Remember Parkhouse

In May 2022, Scott Rifkin submitted the plan above to Upper Providence Township. He then promptly “withdrew” the plan, but also copyrighted it, which was highly unusual, if not unprecedented. Even though any documents that are submitted to the local municipality are considered public record, the Upper Providence Township solicitor’s interpretation of copyright law dictated that the Township could not release this plan under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know laws; if a resident wanted to view this plan, they had to make an appointment with the Township during business hours (8:30 am to 4:30 pm) to view the plan in person.

On December 7, 2022 this plan was put on the Planning Commission agenda and was finally available for widespread public dissemination.

This plan consists of:

· 153 Single Family Homes

· 177 Townhouses

· 144 “Multi-Family Housing” units, which are contained in 14 smaller apartment buildings with either 10 or 12 units contained in each.

· 684 Apartment units contained in 12 separate buildings

· 45 Assisted living units in one building. This building is technically the only building on the entire plan that the Township zoning permits. 

Total: 1,203 Units. 

For the last 30+ years, Upper Providence’s land development has been guided by an award-winning comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan contemplates the Township’s zoning and guides the leaders in their plans for future police, fire, EMS, roads, sewer, and school districts’ needs.

The Parkhouse parcel was NEVER intended to be developed at all, let alone this densely.

This plan, if developed, could increase our Township’s population by 10% or more. It will overburden our Fire, Police and EMS services, leaving us less safe. 

It will diminish our property values. 

It will exacerbate the traffic issues with which we all already struggle every day.

It will displace our wildlife and have a detrimental effect on our environment.

Worst of all are the impervious surfaces included in the plan. Sure, the developer paid lip service to stormwater runoff at the December 7 planning commission meeting. But their handful of barely recognizable detention “ponds” in the plan above are not going to be able to accommodate the storms we’ve become accustomed to seeing here. One inch of rainfall could produce 4 million to 5 million gallons of runoff directly up river from Mont Clare, Port Providence, and Phoenixville, communities that were recently devastated and are still recovering from flooding from Hurricane Ida in 2021.

The developer is claiming that this is a “by rights” plan under the Township’s Institutional zoning code. Typically, a by rights plan is one that follows the letter of the law. This would be true if this were a CCRC or Continuing Care Retirement Community. But it is not.

They are citing “the Worcester Decision” in justifying this plan as “by rights.” The Worcester Decision is related to the development of the Center Square Golf Course in Worcester.

Worcester Zoning has nothing to do with Upper Providence Zoning.

The developer is claiming this is a “by rights” plan by claiming the development will be age restricted to residents 62 or older. Initially, this will be a condition of development. But after the bulldozer blades hit the ground, the developer could petition the Township to change the zoning so that the Township does not have a failed development on its hands. This has happened before at the Ridgewood development and the Township Planner re-wrote the institutional zoning code specifically to avoid a repeat of the Ridgewood situation. 

After the development is built, the only controls on the age restriction are the development’s own HOA, which can change the rules on age restriction at their pleasure. Then it will impact our schools.

But the loophole that the Ridgewood developer exploited, the loophole that Upper Providence closed, is the exact loophole that Scott Rifkin is looking to exploit. 

This plan must be rejected by our Township Supervisors.