The Timeline

The story of the Parkhouse Sale is complicated.

The story meanders down many tributaries and along many unexpected twists and turns.  That's because the story of the sale of Parkhouse is ultimately a political story, one characterized primarily by the ambition of powerful politicians and their sycophants; people who either were trying to lay low to survive the swamp that is Montgomery County politics, or were hoping to advance their own self interest by riding their coat-tails.  

Or perhaps a little of both.  

Needless to say, the wishes of the residents of Montgomery County took a back seat to the motivated self interest of the decision makers involved, most of whom have since left Montgomery County in the rearview mirror for greener pastures in Harrisburg and elsewhere.

Upper Providence Township received the Montgomery County Planning Commission (“MCPC”) review letter dated May 17, 2013 with comment on the Township's intention to re-zone the aforementioned public spaces. The MCPC letter recommended re-zoning all County, State and Township spaces, except the Parkhouse parcels, stating that:

“....the Open Space Conservation District may is not (sic) consistent with current County land use planning objectives. We point out that the R-1 Residential-Agricultural District zoning may be more in keeping IN/R-1 Distirct zoning than OSC zoning which does not allow development. Permitted uses in the OSC District include open space preserves, wildlife sanctuaries, forest or woodland preserves, and reforested land.

Accordingly, the MCPC recommends that these two particular properties, with its on-site geriatric facility be removed from this list. We find that classifying the other, remaining County-owned parcels listed in this ordinance as OSC Open Space Conservation is appropriate and consistent with the County Comprehensive Plan.”

It should be noted that the county review letter goes on to further recommend that rezoning ALL of the properties listed in the ordinance were found to be consistent with the County’s Comprehensive Plan, the County’s Open Space Plan, the Township's 2010 Comprehensive Plan Update and the Township's Open Space Plan. Both of the Township land use plans were reviewed and approved by the County Planning Commission at the time of their adoption.  

It is safe to conclude from this letter that the county's objectives for this land changed at some point between July 19, 2010, which is the date of Upper Providence's Comprehensive Plan Update, and sometime in 2013, possibly 2012.

Montgomery County issued the "Request for Proposal" ("RFP") for Parkhouse.  The RFP states:

“The County is willing to consider all proposals, which would include, but is not limited to, the purchase of one, two or all of the Parkhouse facilities and related/other assets, including the land on which Parkhouse is located.”

Upper Providence Township's first direct contact with Montgomery County, which was called by the County due to Upper Providence’s pending zoning changes for the Parkhouse parcel.  Montgomery County officials expressed concern about the Township's pending OSC and IN ordinances. When asked, representatives from the County indicated that they had received several responses to the RFP but refused to offer details. 

As a result of a request made to the County by Upper Providence Township, a copy of the RFP issued on June 6, without the map, was provided to Upper Providence.

Upper Providence Township held hearings on the OSC and IN ordinances as part of the regular work session. The Board of Supervisors passed both of these ordinances by unanimous vote over protests from the County officials present at the meeting.

First Right to Know request filed with the County by Janice Kearney requesting, “Please provide a list of those individuals, corporate entities, non-profits, etc., who responded to RFP 13-27 that was sent out June 2013 and was closed July 12, 2013, as well as the name of the winning bidder. Only want a copy of the winning bid.” 

Logan Square Studio Centre sold at auction due to bankruptcy of the project. Montgomery County recoups $8,000 on their $24.5 million taxpayer funded investment due to the County subordinating the loan to the developer on the original deal. The County is also facing a bond rating downgrade and is on the hook for debt service payments in excess of $500,000 for the foreseeable future.

 Montgomery County representatives meet with the Upper Providence Board of Supervisors. County representatives are advised by the Board of Supervisors that a subdivision application should be submitted for the requested sub-division demarcated by Route 113. Upper Providence Planning and Zoning is instructed to place the application on the next available Planning Commission Agenda as the County’s imperative is to close the sale of Parkhouse before year-end. 

 Montgomery County submits subdivision plan. Local media is alerted and invited to attend the Upper Providence Planning Commission regarding the Parkhouse subdivision. Many members of the public indicate that they will attend the meeting, which is not recorded or broadcast. 

Montgomery County Republican Committee Chairman Bob Kerns is arrested in a media sensation. Charges against Kerns are eventually dismissed, but the sensational nature of the story drives all other news out of the headlines for the next several days.

Kerns is also an ally of Supervisor Lisa Mossie in standing against the sale of Parkhouse. In January 2013, Kerns approached Mossie to step in as the Vice Chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party. Soon after, Mossie received a call from Bruce Castor asking her to turn down Kerns’ offer as a courtesy to him and citing some issues coming up in the future that he’d rather his allies (meaning Mossie) not be involved in. Mossie turned down the position but remained on good terms with Kerns and with Castor, at least until the Parkhouse sale surfaced.

