Media is carefully planning for a brighter future

To the Times:

The Times recently published an opinion piece by Terry Rumsey and Robin Lasersohn concerning their views on the economy of Media, where they and we all live and where we two serve as elected council members.

Mr. Rumsey and Ms. Lasersohn wrote their piece under their titles as “CoChairs” of Keep Media Green, a local advocacy group they formed in 2019. The thrust of their concerns is in two parts: 1) a negative reaction to recent residential developments, especially as they impact open space and; 2) identification of housing affordability as a key priority for the Media to address - as it also addresses protection of open space.

But our bland summation of those points does not reveal the distortions they lather their piece with. We’d like to address those so that your readers may have a more balanced view of the current situation in the Borough of Media.

First, their complaints arise from the borough’s attractiveness — its success. This attractiveness has been actively planned and invested in by decades of Borough Council efforts. Today, State Street is a regional destination, Media is one of the last towns in the mid-Atlantic with a downtown trolley and few communities offer the multimodal transportation options we enjoy. We provide a full complement of borough services like twiceweekly trash pickup, assistance with sidewalk repairs and even a new curbside composting program. We are developing a brandnew neighborhood park in an area that lacked easy access to public open space. Our tax burden is low compared to our neighboring municipalities, and the borough still offers a wide range of housing opportunities from studio apartments in renovated Victorians to brand-new suburban style singles.

That attractiveness is driving the increase in prices in Media compared to other nearby areas. For instance, the West End Flats building that Mr. Rumsey and Ms. Lasersohn specifically called out as an “oversized behemoth” that “radically transformed the character of a formerly working-class neighborhood” does advertise as renting its least-expensive units at about $150- $200 more than a similar new complex at the Granite Run Mall built by the same development company. It has little trouble competing at a higher price because Media is a walkable, and therefore more desirable, place. By the way, the building replaced a used car lot and closed gas station and increased the value of the “working-class neighborhood” —a line of rowhomes across the street.

Anyone who has refinanced their home knows that an increased value of your home can provide you with more financial resources to improve it, and today’s mortgage rates are historically low. Also, the renters at West End Flats, who can afford to pay the extra rent, are sending 1% of their income to Media via our local income tax. To sum up, an unattractive, vacant commercial property at the Western gateway to the borough — a “brownfield” littered with automobile parts along the Glen Providence Park border — was transformed into new residences that produce income for the borough and bring new vitality to that end of town. We don’t see a problem with that.

That same attractiveness draws businesspeople who make their living by increasing the value of property via developing it under current zoning laws — “developers”, as they are called. They see that homes and apartment prices are increasing here and see that the sizable risks they routinely take will be a little less here, where homes sell well. So, where opportunities to build more exist, they are being converted to new residential projects. Recently these new developments have been on formerly commercial land (West End Walk and West End Flats), the estate lot of a local businessman (the new singles at Eighth Street), and a long vacant, oversized single family house lot owned by a local attorney (Taylor and Vernon streets). None was the result of “predatory realtors who want to turn a quick profit” whom Mr. Rumsey and Ms. Lasersohn imagine pose a current threat to unprotected Media homeowners.

In fact, Mr. Rumsey and Ms. Lasersohn consistently use negative language in their depiction of the development process, and borough council’s role in it. It is as if:

• The very home Mr. Rumsey and Ms. Lasersohn reside in wasn’t created by the same approval methods

• They have not witnessed the long and consistent efforts of the borough council and our planning commission to revise and improve the proposals developers make, and those bodies’ respectful consideration of Keep Media Green’s input

• They are not aware of the soon-to-be completed Open Space, Park and Recreation Plan that will lay out Media’s priorities for an enlarged open space system and renovated recreational programming, on which Steering Committee Mr. Rumsey is an active member

• They are not aware of the borough’s decision to overhaul its zoning code to bring it more in line with the current “form-based” approach preferred by leading planners to ensure new development is in keeping with Media’s built history and which will specifically consider regulations encouraging affordable housing

• They are not aware of a local citizen-led effort, now over a year old, to provide advice and realworld examples of affordable housing programs in other communities, the same group which announced its near completion of a white paper on the topic at the most recent borough council meeting, and whose members were not consulted prior to Mr. Rumsey and Ms. Lasersohn proclaiming their “bedrock principles” on affordability.

But they are aware of all of that. The world, even little Media Borough, is complicated and tightly woven together. As borough council members, we need to understand and anticipate how pushing one lever moves another:

• If we buy every piece of remaining open space by raising taxes or borrowing money to do so, will we lessen our ability to pay for other the services our residents want? Will we make Media less affordable to our most vulnerable citizens exactly what Mr. Rumsey and Ms. Lasersohn warn against?

• If we buy some parcels and let others get developed, how do we decide which is which? (that’s the Open Space Plan’s job.)

• What are the best ways for a small community in a complex metropolitan area to incentivize a housing mix right for its citizens? Should we invest our taxpayer’s money, or just use grants or regulations, and what requirements do such grants bring?

• How do we manage density requirements so more folks can afford to live here without causing concern about overdevelopment? (This discussion is just getting started.)

These things are not easy to figure out, so Media uses professional consultants, civic discussion, formal plans and time to sort out how to proceed. This emphasis on planning has served us well over the past forty years. Mr. Rumsey and Ms. Lasersohn seem to prefer to tell Borough Council how to proceed, via their executive directions, through correspondence in the Delaware County Times. We submit theirs is not the best approach.