Residents ask zoning board to reject variance requests for horse clinic

LOWER MAKEFIELD - The township Zoning Hearing Board held its fourth hearing since February on whether to approve six variance requests for the Satterthwaite property to be used as a veterinary clinic for horses.

At the June 18 meeting, the public finDOOy JRW LWs FKDnFH WR sSHDN RuW, ZLWK PRsW RI WKH rHsLdHnWs ZKR WHsWLfiHd sR far expressing strong opposition to the plans of two veterinarians to renovate the run-down Satterthwaite House and adjoining barn, urging the board to reject the requested variances.

Dr. Amy Bentz and her veterinarian husband, Dr. Brad Holmsten, bought the 5.14-acre township-owned Satterthwaite property for $255,000 in October.

The parcel, which lies along New- town-Yardley (Route 332) and Mirror LDNH rRDds, FRnWDLns D IDrPKRusH, SDrW of which dates to the 1730s, as well Ds D nHDrEy KLsWRrLF EDrn, NnRZn Ds D 3HnnsyOYDnLD EDnN EDrn EHFDusH LW has a dirt incline leading to the second flRRr.

Most of the neighbors’ concerns cenWHrHd Rn sHYHrDO NHy LssuHs: LnFrHDsHd WrDIfiF DORnJ 0LrrRr LDNH 5RDd, SRssible waterway contamination because of animal waste runoff and noises and smells from horses which would be housed on the property. Light emissions and landscape buffering also were concerns.

Long-time resident David Zewe of GLnNR LDnH, ORFDWHd DFrRss WKH sWrHHW from the Satterthwaite property, opposed the plans.

“What’s the difference between this and a small surgical hospital [for hu-

In addition, other zoning variances would have to be granted because accessory livestock structures are not permitted within 50 feet to a property line, and the owners want to place the buildings much closer than allowed so that the site will have a “courtyard effect.” Adequate landscape buffering would also be required.

Another variance seeks to have amount of overall impervious surface, such as paved parking lots, increased to nearly 29-percent, which is much higher than 17-percent limit under township ordinances.

“On this alone the application should be denied,” claimed Zewe of the request for an impervious surface exemption.

“2uU DUHD LV SURnH WR flRRGLnJ when it rains,” he asserted, “and I believe that the [impervious surface] ordinance should be imposed uniformly.”

Zewe also worried about possible odors emanating from such a facility.

“What would a potential buyer think?” he said about selling his home.

Another nearby neighbor, Doug Woolverton of Plowshare Road, worried about an increase Ln WUDIfiF, HVSHFLDOOy ODUJH FRPmercial vehicles pulling horse trailers entering and exiting the proposed hospital.

“It would impose safety concerns on a roadway that already hDV D ORW RI WUDIfiF Rn LW,” WRROverton declared, noting that Mirror Lake Road has no shoulders where the Satterthwaite property lies. “It’s a problem area,” he added. John Nadig, who lives in a renovated historic house on MirURU LDNH 5RDG, HFhRHG WhH WUDIfiF FRnFHUnV. “$OO WUDIfiF ZRuOG EH going into it right across from our house.

“It’s a dangerous place,” he claimed of the stretch of road alongside the site.

According to Nadig, the quality of life in the area also “would be diminished” because of the lights and smells that the equine hospital would produce, and he claimed it would “disrupt the peace and quiet.”

Meanwhile, Lisa Pellegrino who lives several miles away on Cinnabar Lane near the townshipowned Five Mile Woods preserve, spoke about the growing commercial use in residential areas.

“My concern is if the township grants [Dr. Bentz] a laundry list of variances and her business expands, she’d be back in a few years asking for another laundry list of variances,” Pellegrino argued.

The Satterthwaite parcel is part of the 233-acre Patterson Farm, which the township bought in 1998 for $7.2 million as an openspace initiative.

LRZHU 0DNHfiHOG VuSHUYLsors had placed the Satterthwaite property up for bid because of the rising costs to maintain and renovate the property. One report in 2010 estimated that renovations could cost $400,000, and possibly as much as $750,000 to make the house livable.

During the ongoing zoning proceedings, township manager 7HUUy FHGRUFhDN hDG WHVWLfiHG that between 2005 and 2012 LRZHU 0DNHfiHOG VSHnW PRUH than $409,000 on repairs. In 2008 alone, the township paid $234,000 to renovate the barn and $115,500 for a new roof for the Satterthwaite House.

rnder the agreement of sale, Drs. Bentz and Holmsten must renovate the farmhouse within 18 months or they would forfeit their $200,000 line of credit with the township. They are also required to invest at least $500,000 in the renovation project, a stipulation that was part of last year’s second bid request.

Edna Patterson Dilliplane of Yardley-Newtown Road is the niece of Tom and Alice Patterson, who had sold the Patterson Farm property to the township 15 years ago.

Dilliplane charged that the township had allegedly “intimated and harassed” her uncle and aunt to sell the farm. But she said that was in the past, and her main concern, like other residents, was the proposed planned horse hospital.

“This seems like spot zoning,” she told the zoning board. “The need to request six variances shows that the property is not suitable for the purpose.

“This is one more step in chipping away at the Patterson Farm,” Dilliplane claimed, “the natural beauty once destroyed cannot be replaced.”

However, not all residents were against the intended use.

Thomas Jennings, who across the street from the supports the project.

“It’s the best project proposed for the farm,” he maintained. “diven the tenor of the times it’s consistent of what a farm is.

“It takes what could be a nightmare and turns it into something that can work,” Jennings added.

seterinarian James Wilson of Yardley Road also endorsed the facility.

Dr. Wilson, who is also a lawyer, teaches veterinary law and ethics at various schools. He testifiHG WR DU. BHnW]’V FhDUDFWHU DnG commitment.

Dr. Wilson, who mentored Dr. Bentz at the rniversity of Penn- lives site, sylvania School of seterinary Medicine, said that equine emergency care is not a business, but a “calling.”

According to Dr. Wilson, a horse hospital is a good use for the Satterthwaite property, warning that there would be “disastrous consequences for the township if [the property] continues to deteriorate.”

During the June 18 hearing, Dr. Bentz presented to zoning board members a number of pictures that she recently took of the inside of the Satterthwaite House detailing its deteriorating state.

“It’s certainly an old house with charm,” she said, describing that the “small choppy rooms” make the building better suited IRU RIfiFH VSDFH WhDn IRU D IDPLOy residence.

The historic farmhouse is roughly 5,500 square feet, of which about 3,500 square feet would be used as administraWLYH RIfiFHV unGHU WhH SURSRVHG development. Dr. Bentz’s plans also call for a separate residence for her family to be built on the property.

If the zoning board approves the requested variances, four of the six buildings on the site would be demolished. A dilapidated garage and three small barn-like structures would be torn down, with only the Satterthwaite House and the bank barn remaining.

In addition, three new ‘barns’ would also be constructed. A critical-care barn to house horses undergoing surgery or which need several days to recuperate. An elective-care barn for those animals with minor illnesses, and what Dr. Bentz calls a “mascot barn,” where two or three horses would be permanently housed for teaching purposes, as well as used for blood transfusions for the sick animals undergoing care.

According to Dr. Bentz, the large-animal clinic, which would EH NnRZn DV SunflRZHU FDUP, would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to accommodate emergency care, and have about eight employees, mostly veterinary technicians and staff, on each of three shifts.