Some Pennsbury Township residents are concerned that the owners of Springdale Farm are letting structures on the property be destroyed by weather, wildlife and vandals.
Lynn Luft, a member of the Historical and Planning Commissions, and several others call it demolition by neglect.
Springdale Farm is the 59.5-acre portion of the former Mendenhall property on Hillendale Road. The township bought a conservation easement on the property in 2007 for $900,000. The Mendenhall family built new stables and a riding rink, but then sold the farm in 2011 for financial reasons.
The current owner, CFP Associates, want to subdivide the property into two parcels, one of 11 acres. That parcel has several structures — a main house, tenant house and a barn — that are listed as historic resources. Those structures are now in disrepair.
John Smith, one of the CFP partners, picked up an application for a demolition permit, according to Township Manager Kathy Howley, but has not filed the application yet.
During the June 15 Board of Supervisors’ meeting, Luft and others were urging the board to take some sort of action.
One resident, John Verdeg, read a letter he had sent to the National Historic Trust asking for help in saving the buildings.
In that letter, Verged said the property was deeded to the Mendenhall family in 1703 by William Penn, and stayed in the family until “evicted by predators.” The property is within the Brandywine Battlefield Monument.
He said eight generations of Mendenhalls lived on and worked the farm and that it was the oldest continually operated farm in Pennsylvania.
Two of the three structures on the smaller of the two proposed lots, he said, predate the Revolution, while the other is a “good example of historical stone farmhouses that dotted Chester County in the early 19th century.”
He said the main farmhouse has been vacant for three years and is now open to trespassers, vandals and the weather and the structures are deteriorating despite local ordinances prohibiting demolition by neglect, and that neglect led to a recent collapse of a 19th century barn.
“Enforcing the local ordinance would provide short-term help. The long-term solution is to find a buyer that will preserve the historic structures. Inclusion in the Historic Trust list of 2016…would preserve the American story. Sites like this should not be lost by neglect,” he said.
Luft asked what measures the township could take to ensure the structures are maintained. Solicitor Tom Oeste responded saying the township could file a complaint in district court, but that in his experience, that wouldn’t do much good.
“The owner can be fined, but really can’t be forced to do anything with the barn. The township can fine him daily, but district justices are not inclined to do that, in my opinion,” Oeste said.
He said the owners are taking some precautions to secure the buildings and the code enforcement officer should continue to monitor the situation to ensure there’s no further deterioration.
One difficulty in that, Oeste added, is that the code enforcement officer can’t enter onto the property without the owner’s permission.
The ideal situation, Oeste said, is to have the owner work to secure the building, subdivide the lots and then sell the property to buyers who will preserve the historic structures.
Another option, according to Howley, would be to allow a legal demolition of the barn if it is too far gone to preserve.
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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