A New Day in East Vincent

In a stunning development, the East Vincent Planning Commission did not vote for a final recommendation on the Richard Chakejian petition to change the zoning on his Pennhurst property from LR to GI/PO. In fact, Commission Chairman Jason Herron clearly indicated that the petition was far from being in a form acceptable to the PC. The agenda item listing was incorrect and Chairman Herron said as much.

Additionally inexplicable, no representatives from Pennhurst attended the meeting. That absence was keenly noted by Chairman Herron. Various members of the Commission nodded their heads solemnly as Chairman Herron cited major hurdles to be closely examined such as the inadequate road structure feeding Pennhurst and the petition’s too inclusive list of potential uses by right.

The Chairman then invited public comment on the petition fairly quickly after only a few minutes more of reviewing the petition’s status.

The sense I have is that there will ultimately be a zoning change for the Pennhurst property. But how that change will be structured and its inclusiveness of uses by right is far from settled.

I watched the resident volunteers sitting on the Commission assume and discharge their duties with gravitas and professionalism. They seem to be sensitive to the concerns of homeowners living in close proximity to Pennhurst, the important concept of property rights and the global needs of the entire Township.

The public comments the PC heard last night were centered on the Pennhurst Asylum, as its existence may become dependent upon a zoning change that includes use by right of that type of amusement.

Chairman Herron asked for and allowed comment from the audience without time restriction. All speakers felt a sense of empowerment and that the PC was listening to their recited facts and opinions.

I asked and received permission to read a prepared statement of behalf of Spring City Councilman James Burns who could not attend the meeting. Councilman Burns thinking this meeting was to finalize the petition asked the PC to consider the long standing courtesy of conferring with the Borough on any zoning matter where a Spring City border appends a zoning change in East Vincent. His statement went on to cite the inadequacy of the feeder roads to the Pennhurst property and Spring City’s sense that substantial improvement to the road structure must occur before any possible sub-division of that property.

Further, the statement said, “As for the Halloween attraction, it has all but been decided that pending any contact with the borough, we are considering restricting commercial traffic on North Church Street excluding local delivery. That would include Penn Organic traffic and PennDOT as well as the ‘non-profit’ traffic to the attraction. Chakejian does not have fire or police approval to close or otherwise detour Bridge and Church Street traffic.”

At last month’s PC meeting, Mr. Chakejian’s attorney, Michael Murray, Esq., related a conversation he had with his client wherein Mr. Chakejian said that he could not obtain any financial development support from the Chester County Economic Development Council without having uses by right in place, that being part of his need for the zoning change.

Diane Benelli contacted the agency to better understand its position as related by Mr. Murray and was advised, in writing by the Council’s Vice President of Grant Management and Workforce Development, that the agency cares not about uses by right and only that any project be consistent with the zoning provisions of the district in which any project is to be located.

After other residents shared their thoughts, Chairman Herron asked me a very insightful question: Setting the amusement aside and hypothesizing some commercial use, what would be my principal concern?

I answered: “Traffic.”

Given the topography of the Pennhurst tract, the lack of direct sight lines of virtually any property from Pennhurst Road, Brown Drive or Church Street in Spring City, a commercial operation would not visually impact the residential area.

Considering a light industrial business park, professional offices or a research facility or combinations thereof, the only practical traffic concern would be workers commuting to and from their place of business. Thus, peak traffic would occur during the workweek in the morning and evening. Any supporting commercial vehicles would also likely traverse those roads from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Thus, I maintained, if the feeder roads were addressed by a developer, such as assuming the cost for significant upgrading of Brown Drive, Old Schuylkill Road and Pennhurst Road, there could be an acceptable solution.

One of the prime negative issues of the Pennhurst Asylum is the intense concentration of traffic, both human and vehicular, during the weekends the attraction operates. From 6:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. every Friday, Saturday and Sunday the Asylum is open for business, a thousand extra cars use Bridge, Pennhurst, Brown, Old Schuylkill and Church. Losing seven weekends a year is part of what distresses the proximal residents.

There are answers to the traffic issues. Brown Drive needs substantial improvement owing to the existing roadway, underground gas lines and the need for sewage lines to be run in order to connect Brown residents to the Township’s waste plant. The “T” at Brown and Old Schuylkill will be a tremendous challenge since three private residences are very close to the roadways and have little setback.

The reality is that with resident involvement, government mediation and true landowner participation, obstacles can be overcome and agreement reached.

Commissioner Ed Dracup later asked me if I would assist the PC by asking members of CCOEV to describe what they think would be a good change of use of the Pennhurst property. I am pleased to do so, and I will be making it possible for all CCOEV subscribers to offer their thoughts and provide those ideas to the PC. It is this type of interaction that will help accord to be reached. I congratulate Commissioner Dracup for his insight.

My observation of last night’s meeting is that I witnessed true democracy in action. I saw the Township’s planners working with and for the Township’s residents. They asked for the community to help them. Their challenge is fraught with traps, landmines and obstacles. Their final recommendation will likely be a compromise among the landowner, the residents and the Township’s need to strategically develop land so desperately in need of re-use.