Township, Toll Brothers await decision on Crebilly Farm intersection dispute
WESTTOWN » The fate of Crebilly Farm is partly in the hands of a judge.
Traffic and road improvements were the main topics of discussion during a hearing concerning an appeal by Toll Brothers in the bid to build 319 homes at Crebilly Farm in Westtown.
Chester County Common Pleas Judge Mark L. Tunnell made no immediate decision on whether to overturn the unanimous December 2017 township Board of Supervisor’s decision to deny a conditional use application.
Toll Brothers plans to preserve 193 acres at the 322-acre Robinson Family site, the largest slice of open space along Route 202 and between King of Prussia and Wilmington. The farm is located at the corner of routes 926 and 202.
Greg Adelman, of law firm Kaplin Stewart Meloff Reiter and Stein, in Blue Bell, represented Toll and said it was not the Horsham-based builder’s job to construct a collector road that might relieve congestion on Route 202.
The farm is located at the corner of routes 926 and 202.
The connector road might stretch all the way from Skiles Boulevard to Route 926. The builder could be tasked with construction of the portion from Pleasant Grove Road to Route 926.
Adelman said the connector road would only serve existing traffic.
Pat McKenna, of Gawthrop Greenwood Law Firm, said building the connector road was required by the township.
“It would take traffic off access roads and through residential property,” McKenna said. “It seems like a simple matter of profit for Toll.
“This was a profit decision.”
Adelman said that disputed intersection improvements at the South New Street and Route 926 intersection were under the jurisdiction of state road owner PennDot.
The township has suggested Toll build four righthand turn lanes at the busy intersection. PennDot at one time suggested a roundabout might be constructed.
“We’re not creating the need for the road improvements,” Adelman said.
Mark Thompson is a lawyer with Lamb McErlane and represented grassroots organization, Neighbors for Crebilly. He was applauded by much of the audience after addressing the mostly packed Courtroom One.
He spoke against the subdivision’s possible environmental degradation, stormwater management plans and hopes to preserve what many say was a 1777 Battle of Brandywine site.
“Once that area of the farm is developed, you can never get it back,” Thompson said.
Fred Jacoby, of Cozen O’Connor law firm, represents the Robinson Family which has owned a portion of the property for 81 years.
He said that 23 members family, with 13 living in New Mexico, no longer want the “obligations and burdens” of caring for the property.
Jacoby said the family wants to sell. “Urban expansion has come to West Chester and (the family) is not prepared to own and operate the property,” Jacoby said.
Ken Hemphill is communications coordinator with Neighbors for Crebilly and compared Toll to robber barons.
“The 19th century had its robber barons like Carnegie and Rockefeller who built their fortunes on the backs of people and society,” Hemphill said. “The 21st century has traded oil and steel millionaires for heartless corporations like Toll Brothers which don’t care one iota what impact their developments have on people, the environment, or our history, as long as the profits continue to roll in.
“It’s long past time for courts and elected officials to take care of people, our land, and our history instead of the Toll Brothers of the world.”