It is important to note that less than one year later, the worst of those charges against Kerns are dismissed, and in 2019, all charges are dismissed against Kerns.

Upper Providence Planning Commission meets and reviews the County-submitted Parkhouse plans.  Attendance is standing room only. Many members of the public take the opportunity to register their objection to the sale. Upper Providence Planning Commission votes to table action to December 11, 2013. 

Upper Providence Supervisor Lisa Mossie sends an email to every municipal leader in Montgomery County, asking for their help in standing against the sale of Parkhouse. Mossie points out that much of the County-owned land is vulnerable to sale. Her email is met with silence from every municipality, except neighboring Limerick, who sends a letter of support for Upper Providence and against the sale to the County Commissioners. 

Springfield Township Commissioner Jeff Harbison forwards Mossie’s email to Commissioner Leslie Richards, with the admonition, “I think you should know this agitating is going on.”

Upper Providence files a Right to Know request with Montgomery County for, among other Parkhouse related documentation, a copy of the responses received from the RFP and any agreements between Montgomery County and Mid-Atlantic. The County ignores this request.

Simultaneously, Janice Kearney files a third RTK request asking for a copy of the winning bidder’s proposal since it was available since October 17, 2013. The County ignores this request.

Scott Rifkin attended an advertised staff meeting of the Upper Providence Board of Supervisors. At that meeting, when questioned about the $3 million dollar line item for the land on the County issued Outline of the Terms of Sale, Dr. Rifkin stated that the $3 million was just a “place holder” that was inserted into the deal because he was told by the County Commissioners that needed to “improve his bid” during the RFP process.

Scott Rifkin sends an email to the “Lower Providence Community” regarding the imminent Parkhouse protest scheduled for December 28. Upper Providence Supervisors and staff were not included in this email distribution list. More than once in this letter, Rifkin suggests that the event “seems to be motivated by political career building [rather] than to attempt to solve any substantive issues,” a narrative that came directly from the County Commissioners and is repeated by Commissioner Bruce Castor on his Facebook page in the weeks following the finalization of the sale. Though the sale had not yet been closed, Rifkin refers to himself as the “property owner” and urges that more will be accomplished with “collaboration than confrontation.” 

Over the next several years, Township officials will struggle to get Rifkin or Mid-Atlantic staff to “collaborate” with the Township and its residents on the future of this property.

First Parkhouse protest rally opposing the sale of the geriatric center at the Montgomery County Courthouse.

Second Parkhouse protest rally at Parkhouse

At the suggestion of State Representative Kate Harper (R, 61st), Upper Providence Supervisor Lisa Mossie sends emails to Dulcie Flaharty of the Montgomery County Lands Trust and Molly Morrison of the Natural Lands Trust asking for their help in preserving the land surrounding Parkhouse. Both Flaharty and Morrison suggest the best option is working with Rifkin. After the sale is finalized, Flaharty will pen a letter for the Philadelphia Inquirer in support of the sale.

Third Parkhouse protest rally at Logan Square

It is revealed that the administrative subpoena was issued to Dr. Elliot Menkowitz, an employee of Parkhouse. Menkowitz was president of a holding company linked with a newly formed business that was tied to the Mid-Atlantic Healthcare purchasing group. It was suggested that the newly formed business was perhaps also tied to a top Montgomery County Democratic leader. The business was created shortly after the county put out the RFP. Greenleaf’s office wanted to “make sure no one is benefitting from insider information.”

Bruce Castor asks Stewart Greenleaf if the County was making a “$40 million mistake.” 

Sixth Parkhouse protest rally

The Upper Providence Township Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to deny the Parkhouse subdivision plan. The Township solicitor was quoted as having “never seen a zoning application where the validity of the applicant was in question.” Citing technical difficulties with the application and overdue answers to questions including owner clarifications, land titles, and the status of declaring the on-site water tower as a third lot (which doubles as the Montgomery County emergency radio tower and would remain in County possession post-closing of the sale) could all affect the plan’s final design.

County Solicitor Ray McGarry said at the time that they County had other ways of getting their subdivision.

Seventh Parkhouse protest rally

In response to a Right to Know request filed by the Mercury for the response to the RFP, Mid-Atlantic Healthcare’s proposal contained details of their intentions to build on the site, despite many verbal promises to the contrary by both Rifkin (who has, to this very day, insisted he is not a developer) and the County Commissioners.

