October 1, 2014

Chadds Ford Township supervisors voted 2-0 to let the Planning Commission consider a new type of zoning that could accommodate a concept plan from developer Joe Grace.

At issue is a possible development on the former Goodman stable and riding school, a 90-plus-acre property along Oakland Road between Webb and Brinton’s Bridge roads.

The property is zoned R-1 for 2-acre lots. The developer also provided sketch plans for 1-acre and half-acre lots, all with 39 new homes. There are two existing houses already in the property. The differences in the proposals would be the amount of open space made available and whether or not there would be on-site sewage or public sewer.

Grace previously said that if the development would go through as a PRD-3, he would bring in public sewer, water and gas. His attorney reiterated that during the Oct. 1 meeting.

Township code does not currently consider the half-acre concept, so for that to go through, a new zoning category would need to be created. That new zoning would be a PRD-3. PRD stands for planned residential development.

Supervisor Frank Murphy was adamant in his explanation that voting to send the idea for a PRD-3 to the Planning Commission in no way means that he or any other supervisor endorses the plan. He said that the vote only means that they are honoring the developer’s request to explore the viability of the new PRD.

Attorney Mike Dignazio, representing the developer, has previously called the PRD-3 plan “optimal” and has gotten agreement from John Snook, a senior land planner with the Brandywine Conservancy.

Snook agreed to work as a consultant on the sketch plan. As previously reported, Snook made some changes to the plan that improve the view for some Webb Road neighbors and significantly increases the amount of open space within the development. A total of 48 acres of open space would be made available if the PRD-3 is enacted and the plan ultimately approved.

Snook added that the lot sizes are actually larger than half-acre, more like two-thirds of an acre. He suggested that some of that open space could be used as a park and offered for dedication to the township.

Supervisors’ Chairman Keith Klaver said the supervisors would want input from the community on how to use the open space, but that there is no guarantee that the township would accept dedication if the plan went through.

Webb Road resident Samantha Reiner said she liked the plan, but not as a PRD-3. She would like to see it go through as a type of overlay for the R-1. Reiner said it was a matter of how potential homeowners could exercise their property rights. Their actions would be restricted in a PRD, she said.

Reiner also suggested offering a transfer of development rights so that there would be fewer homes built on the property, but that the developer would get rights to do more construction elsewhere in the township.

Murphy said that authorizing the Planning Commission to look at creating a PRD-3 was an incremental step. If the commission thinks it has no value, then it can tell the supervisors to consider something else.

Other business

• Supervisors hired a new township manager. Amanda Serock, an assistant manager in Swarthmore for the last five years, will assume the role effective Oct. 13 with a salary of $75,000.

The township has been using an agency to serve as manager since June when Judy Lizza resigned.

• The board voted 2-0 to buy the former B&H Motors property at 1381 Baltimore Pike for no more than $135,000.

Klaver said the 1.7-acre property would be left vacant and used for stormwater management, but that the township might build on it later if the need arose.

He also said the sale is contingent upon an environmental impact study. Funds for the purchase come from the infrastructure fund — money that came as donations from developers — not from taxpayers, Klaver added.

• Supervisors’ Vice Chairman George Thorpe did not attend the meeting.

As a nine-term state legislator, state Rep. Stephen Barrar is fairly well known, but the 160^th Legislative District has changed.

Because of redistricting, the 160^th lost some municipalities from its eastern edge, but picked up Pennsbury and Kennett Townships as well as Kennett Square on the western side.

Barrar, 60, of Upper Chichester, is seeking another two-year term as representative and wants those who don’t yet know him to think of him as a “community politician, not a Harrisburg politician.”

“My job is in Harrisburg, but I represent nine communities here, and I try to be a very important part of that community. I want people to know that when they have a problem, I’m the guy to turn to,” he said.

Barrar is a US Navy veteran, former businessman, and chairman of the state’s Veterans’ Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee.

He said his most significant accomplishment in office was in changing requirements for teen drivers’ licenses. The change requires 16-year-olds to have a minimum of 40 hours of instruction over a six-month period before they can get their permanent license.

“Fatality rates dropped better than 50 percent. The bad part is we’re still having horrific accidents where we lose four or five drivers at a time,” he said.

Another area he feels good about is being part of the effort to save refineries in Marcus Hook two years ago. If the plants had closed, thousands of jobs would have been lost. Marcus Hook is not within the 160^th Legislative District, but many of the refinery employees are district residents, he said.

While the grandfather of three is pleased with those results, he admits to missing the “elusive goal” of property tax reform.

Barrar said most people have no problem with property taxes for county and township government, but have a major problem with those taxes going toward education.

He said he backed House Bills 76 and 1776 that would have shifted funding for education from property taxes to sales and income taxes.

“Funding of education has been the greatest challenge for Pennsylvania,” Barrar said. “The problem with education — even with the Marcellus Shale Tax that [Democratic Party candidate for governor Tom Wolfe] has talked about — is that funding for education increases every year by about $600 million.”

While the Marcellus Shale Tax would generate that amount of revenue, he said, it would only solve educational funding problems for one year. Though he wants to go to a bill like House Bill 76 that would shift the bulk of education funding away from property taxes, some property taxes would still go to the schools.

“But it would exist for local, basically debt service, or new construction projects,” Barrar said.

Under that type of system, he said as an illustration, if the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board opted to build a new school or renovate the middle school, local property taxes would go to fund that project, but the remainder of the operating budget would come from sales and income taxes.

He sees education funding and the economy as the biggest issues in this year’s election.

Education is also one of the key issues for Whitney Hoffman, his Democratic Party opponent in this election. They both agree that less money is going to the classroom.

According to the incumbent Republican, that’s because of high salaries and benefits.

Barrar cited a Commonwealth Foundation study that said education spending has gone up more than 20 percent during the last eight years.

“That’s not totally outrageous,” he said, “but the cost of salaries and benefits over those eight years increased by 108 percent…If we want to spend the same amount of dollars, we’re either going to have to increase [taxes] at the local level or the state level to meet that demand.”

The best way to fund education, Barrar said, is to improve the economy.

To grow the economy, Barrar said the legislature should look at the state’s tax policies and the regulatory costs placed on businesses.

He said the state’s corporate tax rate of 9.9 percent is one of the highest in the country, as is the state’s unemployment compensation. Workers’ compensation costs are also increasing. Those facts make Pennsylvania “ a very expensive state to do business in.”

Yet, he’s willing to consider increasing taxes on Marcellus Shale.

“The support in the legislature is probably 70 or 80 percent to do it. The problem is that half the people want a 3 to 5 percent tax, and the other half wants a 5 to 10 percent tax. That would put us at the highest in the nation. That would be something that would disenfranchise a lot of companies from coming here,” he said.

“Government can’t create jobs,” he added, “but it can create an atmosphere that is inviting to businesses.

Barrar took issue with some of the statements his opponent made in a recent interview. Hoffman said Barrar has done little to improve the Conchester Highway, Route 322.

“I’ve heard her say numerous times that I’ve done nothing about the Conchester, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.

Barrar said he made deals with two former governors — Ridge and Rendell — to vote for their pet projects in exchange for their promises to continue funding for the Conchester project, and that funding is in place for several stages of improvement.

Barrar and Hoffman are both scheduled to attend a meet-the-candidates’ night at Fox Hill Farm in Concord Township on Oct. 9.