.”