“MAHC proposes to purchase all land, facilities and operations on the 288 acre campus for a total of $35,000,000. While we have not finalized our plans for the additional land, we have had preliminary discussions with Einstein Health System to participate in this project. Further, we are also speaking with Ganas Development (which was led by Dr. Elliot Menkowitz) and the Sukonik Building Companies to develop a comprehensive development strategy.”

Eighth Parkhouse protest rally

Montgomery County, via attorney Marc Jonas, files suit against the Upper Providence Township Board of Supervisors in PA Supreme Court challenging a “bad faith” decision regarding their denial of the County’s incomplete subdivision application. The lawsuit goes nowhere.

Attorney Marc Jonas appears for Montgomery County before the Upper Providence Board of Supervisors about a plan to build a maintenance shed at the Lower Perkiomen Valley Park. Due to the location of the park right at the Oaks exit of 422, the Supervisors requested that the County consider another location for the maintenance shed that would be less visible. Reasonable alternatives that already had the existing infrastructure were proposed before Jonas stated he would not consider any other location and the County had a “by-rights” right to place the maintenance shed wherever they wanted on the Park. 

When Supervisor Barker mentioned the Township’s cooperative history with the County and land donation to the County for their parks, Jonas replied, “With all due respect, Mr. Barker, if we didn’t have the very recent history at the Parkhouse property we might have something to discuss.” 

Supervisor Mossie responded, “So this is punishment for Parkhouse?” Jonas denied that. 

After the Township approved the County’s by-rights plan, the maintenance shed was never built.

Upper Providence Township receives a letter from attorney Marc Jonas on behalf of Montgomery County disputing 16.3 hours, or $2,282 of the Township’s total $3,857.00 in consultant review fees related to the denial of the County’s subdivision request for Parkhouse.

The Montgomery County Commissioners issued a press release announcing the preservation of 114 acres of farmland in the county after selling 220 acres of County designated open space used as farmland in Upper Providence a month and a half earlier. As part of the press release, Commissioner Chairman Josh Shapiro issued the following statement, 

“The preservation of farmland in Montgomery County is a high priority for us, because it helps maintain the farming traditions in the county, and also preserves land from development making the county one of the most diverse in the state and maintaining our excellent quality of life.”

The Remember Parkhouse group raises enough money to buy billboards at Markley and Main Street in Norristown, and in Pottstown on Route 422, reminding the public that Shapiro, Richards and Castor sold our open space. The billboards run for one month. 

Despite having sold for $41 million earlier in the year, the new landowner, GA HC REIT II Royersford SNF LLC (of which Rifkin is the principal) files for an appeal of property taxes. The assessment was reduced from $28,078,810 to $25,994,000. As originally assessed, the county property tax would have been $88,504 per year and school tax would have been $722,917 per year. Under the new assessment of $25,994,000, county tax falls by $6,571 to $81,933 and school tax falls by $53,676 to $669,241 per year resulting in a total tax savings of $60,247 per year. At the time of assessment, Upper Providence Township did not have a property tax.

It should be noted that prior to the sale, the property was tax exempt.

State Representative Mike Vereb (R 150th) announces he will not seek another term as state rep. His term ends on 12/31/17.

Having heard nothing further from the Parkhouse folks, Upper Providence Township engages the services of the Natural Lands Trust’s Peter Williamson. Williamson was tasked with “bringing the Parkhouse folks to the table” and to that end, contacted them with the Township’s desire to meet, and also the Township’s wishes to make these meetings public. 

Responding to Peter Williamson’s email. Mike Jacobs, on behalf of Parkhouse, indicated that they were willing to take a “deeper dive” on the Township’s sketch plan, but that the inclusion of the public would derail the talks and instead, there would be opportunity for public input “down the road.”

 A group called Upper Providence First is formed to expand the Upper Providence Board of Supervisors from three to five members. The group is headed up by Mike Vereb’s campaign treasurer, daughter of his longtime legislative aid, and Upper Providence Tax Collector, Julie Mullin, and Mike Vereb’s crony, Jim White. In summer of 2016, the group collects enough signatures to get the issue on the ballot.

Upper Providence Township narrowly approves expansion of the Board of Supervisors from three to five members. By a 178-vote margin out of 8,942 votes cast, voters decided to expand the number of seats on the governing board from three to five. The unofficial final result, according to the Montgomery County elections website, was 4,560 in favor of expanding the board to 4,382 against.

Jim White, the activist who spearheaded the effort with the group Upper Providence First, said he is “very happy with the result, although it was a hell of a lot closer than I thought it would be.”

Josh Shapiro wins PA Attorney General.

