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.

While a $35 million expansion of the Village at Newtown Shopping Center that will include a new Solstice Restaurant, Iron Hill Brewery and several other establishments is rapidly taking shape, a new 12,500 square-foot Old Navy and 400 square-foot Chick-fil-A expansion is being proposed at the adjacent Newtown Shopping Center.

In the meantime, township officials are considering a proposed Wawa with gas pumps just off the Newtown Bypass near its intersection with Lower Silver Lake Road. Company officials have filed a challenge to the joint municipal zoning ordinance that covers Newtown Township, Upper Makefield and Wrightstown because it doesn’t designate areas for a combined convenience store/gas pumps use.

[Also read: “Mack & Fisher Respond to Questions About Development”]

A zoning hearing board meeting to consider variances for the proposed Wawa and the Newtown Shopping Center work is set for Thursday.

[Meet Mack Monday & discuss this: February 3, 2020]

As for the overall bright business outlook in the township, growth is good so long as it’s well thought out and managed, said Jim Worthington, owner of the largest business in Newtown Township, the Newtown Athletic Club.

But it’s not all positive, stressed Newtown Township Supervisor John Mack. In particular, he cited the proposed Old Navy as the wrong kind of business growth for the township.

Mack said he’s gotten 75 comments so far from Newtown-area residents in opposition, including comments that the store is not up-scale enough and many residents would prefer Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods or Wegman’s.

[What do you think? Take Mack's "Old Navy/Chick-fil-A Proposal Survey"]

The supervisor cites the Old Navy as the kind of commercial development that “brings only few low-paying jobs which does little to add to our revenue.”

On the other hand, Mack had a generally favorable view of businesses that will move in as the result of the Village at Newtown expansion “although parking is sometimes a problem. I understand that malls have to rethink their business plans to compete with Amazon.”

Township officials have to take a very hard look at the types of projects being allowed, said Mack, who added he is suggesting a voluntary moratorium on all new commercial development in the township while officials and residents “meet with commercial developers to ensure that their plans jibe with our new 10-year comprehensive plan, which currently is in the works.”

[Read "It’s Time to Update Newtown's Comprehensive Plan!"]

At the November 13, 2019, Newtown Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting, Durham Partners Group, LLC, submitted a Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB) application for twenty seven townhomes and associated dimensional variances on the property located at 413 Durham Road in the PS-2 (Professional Service) Zoning District. The BOS heard from the applicant’s professionals that the proposed townhouse use is much lower impact from a traffic and development standpoint than a permitted medical office building.

Strike One!

After extensive questioning by Supervisors, the BOS voted 4-1 to send the Township Solicitor to the December 5, 2019, ZHB meeting to oppose the developer’s request for 7 variances.

See video here.

Strike Two!

Heath Dumack, the engineer hired by the developer, appeared before the Newtown Planning Commission at its November 19, 2019, public meeting “as a courtesy.” PC member Paul Cohen said “I don’t want to be too impolite about it, but this is crazy! This is just a blatant effort to squeeze as much as possible out of this. To come in and propose - where there’s supposed to be one home - twenty-seven is... incredibly bold.”

Listen to the Q&A here.

Strike Three?

The next step for Durham Partners Group is to appear before the Zoning Hearing Board. Will the third time be the charm or will it be strike three and "yer out!"? With the Township Solicitor there to oppose awarding variances for this plan (see below), it is my hope that the ZHB denies the application.

Newtown Township residents deserve amenities that make Newtown an attractive and vibrant place to live, work and do business.

Newtown Supervisors John Mack and Dennis Fisher have received many questions, concerns, and complaints about commercial and residential in Newtown Township, especially with regard to the renovation going on at the Village of Newtown Shopping Center, the potential for commercial development along Newtown Bypass, and the further development of high density housing. Fisher & Mack have selected the most-often asked questions to answer in this Newtown Patch article.

Read the article here...

Growth, especially in Newtown, has boomed and developers continue to put pressure on the township to approve the construction of more homes, convenience stores and shopping centers. And by “pressure” I mean lawsuits and threats of lawsuits. Remember, lawsuits cost the township time and money. At some point — and that point may be now — there is just not enough space and infrastructure (roads, water and sewer services) for it all.

What will Newtown and the other “jointure” municipalities — Wrightstown and Upper Makefield townships — look like in 10 years? How much land will be preserved as open space? How will we protect our water and air from pollution?

I fear that Newtown will become a “Pottersville” (as in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”) in the next ten years unless we have a plan in place that puts the brakes on overdevelopment in Newtown, which has been years in the making.

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