Delco Council 'Squandered' Good Will Over Don Guanella, Group Says

MARPLE TOWNSHIP, PA — With the Delaware County Council taking legal action against Marple Township as it floats the idea of housing mental health services at existing structures on the former Don Guanella site, locals are saying all good will built up has been lost.

Save Marple Greenspace co-founder Kevin Hemphill said, "Council has managed to squander all of the bi-partisan goodwill they had created when they bought Don Guanella from the Archdiocese" in just a few months' time.

"The news just keeps getting worse for County Council," Hemphill wrote in a newsletter to the community. "They just announced that they will be taking Marple Township to court over that township's recent rezoning of the entire 213 acre Don Guanella tract so that Council can open a mental health facility there."

Hemphill is just one of the many voices who are opposed to the proposed mental health facility on part of the beloved property.

Marple Township in April voted to rezone the parcels that comprise the Don Guanella property to open space. That move led Delaware County to take legal action in hopes of being able to retain the institutional zoning of the property for the mental health services.

Delaware County filed an application with Marple seeking to retain its rights to use three existing structures on the land for those purposes.

>>>RELATED: Delco Clashes Over Park, Mental Health Service Plans At Don Guanella<<<

Marple's leaders also voted unanimously to deny that application. The vote was met with applause from residents in attendance. Molinaro also abstained from the vote.

>>>RELATED: No Immigrant Housing Coming To Don Guanella Site: Delco Officials<<< If you have information on the rumored housing of illegal immigrants in Delaware County, email Max.Bennett@Patch.com.

Since news of the mental health proposal broke, residents from Marple and other municipalities have railed against the council, claiming the council blindsided stakeholders by never mentioning the mental health idea during the park's development process.

"I feel like I've been lied to," Save Marple Greenspace President Charles Protesto told Patch in April.

"To me, they've got to keep their word," Save Marple Greenspace Vice President Joe Finio said.

Hemphill wrote the "Council just has to announce that they've reconsidered their position after 'listening to constituents' and will site the mental health facility somewhere else."

"However, if it's stubbornness stopping Council from fixing their mistake, then they should reverse course simply to get back to Council meetings where people aren't screaming at them," he wrote. "Better yet, how about if they give up on the mental health facility proposal because it was never anything they mentioned at any point during the taking of Don Guanella in 2021 or during park planning process. Nor was there even a whisper of such a use during their Cardinal O'Hara dog and pony show last year.

"Any seasoned political consultant would tell Council to simply dust off the plan that taxpayers already paid for and this kerfuffle will be forgotten in a month," he wrote. "Then they could begin to recapture some of the political capital they built when they saved Don Guanella from becoming the second largest shopping center in Delaware County."