Demolition Starts Of Shenandoah Woods In Warminster

WARMINSTER, PA —The work has begun.

The demolition of the abandoned Shenandoah Woods Navy developmentis underway and has been for a "couple of weeks," Township Manager Tom Scott informed supervisors at Thursday night's meeting.

"It's all good news. The houses are coming down," Scott said regarding the 51-acre property. "This board has been waiting many years for something to be happening at this site."

The project was approved to be razed in 2012.

The vacant development was designated a blighted area in 2011 by the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority and Warminster planning commission, given the area’s inadequate planning, faulty street layout and economically undesirable land use.

In late July, Beinke Wrecking was awarded the bid by supervisors.

Scott said funds were forwarded to the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority to pay contractors on the $1.7 million demolition project. Scott said he hopes to secure some state funding for it as well.

Initially constructed as part of Warminster's Naval Air Development Center (NADC), the federal government held on to Shenandoah Woods after the NADC's closure in 1996 and used it as off-base housing, according to a previous Patch report.

Scott said he hoped to get supervisors to the scene to pose with demolition equipment in the coming future.

When the board asked Police Chief James Donnelly if he was "thrilled" about the demolition news, the chief responded, "absolutely."