143 55-and-Older Homes Get Upper Pottsgrove OK

The first phase of the Kummerer Trace project, shown above and given preliminary/final site plan approval last night, calls for 143 homes on 49 acres between Pine Ford Road, Kummerer Road and Farmington Avenue.

The second phase would construct even more 55-and-older homes off Evans Road. The full project with both phases is shown above, at right.

With a 3-2 vote, Upper Pottsgrove Township Commissioners last night gave preliminary/final site plan approval to a plan that has not even been fully engineered yet.

Commissioners Chairman Trace Slinkerd and Commissioner Renee Spaide cast the two nay votes. The project won the support of Commissioners France Krazalkovich and Elwood Taylor, both of whom will leave the board at the end of the year, and Commissioner Martin Schreiber.

Township staff were wary of the decision. Township Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. wrote the lengthy resolution which passed last night and it contained a long list of conditions.

Township Engineer Pete Eisenbrown repeatedly told the commissioners that most plans of this size and complexity are much more fully engineered before coming up for approval.

"Usually the engineering is much more caught up than what we have now," he said noting that he had not even received an updated plan to review. The last one was submitted Sept. 18 and a more updated plan was submitted to the Montgomery County Conservation District, which rejected it, said Township Manager Michelle Reddick.

Saying things were moving "at lightning speed," she was the most outspoken in her warnings.

"In my 25 years working her as the zoning administrator I have never had a plan of this magnitude get preliminary/final approval in four or five months time," said Reddick. "It would normally take a year to a year-and-a-half. You need to serious consider what you are approving."

Developer John Benson, left, from Artisan Development Group,

at left, waits to address the Upper Pottsgrove Commissioners
during Monday night's meeting.

But the project received a full-throated endorsement from Taylor, who is also the chairman of the planning commission that recommended the preliminary site plan approval against, Reddick noted, the recommendation of the solicitor.

He pointed out that  when developer John Benson first submitted his plan, he expressed no interest in paying for off-site road improvements.

But now, Benson had committed to re-building and widening Pine Ford Road and Kummerer Road, "roads we had been budgeting to fix that we won't have to do now," said Taylor.

He also pointed to the $2 million in tax revenues the Pottsgrove School District will receive each year in property taxes, as well as the $200,000 the township tax coffers will receive each year.

"The school district will not have to build any classrooms for children living in these houses," Taylor said, noting that is largely guaranteed by the 55-and-older age restriction that will be place on the homes there, which will sell for about $325,000 each, according to Benson.

"It's a game-changer for the district and the township," Taylor said.

Under the terms of the lengthy resolution Garner wrote, which was being negotiated and changed right up until the vote, the final plans must still pass muster with Eisenbrown and Garner before construction can begin.

Benson said the push for approval is based on a desire to get the road improvements in place by next November.

"It we miss this window, we miss getting blacktop down by 2020," he said.

The resolution also include provisions for even more road improvements provided the township approves the second phase of the project along Evans Road within the next 18 months.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting.

Age-Restricted Housing Approved

U. Pottsgrove Developer Pushes For Project Approval

The first phase of the Kummerer tract development.

Township commissioners resisted a high-pressure sales pitch Monday night from the developer who wants to build 143 singe-family homes on 49 acres bounded by Pine Ford Road, Kummerer Road and Farmington Avenue.

The project is designed for those 50 and older, which means while it would generate property tax revenue, it would have few school children, thus a windfall for the Pottsgrove School District.

Developer John Benson from Artisan Development Group said a financial impact study showed that each unit would have a positive financial impact of $7,700 to the township and school district.

Benson  wanted the board to grant preliminary and final site plan approval Monday, arguing that his builder, who remains unnamed but which he insists is one of the nation's top builders, is on a tight schedule.

But Pete Eisenbrown, from the township's engineering firm LTL Associates, said things are moving too quickly for a project of this size.

"It is not customary that plans this big move this fast," Eisenbrown told the commissioners.

According to the timeline outlined by Township Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr., the plan was officially submitted in early July. It had preliminary site plan approval from the planning commission bu Aug. 12. It was revised again on Sept. 18 and by Oct. 15, the planning commission had voted on final site plan approval.

Benson said he wants to start construction, which he estimated will take seven years, in 2020.

"You have to pull the trigger sooner or later and I would hope you do before the next recession rolls in because they come out of nowhere," said Benson.

He said the second phase of the plan calls for nearly doubling the first phase by purchasing

The master plan for the full build-out of 279 homes.

more acreage along Evans Road, and eventually building 279 units and moving Kummerer Road to intersect with Evans instead of Farmington.

Benson said he was given assurances the township would move quickly on the project. 

Garner, in outlining the timeline, said that is exactly what has happened.

"The township has complied with everything it said it would try to do. I think this is moving at 100 miles per hour. That doesn't mean you can't approve it," Garner said.

Benson said  pledged to undertake a number of public improvements, including re-paving Pine Ford Road, fixing its intersection with Chestnut Grove Road and improving Kummerer Road as well.

He stressed that his project is allowed "as of right" and that he does not need to commit to the road improvements. At first he declined the allow the township an extension for further review, which meant they had to vote Monday night.

The municipal planning code gives municipalities 90 days to review most developments, unless the developer grants extensions.

"The first time I saw this plan was two weeks ago," said Commissioner Renee Spaide. "I feel like this is being shoved down our throat. I'm not comfortable making a decision on something this big."

Garner told them there were three options. Benson could grant an extension. The township could approve a resolution he drafted with 25 conditions, some of which called for more extensive road repairs than Benson had agreed to make. "Or you can vote to reject the plan," he told the commissioners.

Benson blinked and granted the township a one-month extension.

Don't think this will be over by then folks.

In the meantime, here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Planning at '100 Miles Per Hour'