Phoenixville To 'Stay Beautiful', Massive Development Rejected: Report

After months of controversy, it turns out that almost no one supported the massive development proposed on Main Street in Phoenixville, according to a report.

The borough council chambers echoed with resounding applause from the crowd of at least 50 when the proposal to build 22 townhouse units at 701 S. Main Street was unanimously defeated, 6-0, the report states.

Some council members hinted that they were willing to give the development a chance, but that it violated far too many borough codes, and that nothing of substance had been amended from the last time they reviewed the plan, according to the Pottstown Mercury.

Marc Kaplin, the lawyer for the developer Devon Green Properties L.P., seemed to conflate his constitutional rights with the rights of a speaker at a borough council meeting.

“This is still America, is it not?” he reportedly said at one point. And then, later, when he was told he had run over his alotted time limit: “Go ahead, keep it up, keep shutting us down and not let us execute our constitutional right.”

Kaplin also handed out binders to the council members, some of whom said they put the binders in the trash, according to the report.

A populist effort to defeat the development, “Keep Phoenixville Beautiful,” had engaged in a significant lobbying effort in recent months and was in strong attendance at the meeting.