Discover the Latest #NewtownPA information about Roadwork, Fate of the Washington Crossing Bridge, Planning for Future Housing Projects, and More…
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Newtown News of Interest
These Scoops are excerpts from articles published in local newspapers and other sources that may be of interest to Newtown area residents. Please click on the "From" link to access the full original article. Any opinions and "insights" appended to these article summaries are solely those of John Mack and do not represent the opinions of any other person or entity. Curated by johnmacknewtown |
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Discover the Latest #NewtownPA information about Roadwork, Fate of the Washington Crossing Bridge, Planning for Future Housing Projects, and More…
Read the online version: https://www.johnmacknewtown.info/noiapr24.html
Scooped by johnmacknewtown |
Managing Growth and Development: Housing Projections Analysis
The 109-page FINAL DRAFT of the 2024 Newtown Area Comprehensive Plan (“the Plan”; LINK: https://tinyurl.com/FinalDraftCompPlan) was approved for advertising by the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors at its March 27, 2024, meeting. Other members of the Jointure – Wrightstown and Upper Makefield – are expected to do the same, if they have not done so already.
The Plan was developed by the Bucks County Planning Commission (BCPC), and current version dated 2/27/24 is the result of several years of back and forth deliberations among Jointure members. Its purpose is to address the challenges faced by the members. The Plan, which contains nine guiding principles for the future, is a blueprint for the future.
Each Jointure municipality will hold a public meeting to answer questions and hear comments from residents. Newtown Township’s plans to include this at its May 22. 2024, Board of Supervisors meeting.
In order to help Newtown Township residents prepare for the scheduled May 22, 2024, meeting, I hope to prepare several short synopses of major sections of the Plan. This first synopsis focuses on:
Principle #1 - PROMOTE SMART GROWTH
Read the analysis in Newtown Patch...
The goal of the Plan developers with regard to housing, as it was explained to me at a Jointure meeting, was to determine if the Jointure had enough open space where housing is permitted to accommodate the projected population growth. The answer was yes. They used a figure of 224 new residents for Newtown by 2030. This number was from DVRPC; Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and is based on 2020 Census data analysis. However, what comes first? The chicken (people) or the eggs (developers getting their way)? That is, if you build it, people will come. Although the planners (BCPC) think there is enough available space WITHOUT changing the zoning, they also suggest that zoning be changed to allow more housing (e.g., in the OR and OLI/LI districts which ONLY exist in Newtown). How can this be a plan to promote "smart growth?"
Perhaps the "Smart Growth" section needs an update...
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One word kept coming up during a review of a planned upscale apartment complex at Sycamore Street and Richboro Road. And that word was “density.”
BET Investments, a real estate management and development company owned by Bruce Toll, attended the August planning commission meeting seeking input on its plans to redevelop the Corners at Newtown Place with a 120-unit luxury apartment building with an interior parking garage.
The plan calls for the demolition of a series of stand-alone commercial and retail buildings on Cambridge Lane and the construction of a three-story apartment building that would wrap around a multi-level interior parking garage and have direct access to a common hall and a private, outdoor pool and recreation area.
"We have a project that would require multiple variances from the zoning hearing board. Instead of seeking those variances, we crafted an amendment that we believe addresses the items of zoning relief that would be required for the project and would allow us to proceed in some fashion," land use attorney Matt McHugh told the planners.
According to the draft ordinance submitted by BET, a new use - Parking Core Apartment Building - would be added to the zoning ordinance.
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Concerned [Media, PA] community members say Media runs the risk of losing its hometown flavor. They say suburban sprawl and unchecked development is upending green space, causing housing prices to skyrocket, and making the borough less racially and economically diverse.
Areas of tree cover and homes of varying sizes have been replaced with even larger luxury homes, said resident Julie Smith, who has a background in environmental science. Local wildlife species have been displaced, she said, and the lack of trees and greenery is causing flooding to intensify and leading to the formation of sinkholes — her neighbor fell into one a few months ago, she added.
“I can’t remember how many … square acres of open space is left, and every last bit of it is vulnerable at the moment because of developers coming in. And they seem to be very well represented at council meetings, and very little seems to be able to be done to challenge them to help preserve the integrity of our town,” Smith said.
What About Affordable Housing?
Some residents of Media say the housing market there is far from affordable. According to the real estate website Zillow, the typical home price in the Media area is more than $476,000 — an 11.1% increase since 2020, as home prices surge throughout the Philadelphia region. In 2012, the typical home value was $305,000.
U.S. Census data from 2000 showed that 14% of Media’s residents were Black. By 2010, that number had plummeted to just 10%. As of 2019, only 6% of the population was Black.
Tamara Graham comes from a long line of Black residents of Media. “We’ve always been here. And we’ve always done pretty much our own thing. We’ve been generally self-sufficient through segregation — through the whole nine yards of it,” Graham said.
Although she grew up walking near creeks and hiking along the neighborhood trails, she said those opportunities are shrinking for her children’s generation.
Though it may not be the sole reason, Graham believes overdevelopment and green space loss is contributing to the lack of affordable housing and the decreasing Black population in Media.
Borough Council President Hall said he is sympathetic to the concerns about housing affordability…“One thing that I’ve learned about local government is this: It’s designed to go slowly. It doesn’t go slowly because we want it to go slowly. It goes slowly because we need input from our residents. It’s designed to get input from residents in a way that will maximize people’s opportunity to speak with us,” Hall said.
But some believe elected leaders are sitting on their hands as the pressures of overdevelopment squeeze the community.
The Media PA sign in the article says "Defend Open Space." What good is open space if it can't be used by residents? Yes, good for views as you drive by, but when the plan to convert Roberts Ridge Park into a meadow came before the BOS, I opposed it and worked with Elen Snyder - a local resident - to save the park and plant trees. See https://patch.com/pennsylvania/newtown-pa/newtown-township-approves-residents-plan-plant-native-trees
Also, what about the Clark Nature Center? The trails there have been closed for about 5 years! I am fighting to get those trails opened: https://patch.com/pennsylvania/newtown-pa/can-we-open-clark-nature-center-trails The township is supposed to be applying for a grant to do that (by removing some dangerous dead trees).
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Families in the Philadelphia suburbs are struggling to pay for basic needs, including high child care and housing costs, according to a new study.
A family of four with young children needs to make about $90,000 just to make ends meet in the Philadelphia suburbs, a new study released this month by the nonprofit Pathways PA shows.
According to the study, more than 846,000 working-age Pennsylvania households lack enough income just to cover those basic needs.
The 2020 Overlooked and Undercounted report examines the cost of basic necessities by creating a "Self-Sufficiency Standard" for each Pennsylvania county. The newly released Self-Sufficiency Standard, which uses data from 2019, shows what you need to make just to be able to pay for housing, child care, food, healthcare, transportation, taxes, and other miscellaneous basic needs.
The most expensive suburban Philadelphia county is Chester, where families made up of two adults and two preschool-aged children need to earn more than $93,100 just to pay their bills.
The largest expense for young families in the region by far is child care, which costs more than housing if both parents work full-time and more than one child is in daycare.
"With one out of four Pennsylvania households lacking enough income to meet their basic needs, the problem of inadequate income is extensive, affecting families throughout the state, in every racial/ ethnic group, among men, women, and children, in all counties. Nevertheless, inadequate income is concentrated disproportionately in some places and among some groups," the report summary states.
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