New Hanover Town Center Project in the Crosshairs

Aerial photos courtesy of New Hanover Township

This photo shows some of the land clearing undertaken three weeks ago at the 209-acre New Hanover Town Center project site which has raised concern among residents and officials.

It was hard to find a parking place at the New Hanover Township building Thursday night.

And it became evident the crowd was there not because there was nothing good on TV (there wasn't), but because the supervisors had an agenda item to discuss the Town Center development.

An early conceptual drawing for the Town Center project.

Proposed on 209 acres where the old New Hanover Airport used to be located, if approved, the project would add more than 700 homes and 171,000 square feet of commercial space along Swamp Pike.

But there was an audible exclamation from the crowd when Supervisors Chairman Charles D. Garner Jr. announced that, at the developer's request, the matter was pulled from the night's agenda.

That does not mean the project was not discussed.

Engineer David Leh informed the supervisors, and the crowd that remained, that three weeks ago, it was discovered that the developers had cleared a wide swath of trees and ground.

"Acres of trees were removed and acres of ground were disturbed," he said.

Here is video of the clearance taken from a drone and provided courtesy of the township:



The problem with land clearing getting started is that the project does not have final site plan approval from the township. Not even close.

The project did receive preliminary plan approval for a very different plan in 2005. The larger, more recent plan was first submitted in 2017, but it has been changed at least five times since then, according to Township Manager Jamie Gwynn.

Leh said the township inspected the work and a Notice of Violation was issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The Montgomery County Conservation District, which oversees erosion control plans, also got involved and ordered some measures be taken to mitigate the potential damage from the clearing.

An aerial photo of tree clearing done on the site in March.

Leh said the work required by the conservation district was undertaken and the notice of violation may be revoked.

The developers have said they now intend to seek a township grading permit to continue the work, said Leh.

Just like soil stockpiling and tree removal that was undertaken in March, this work was done under the legal umbrella of the 2005 preliminary site plan approval, said Township Solicitor Andrew Bellwoar.

The grading permit will supposedly be used to construct stormwater basins on the site, that are legally "unrelated" to the eventual development.

Bellwoar told the supervisors that he warned the developers "any work done there is at developer's risk and if the final site plan approved differs in terms of the storm basins they are now installing, they will have to re do it."

Aerial photo  showing some of the tree clearing
that was discovered at the site three weeks ago.

Garner said "I know they are the property owners and they have certain rights," but he thought the township had an ordinance that would prevent clear cutting of trees or land on that scale without review and a permit from township.

If the township ordinances do not contain such provisions, perhaps it's time to change the law so that such review would be required, he said.

The item that was supposed to be discussed at last night's meeting had to do with whether the township would take dedication of the roads within the development once construct. Garner noted that request is contrary to the proposal in previous documents that indicated they will be private roads.

This aerial photo shows clearing and clearing near a wetland.

Even more complicated matters are set to be discussed at the October meeting according to Gwynn.

Garner suggested adding the matter of road dedication threatens to make the meeting unwieldy and could cause further delays.

He said the Town Center developers, with the clear-cutting, "may be acting within the law, but it seems like they're not acting in good faith with us, the way they ask us to act in good faith with them."

Resident Rusty Oister had a stronger reaction telling the board "it's begun."

He said "it seems like these developers are pushing us to the limit of the law. They do not have the township's best interests at heart. So when it comes time for them to ask for waivers and exceptions, I ask that the supervisors hold firm."

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

A Debate Delayed