Scammel’s Corner developer updates board on project, looking for a buyer to save and renovate historic house

LOWER MAKEFIELD - The developer of the 17-acre Scammel’s Corner tract has told the township supervisors that a buyer will be sought to restore the historic home on the site as a residence so that it will not face the wrecking ball.

At the June 5 supervisors’ meeting, Nick Casey, vice president of development for The Quaker Group, a Voorhees, N.J.-based company which owns the property, updated the board on efforts to save the historic structure.

According to Casey, his company no longer plans to develop the site and has an agreement of sale with JPO Residential, LLC, which will build 15 high-end homes on the property, each in the $700,000 price range.

The heavily-wooded site, surrounded by dozens of large trees, is at the intersection of Langhorne-Yardley and Newtown-Yardley roads, and has been a concern for the township for the past 20 years.

Casey said that as part of an agreement of sale, the new developer will undertake a six-month marketing campaign to look for a buyer who is willing to spend an estimated $500,000 to restore the Scammel House for residential use.

“7KH QHw GHYHORSHR wRUOG OLNH WR fiQG someone with the wherewithal and expertise to undertake this project,” Casey exSODLQHG. “2UR JRDO LV WR fiQG DQ DSSRRSRLDWH buyer.”

But, he contended that there are a very small number of people who would be interested in such an undertaking.

The asking price for the historic house would be about $150,000. If a buyer is not found within the six-month time frame, the structure would be demolished and a new high-priced home built on the 1.9-acre parcel.

The main portion of the Scammel House dates from between 1765 and 1795, and has had several extensions added, the main one in 1920 which contains a ballroom and other elaborate amenities.

Casey cautioned that the home, which has been vacant for the last 30 years, is in major disrepair and also has been vandalized. In addition, the structure has a ‘functional

tional obsolescence,’ meaning that its low ceilings and smaller rooms are not favored by today’s home buyers.

“It will go through a very aggressive marketing campaign to finG sRPeRne ZKR KDs WKe DELOLWy and the passion to work closely ZLWK WKe [LRZeU 0DkefieOG] HLstorical Commission,” Casey told the supervisors.

HRZeYeU, WeDULng GRZn WKe structure if a buyer is not found could be troublesome.

A settlement involving the development of the property stipuODWes WKDW WKe 6FDPPeO HRuse, or portions of it that are deemed KLsWRULFDOOy sLgnLfiFDnW, PusW Ee preserved.

CDsey nRWeG WKDW WKe HLsWRULFDO Commission was already given artifacts found in the house, and that if it is razed the commission would also have access to elaborate mantles and Mercer tiles for future display.

Kaaren Steil, who chairs the commission, told the board that she would like the house restored.

“Every house has value and we do see value there,” she explained. “We’d like to market it and do the best we can, but you can’t tell with the current economy.”

$FFRUGLng WR HLsWRULFDO CRPPLssLRn PePEeU DU. HeOen HeLnz, WKe 6FDPPeO HRuse ZDs one of the original homes listed as historic by the Bucks County Conservancy in 1980, and beFDuse RI LWs sLgnLfiFDnFe LW FDn also be listed on the U.S. governPenW’s 1DWLRnDO 5egLsWeU RI HLstoric Places.

Several residents questioned whether the structure can be saved at all given the lackluster housing market which is now just turning around.

“Think a little more creatively on how this is going to be preserved,” said Ed Gavin of Sensor Drive. “I think it’s going to be knocked down.”

The supervisors still have sev- eUDO PRnWKs EeIRUe finDO SODns for the project are considered, and various township agencies, including the planning commissLRn, PusW fiUsW exDPLne WKe suEdivision details.

Meanwhile, the supervisors EULefly DGGUesseG WKe 0Dy 29 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling which rejected Lower MakefieOG’s UeTuesW IRU D neZ WULDO Ln Dn eminent domain dispute involving the township’s 1999 acquisition of the 166-acre Dalgewicz Farm on Woodside Road, the site RI WKe 0DkefieOG HLgKODnGs GROI CRuUse ZKLFK RSeneG Ln 2004.

As a result of the state high court’s unanimous ruling, the township will owe the property RZneUs Dn DGGLWLRnDO $3.2 PLOOLRn in principal and accrued interest over the original $3.99-million price paid to the Dalgewicz family.

According to Lower MakefieOG sROLFLWRU -eIIUey GDUWRn, WKe township is currently calculating the exact compensation, which Ke sDys ZLOO Ee EeWZeen $3.2 PLO- lion and $3.6 million.

“Unfortunately there is no further avenue of appeal, and we’ll come up with paying the money,” said Supervisor Chairman Pete Stainthorpe.

,n 2008, D BuFks CRunWy MuUy determined that property was worth $5.85 million, not the neDUOy $4 PLOOLRn WKDW WKe WRZnship paid. Accrued interest since WKe MuUy DZDUG KDs SusKeG WKe final price mush higher.

Anticipating that it could exhaust its appeals, the township has accounted for the damages award and interest by taking sWeSs WR UefinDnFe WKe gROI FRuUse debt, so that residents would not be hit with any tax increase.

Zachary Rubin of Covington 5RDG DskeG ZKeWKeU UefinDnFLng the bonds would help pay the damages award that the Dalgewiczs received.

“We’Ue sWLOO D ZDy RII IURP finDOLzLng WKe ERnG UefinDnFLng,” responded Stainthorpe.

According to township manager Terry Fedorchak, the township has a separate golf course fund which currently contains roughly $750,000.

6uSeUYLsRU -eII BeneGeWWR asked whether part of this fund should be used to pay off the court-ordered damages.

But several other supervisors nRWeG WKDW D finDnFLDO FusKLRn Ls needed for capital improvements at the golf course, and to offset any weather-related shortfalls.

“We were lucky, we had good weather last year,” Stainthorpe noted, “but this year it already rained several weekends.”

In other news, the supervisors unanimously approved a moWLRn WR LnsWDOO seYeUDO flDsKLng 15 m.p.h. speed-restriction signs in WKe DUeD RI QuDUUy HLOO DnG $IWRn Elementary Schools in the northern end of the township.

Fedorchak said that the $15,000 total cost for the signs will be equally split between LRZeU 0DkefieOG DnG WKe 3ennsbury School District.

The next regularly-scheduled suSeUYLsRUs’ PeeWLng Ls -une 19.