June 21, 2017

According to David C. Babbitt, the proposed development of Crebilly Farm by Toll Bros. in Westtown would be a net gain for the township and the West Chester Area School District.

Babbitt is a land planner who did a fiscal impact study on the plan in October. He gave testimony on his report during the June 20 conditional use hearing held at Bayard Rustin High School.

The study considered two plans. Plan A, with 317 new homes proposed, and Plan B, with a density bonus to 395 homes planned. The township is currently only considering Plan A at this time.

Calculations include the tax revenue generated by earned income taxes, township property millage rates and real estate transfer taxes, along with the cost of municipal and school services to the residents per home. Projections for the number of people — including school-aged children per home — Babbitt said, were based on the Rutgers University Center for Urban Policy Research data published in 2006.

Regarding increased population, Plan A would result in 960 new residents with 177 being school-aged children.

Of the 317 new homes proposed under Plan A, 200 are four-bedroom single-family homes — selling for $810,000 — and 117 are three-bedroom carriage homes to sell for $600,000. Babbitt said the minimum income need to buy a single-family home would be $195,000. Minimum income for a carriage home would be $150,000.

According to Babbitt, the single-family homes would result in a net positive impact (revenue minus expenditures) of almost $319,000 for the township, with an additional $194,000 coming from the carriage home residents totaling revenue of $512,800.

However, Babbitt’s figures also show a negative impact to the tune of almost $690,000 the single-family homes would have on the school district. The carriage homes, on the other hand, would have a positive impact of $561,000.

Babbitt’s figure total $512,800 of positive impact for Westtown Township and a negative impact of just shy of $129,000 for the school district for a total net combined impact of almost $384,000.

Babbitt’s full report is here.

During cross-examination, Supervisors’ Vice Chairman Carol De Wolf brought up the fact that there are differences between Babbitt’s figures and those provided by Todd Poole, of 4Ward Planning Inc., who reviewed Babbitt’s analysis for the township.

Babbitt responded by saying the differences were negligible — based on slightly different, but equally sound methodologies — and that both his and Poole’s analysis show a net positive impact.

Another reason for the difference is that Babbitt used a calculation of more than $20,000 per student per year, while Poole used a calculation of less than $12,000, a number provided by the school district.

Poole’s review can be found here.

Also testifying was West Chester Fire Department Chief Charles Michael McDonald. He said he wants an emergency access road into the development from New Street that would be at least 17 to 18 feet wide to accommodate the largest pieces of firefighting equipment. There should e no parking on that road.

Township engineer Kevin Matson also testified, saying the plan should include areas for overflow parking when a resident has a large event at a home. He also said e long cul-de-sac streets should be redesigned to create a loop.

The hearing is scheduled to continue 6 p.m. July 25 also at Rustin High School. Scheduled to appear are Nicole Kline, the traffic engineer consulting for Toll, and Al Federico who is Westtown’s traffic engineer.