Supervisors reject senior housing zone change
>> More than 18 months after a developer first proposed building more than 200 units of senior housing on farmland off Stony Run Road and West Bridge Street, township supervisors have unanimously rejected a zoning change that would have allowed the project.
Residents who had opposed the project, and spawned a citizens group and, possibly, two supervisor candidates, hailed the vote as a victory.
“Thank you to all of you that spearheaded this. You had many sleepless nights investigating and trying to help inform all of us so that we could continue to have an amazing community to live in,” Katie Bittner-Cook posted on the East Vincent Advocacy Group Facebook page Wednesday night.
Former township supervi
sor Christine McNeil, who had vehemently opposed the plan, praised the decision and thanked the supervisors for responding to “the feeling of the township. We need to protect the rural nature of this township.”
At issue was a proposal by Artisan Construction Group, first proposed in June of 2019 when 231 homes were proposed both on the 66-acre Ruth farm at 1241 W. Bridge St., and the 89-acre Bucco tract at 446 Stony Run Road according to a scenario outlined Wednesday night by Supervisors Chairman Chris Canale prior to the vote.
In January 2020, Artisan changed course and abandoned plans to build on the Bucco tract, offering to protect it as open space, and instead proposed building 212 homes on the Ruth tract, Canale said.
The proposed zoning language changes were reviewed three times by the township planning commission, and by the Chester County Planning Commission, and public hearings were held last August and again in September, when public input was garnered.
Canale said that after reviewing the proposal, the recommendations of consultants and both planning commissions “and all the feedback from the public, I do not believe that amend
ing the zoning district in this fashion is in the best interests of the township at this time.”
“It is better for the township to step back and consider a complete review of its zoning ordinance and not specific to any development proposal,” Canale said.
Supervisor John Funk agreed, saying “we need to look at the comprehensive plan and make changes where it makes sense.” He added that changes are needed because under the current zoning “it would be very hard for someone to do an age-restricted development in our community.”
“It has to be where the public would accept it or it doesn’t work,” added supervisor Ed Dracup.
Age-restricted developments are sought out by townships because they are a growing market and add ratables to the property tax base without requiring much in the way of police services or add children to the school district, both advantages touted by Artisan.
Resident Endre Wall said the supervisors “made the right decision,” adding that “maybe, moving our way forward we’ll be able to find better ways coalesce and put the community’s ideas together when we have these zoning laws come about.”
“I hope the public understands there’s a process that we have to go through to explore all the information. It’s not that we wanted to drag it out,” said Dracup.
Township Solicitor Pat McKenna agreed, saying “As I understand it, the township was initially intrigued by the idea, and then vetted it thoroughly and took public input into account. That’s how the process is supposed to work.”