Josh Shapiro is sworn in as Attorney General. 

Shapiro also announces his senior staff; among them is Mike Vereb, who is appointed as the Director of Government Affairs at a six-figure taxpayer funded salary.

Late on January 15, 2021, the agenda for the January 19, 2021, Board of Supervisors meeting was unceremoniously published to the Township’s website. On that agenda was Rifkin’s proposed sketch plan for the Parkhouse property. This was the only notice the public received. The meeting was held entirely via Zoom and no residents were permitted to attend the meeting in person. In spite of the lack of notification and the short period of time, 110 people showed up for the Zoom call. Chairman Bill Starling cut off comments prematurely, denying several residents the opportunity to speak.

In addition to various redundant amenities already available in the immediate area (farmers’ market, horse boarding, animal petting area), the presentation purposely omitted the inclusion of at least 500 to 600 apartments and 150 homes. 

Interestingly, the plan Rifkin presented contemplated development of the entire parcel, even though Rifkin knew, because he had stated it in the past, that only about 20 acres of the land was developable. The developable acreage is, of course, where the apartments are proposed.

Rifkin has also repeatedly stated he is not a developer. But here is with a development proposal that does not conform to Upper Providence’s existing zoning. It does not even conform with the buildable area of the site. 

There is no question that this proposal would require a zoning change, and yet, after meeting with Rifkin privately and viewing this plan, Upper Providence Supervisors Helene Calci and Laurie Higgins blessed the plan for public presentation. Of particular note by the attendees of the meeting was that Helene Calci seemed to be throwing favorable softball questions to Rifkin, almost promoting his plan.

Upper Providence Supervisor Laurie Higgins composes a form letter response, on behalf of all Board members, to all Parkhouse inquiries from the public that the Board is receiving after the January 17 meeting. In her response, Higgins directs residents’ concerns to the developer and patronizes residents with facts they already know, such as the land belongs to the developer. Higgins does not address the Board’s willingness to change the zoning to accommodate Rifkin’s plan. 

Only one supervisor, Al Vagnozzi, publicly states that he is not in favor of any zoning change for the Parkhouse property.

Supervisor Helen Calci is silent, choosing to let Higgins’ letter speak for her.

It should be noted that both Calci’s and Vagnozzi’s terms are up in 2021 and both are running for re-election.

Scott Rifkin sends a letter to Upper Providence Township Manager Tim Tieperman regarding the plan he presented. Nowhere in that letter does Rifkin indicate that he is withdrawing the plan. In fact, throughout the letter, Rifkin is still selling the plan to the supervisors, concluding his letter with,

“I am only going to build one community in my lifetime, and I would like to be able to feel that I created something that I could point to with pride.  There is a similar community in Georgia—Serenbe—that has been an internationally recognized success in creating this type of lifestyle.”

At the Upper Providence Board of Supervisors meeting, before allowing public comment, Chairman Bill Starling announces that the Board has received a letter from Rifkin. Without reading the letter into the record, Starling says, 

“I just want to quickly acknowledge there was great interest in the presentation by Dr. Rifkin, the owner of the uh, what’s known as the Parkhouse property, at our January meeting, and uh, he has submitted a letter back to the Board, essentially acknowledging the feedback that we received from the community, and uh, at this point, they’re withdrawing that idea and uh, they’re going back to the drawing board to look at what they can develop under the current zoning of that property, which is their right.  And uh, there was never an issue to be voted on by the Board, and I want to put his letter in the record so that all interested citizens can have a look at it in the interests of transparency.”

Supervisor Helene Calci takes to the Remember Parkhouse facebook page and states that she "is now, and always has been, opposed to a zoning change on the Parkhouse property." When asked why she allowed a plan that required a zoning change to be presented, essentially wasting Rifkin’s time, Calci had no response.

Upper Providence Township issues a “Press Release” entitled “Parkhouse FAQs.” Most of the bullet points included in this piece are common knowledge, especially for the residents who have been following the Parkhouse issue since 2013. Point five of the FAQ doubles down on the lie Chairman Bill Starling told at the February 16, 2021 Upper Providence Board of Supervisors meeting:

“Dr. Rifkin approached the Township about changing some of the criteria in the IN-zoning district. Based on strong negative public reaction, Dr. Rifkin did not proceed with the submission of an actual development plan. Two supervisors saw an overview and description of a proposal and felt it was necessary to bring in front of the full board, as well as the residents of the Township, for their perspective. However, the Supervisors never voted on anything because Dr. Rifkin halted any further discussion, stating that he might return at some later date after doing additional research. Nothing is pending at the present time.”