Home Builders Association of Chester and Delaware Counties

HBA Newswatch

May 28, 2008

HIGH BIDDER FOR LAND STILL LOSES
IN WEST VINCENT
By DANIELLE LYNCH, Staff Writer
WEST VINCENT — A township resident is frustrated with a township decision regarding a 20-acre piece of property known as Weatherstone Open Space Section C.
Resident T.J. Robinson bid $185 per acre for five years, or $18,500 total, for the lot.
Another resident, Thomas Olszanowski, bid $57 per acre for five years, or $5,700 total, for the same land.
At a May 19 meeting, two of three township supervisors voted in favor of accepting Olszanowski’s bid, saying he alone met two requirements set by the township for the winning bid.
Supervisor Barry DiLibero cast the dissenting vote.
According to Supervisors’ Chairman Kenneth Miller Jr. and Supervisor Zoë Perkins, Olszanowski met the requirements of being both a township resident and proving that the majority of his income comes from farming.
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DEVELOPER PUSHES RETIREMENT HOME FOR EAST VINCENT DESPITE OPPOSITION
By Michael Hays, Special to The Phoenix
EAST VINCENT — Every community needs a retirement home, attorney Paul Bucco says. Now his plan for a 780-unit continuing care retirement community off Bridge Road has new life.
The proposal has been changed in response to both fierce opposition from neighbors, as well as questions raised by elected supervisors. Residents should expect another public hearing as early as June 17, as the East Vincent Board of Supervisors indicated at a recent meeting that the project has merit.
In November, the board rejected Bucco’s proposal for a retirement community overlay district, although two out of the three supervisors from that time have since been replaced.
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RTSD PROPOSES 7-PERCENT TAX INCREASE
Budget hampered by $1.5-million loss in revenue for the 2008-09 fiscal year
By Sam Strike
A lot can change in six months.
In December, a 2008-09 real-estate tax increase of between 5 and 6 percent was forecast by the Radnor Township School District.
The then-proposed preliminary budget was sure to be whittled down, it was stated.
Still, countless budget-related meetings later, the whittling down, the “scrubbing,” the rolling up of sleeves didn’t result in a lower tax increase for Radnor Township property owners.
On Tuesday the school board unanimously approved a proposed final $72-million budget that calls for a 7-percent real-estate tax increase.
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KING STREET REDEVELOPMENT TALK CONTINUES
Malvern’s facelift still on hold
By Rachel Perry
At the most recent meeting of the Malvern Planning Commission last Thursday, developers Eli Kahn and David Della Porta again appeared to discuss their plans for a proposed mixed-use development on downtown King Street.
Kahn and Della Porta are seeking permission to redevelop about a quarter mile of street frontage on the northern side of King Street, spanning 4.7 acres and covering several of the borough’s industrial properties. Sites that would be rezoned if the proposal were to be approved include the former Fisher Feed warehouses and the Amerigas facility. The plans include high-density housing, retail and parking.
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DEVELOPMENT COMES TO ‘LITTLE CHICAGO,’ WHERE CHANGE IS SELDOM
The recalculation of floodplain lines key to subdivision
By Sam Strike
On paper, stormwater is all about calculations.
But in real life, it’s a subject of inch-high anecdotes and soggy stories of the worst kind of neighborly offense: problems that flow from multiple sources.
In the North Wayne neighborhood long nicknamed Little Chicago, where a number of people are second-generation residents, a proposed two-lot subdivision is causing concern over density, neighborhood fabric and of course stormwater.
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