Whitemarsh Considers Purchase of Property at Butler Pike and Plymouth Road

With development heating up at the intersection of Butler Pike and Plymouth Road, Whitemarsh Township appears to be prepared to use some of its open space funds to keep one corner for the plants and animals.

At their August meeting last week, the Whitemarsh Township Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to advertise the intent to purchase 4130 Butler Pike, a .77-acre property on the intersection's eastern corner. 

With the south corner already occupied by Cold Point Manor, and Plymouth Township's westerly corners scheduled for , a 398-unit , and likely , the Supervisors felt the need to take action.

"To add all these new developments and properties…it will be very difficult at that intersection," said chairman Bob Hart. "This particular piece we thought was critically important for a lot of reasons. It really helps with traffic and…it'll be the one corner we can control and really keep as a nice entrance into Whitemarsh Township."

Earlier in the meeting, the supervisors unanimously approved an amendment to the Open Space Plan to include historic property preservation, including the area of Cold Point. This would allow the township to use open space funds to purchase the property on Butler Pike, since the Underground Railroad passed through that area, board members said.

The parcel, which has frontage along Butler Pike and access to Flourtown Road, previously held a 19th-century home that was knocked down by the developer who currently owns it. However, officials said that developer has been very supportive of the idea of selling the land to the township for conversion to open space.

"He has committed to working with us not only to preserving and selling us that open space at considerably below appraised value, but also to transform that land to have a Welcome to Whitemarsh corner and also a monument to the Underground Railroad,” Hart said.

According to Whitemarsh Township manager Bruce Horrocks, a draft agreement of sale has been made at $225,000. Records show that the property was previously put on the market in 2010 for $269,000.

The township will now advertise the public hearing for purchasing the property, likely to occur at the board's September meeting.

In addition, the board will also advertise their intent to purchase properties at 7004 and 7008 Mathers Lane. However, those flood-prone properties will be purchased with a recently approved FEMA grant of $898,000.

7004 Mathers Lane is a 1-acre property that houses a home built in the 1860s. 7008 is a .3-acre property that also houses an older home.

Both will be torn down and turned into open space, officials said.

"They have been flooded so many times, the best way to deal with this is to eliminate the chance of it ever happening again," Horrocks said.

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