December 6, 2022

In a recent op/ed piece, Brian Coyle, the president and CEO of the Henderson Group, made Henderson’s case for what Coyle said is a needed trade-off, an apartment complex in exchange for a completed loop road system.

He wants Chadds Ford Township to approve a text amendment allowing for an age-restricted apartment complex — ages 55-plus — on the vacant lot at Route 1 and Brandywine Drive across from Hannum’s Harley Davidson. Without that project to generate income for Henderson, he said his company won’t have the funds to complete the last leg of the loop road project, the Hillman Drive Extension.

Henderson owns the Chadds Ford Business Campus, through which Hillman Drive runs. The extension would connect Route 1 across from Brandywine Drive with Route 202 at Hillman Drive through the business campus so motorists can avoid the heavily trafficked intersection of those two major roadways.

After several years of discussions and meetings, township supervisors approved the extension plan five years ago, but there were delays in getting the necessary easements and PennDOT’s Highway Occupancy Permit. Then COVID hit and everything came to a halt.

Coyle said in his op/ed piece, and again in a recent interview, that completing that last leg of the loop road would cost at least $7 million. Henderson has received two grants from the state totaling almost $2 million for the project, but that still leaves the company short $5 million. And that’s why they need approval for the age-restricted complex, currently called “Greene Station at Painters Crossing.”

He called the trade-off a “win-win” situation since that 21-acre parcel is not generating any income and only minimum tax revenue for the township. But the apartment complex would generate close to $800,000 in taxes for the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and township without adding any additional students to U-CF or infrastructure burden to Chadds Ford. Such a project would also bring less traffic than retail shops and office buildings that are already approved for the site.

But Coyle also made the case for Greene Station beyond tax revenues and less traffic than shops and office buildings. He said it would be a high-end luxury complex with 240 units in five buildings. He added that it fits in with the township’s desire for greater walkability, which he said is part of the township’s Open Space Plan. And there would be more open space than would be provided if the site was developed under the current zoning, PBC — Planned Business Center.

But for the apartment idea to go through, there needs to be a zoning change through a text amendment that would allow for residential use with conditional use approval in that zoning district. However, the Planning Commission voted in June to not recommend the change to the Board of Supervisors. Members said their concern was too much density.

Attorney Marc Damico, representing Henderson, said at the time his client might still request the supervisors move to grant the change. That has not been decided yet, however, and Coyle said there have been some changes made to the plan since June.

Whichever route is taken, the applicant and the supervisors must follow legal procedures.

When asked for a comment, township Supervisors’ Chairman Samantha Reiner said, “The board respects due process rights and balances the needs of the Chadds Ford Township community when considering any applications for a zoning change.”

Henderson has been a property owner and business operator in Chadds Ford for 40 years, and Coyle said he’s proud that Henderson has always strived to be a good neighbor.

“We want to keep Chadds Ford a community that’s a great place to live, to work, to visit, to call home. And we think getting Hillman Drive completed is a big part of that,” he said.

There is currently a sketch plan from another applicant that calls for improving the Hillman Drive/Route 202 intersection, but that’s only a sketch plan at this point and doesn’t include the Route 1 end of Hillman Drive.

Henderson has created a website with other facets of the plan and with answers to frequently asked questions. That site is chaddsfordgateway.com.