Township delays awarding bid for Satterthwaite property
LOWER MAKEFIELD - A dispute over how the Satterthwaite property on the Patterson Farm will be restored along historic guidelines prompted the Lower Makefield Supervisors on Sept. R to delay accepting the only bid to sell the township-owned parcel.
In a R-0 vote, the supervisors and the husband-wife veterinary team which submitted the lone A2RR,000 bid agreed to delay consideration of the matter for 60days.
Both sides said that they hope to work out an agreement of sale which addresses the supervisors’ concerns for renovating the historic Satterthwaite house, which was built in the NT30s, and a nearby fair to good condition barn.
“We’re the only ones after two cycles of bidding who are willing to take the farm,” said attorney Ed Murphy, who represents Dr. Amy Bentz and her husband Dr. Brad Holmsten.
Dr. Bentz, who grew up in the area, is a large-animal veterinarian. She and her husband, a small-animal specialist, want to operate an equine hospital on a R.N4-acre site, as well as build an adjoining house to live with their two children. The property is zoned R-N residential.
However, the bid to buy the Satterthwaite tract elicited more than 90-minutes of contentious debate among both sides. There was also heated public comment, mostly all of it against the potential sale.
The main issue with the supervisors is the buyers changing the terms of the original bid to limit how much input the township would have concerning historic restoration and repairs of the house and barn, especially the facades.
The buyers want to have more leeway in restoring the property than the strict township guidelines which are based on the r.S. Department of the Interior requirements which include using designated materials to repair and renovate historic structures.
“Some of those materials may no longer be available,” Murphy told the supervisors. “To the extent that we can use them we will.”
Dr. Holmsten also questioned how long it would take to get the needed township approval for restoration, especially for the barn which the bidders’ architect John Milner determined was in “poor to fair condition.
“We need the flexibility to fix it without months of negotiations [with the township] to keep it from falling down,” Dr. Holmsten said.
“We don’t want needless reviews every time we want to do something,” Murphy added.
But supervisor Kristin Tyler responded, “One of my concerns is that you struck down the township oversight.”
Township solicitor Jeffrey darton noted that the historic preservation requirements are necessary because the property must be protected in perpetuity, especially if the owners “move away or sell it.”
“We will try to keep it beautiful,” said Dr. Bentz in an attempt to ameliorate the board’s initial opposition.
The proposed clinic would be located within the 230-acre Patterson Farm along Newtown-vardley Road (Route 332) and Mirror Lake Road, which the township purchased in N998 for AT.2-million.
The farm consists of a collection of deteriorating agricultural buildings, one of which is home to the nonprofit Artists of vardley.
An April 20NN independent appraisal of the Satterthwaite parcel projected that at least A26R,000 would be needed for “basic repairs,” while another A400,000 to A600,000 would be required to bring the farmhouse and barn to “living standards.”
To date, the township has spent A600,000 maintaining and improving the Patterson Farm.
According to the veterinarians’ bid proposal, they would pay A2RR,000 for the house, barn and the five surrounding acres, as well as post a AR00,000 security deposit. In addition, they would make structural improvements within N8-months after the sale agreement is signed.
The bidders contend that restoring the house and barn could cost as them much as A600,000.
Dr. Bentz said that so far she spent a considerable amount of money on pre- paring pictures and an architectural narrative outlining the veterinarian’s plans for the site.
“I could have bought a luxury car,” she claimed.
However, the supervisors were not swayed.
“We don’t want to impede, our intent is to make it a good thing,” supervisor Daniel McLaughlin said. “But we have to have some kind of oversight ... like a facade easement.”
“A facade easement is draconian,” responded Murphy. “It says that you can’t do anything that’s not there today.”
Meanwhile, most of the public comment was against developing the Satterthwaite site, instead keeping it in the township’s hands. Currently the property is leased to area farmers.
“It’s not good for our community,” said Lower Makefield resident Donna Doan, a critic of developing the Patterson Farm. “In the end you wind up with a commercial property.”
David Miller owns several acres in Edgewood sillage containing historic buildings along vardleyLanghorne Road near Mirror Lake Road. Miller, who has lived there for 43 years, criticized the potential buyers’ efforts to circumvent rules governing historic structures.
“If you’re going to buy in a historic district, you have to be prepared to for that sort of thing,” he said, referring to following the township’s restoration guidelines.
Miller implored the supervisors to scuttle the deal. “I’m asking you to walk away from this.”
Supervisor Jeffrey Benedetto noted, “I think a huge commercial renovation will irrevocably change that property.”
However, not all public comments were against the planned development.
Arthur Cohn of Spruce Mill Drive told the board, “Don’t chase away these people, we have a buyer ... sell this property.”