People waiting to hear what might happen with the proposed plan to develop 230 acres of Woodlawn Trustees property in Concord Township will have to wait a while longer.
The township issued a notice saying it received an extension from the applicant. April 20 is the rescheduled date for when the Planning Commission will consider whether or not to recommend supervisors’ approval. The earliest the Board of Supervisors would hear the matter is now May 5.
John Jaros, attorney for the applicant, said the reason for the extension was based on a request from the Planning Commission.
“It’s to give us time to explore the possibility of preserving six historic structures.”
During a meeting in October, commissioners told Jaros they wanted to see, in writing, what would be done regarding six historic structures in various states of destruction. Jaros said at the time that one of the structures would be kept but that anyone who wanted the remains of the other five structures could have them free of charge.
Eastern States Development Co. and the McKee Group are the equity owners of the Woodlawn property and want to build 160 homes, down from 171. The 230 acres are part of 325 acres Woodlawn owns between the Delaware State line and Smithbridge Road, and between Route 202 and the border with Chadds Ford Township.
Jaros said in August the plan could be done “by right,” meaning it needs no zoning variances for approval.
However, Sherri Evans-Stanton, the executive director of the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art, disputed that by-right claim. She told the commission in that same August meeting that one of the waivers being sought — to pay a fee in lieu of reserving 25 percent of the acreage for active recreation — meant the plan was not by right because such a waiver would require a zoning variance.
Evans-Stanton did not return phone calls for comment on the extension, but the group Beaver valley Preservation Alliance issued a e-mail in which they said, “The developers are taking plays right from their trusted handbook: Delay. Delay. Then delay some more. Wait a bit longer for people to lose interest and then slip the plans past the public. Except this time we're not going anywhere.”
The group also refers to development plans as “the Beaver Valley ruination plans.”
Woodlawn withdrew a previous plan in May of 2013. That plan, which was introduced in 2011, would have involved all 325 acres and included 330 traditional neighborhood homes, 120 active adult units and 20,000 square feet of retail businesses. Rezoning would have been needed for that plan.
A revised plan was introduced in June 2014 and the Planning Commission was to have voted on whether or not to recommend in October. That decision was postponed until November. However, the developer granted the township a three-month extension before the November meeting. The current extension was granted last week.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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