{"id":10382,"date":"2015-05-21T15:03:53","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T19:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=10382"},"modified":"2015-05-21T15:11:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T19:11:20","slug":"pennsbury-continues-springdale-farm-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=10382","title":{"rendered":"Pennsbury continues Springdale Farm debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/b>Representatives of the buyer, neighbors, and Board of Supervisors discuss property’s future<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kris Firey-Poling<\/strong><\/span>, Correspondent, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"PennburyBOS520\"<\/a>

Rachael Gallagher and Andrea Connors discuss how a potential Springdale Farm buyer proposes to use the old Mendenhall Farm property.<\/p><\/div>\n

PENNSBURY \u2014 Township residents discussed how to best use their land at Wednesday night\u2019s well-attended Board of Supervisor\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

Rachael Gallagher and Andrea Connors, representing buyer Ken Berkley, presented how they propose to use the Springdale Farm property.<\/p>\n

Springdale Farm is a 60-acre section of the Mendenhall family property that includes two houses, a barn, a new 24-stall barn, and indoor riding arena.<\/p>\n

Potential buyer Berkley wants to increase the number of horses living on the farm from 39 to 50, and wants permission to have horse shows once per month.<\/p>\n

According to Gallagher, Ken Berkley is a world-champion competitor in the equestrian field. He currently owns two equestrian training facilities: Rivers Edge Farm in Flemington, New Jersey and another in Wellington, Florida.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to build a new barn and renovate the two older houses and barn.\u00a0 This facility will not house top horses. However, we are talking about quality show horses that are not ready to compete at the top level.\u201d said Gallagher.<\/p>\n

Supervisors Vice-Chairman Aaron McIntyre said that this land is not commercial and the buyer would need to obtain a variance for zoning.\u00a0 The current ordinance specifically states, \u201cNo horse shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, residents acknowledged that horse shows have been conducted on this property in the past.<\/p>\n

Neighbors in the Springdale Farm vicinity had many questions and concerns, including increased traffic, parking, and noise. They also wanted to learn more about the kinds of horses and their everyday care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of horses in our shows could range from 25 to 100. In the beginning, we will use the indoor facility on weekends from March through November,\u201d said Connors.<\/p>\n

Lynn Luft, Planning and Historic Commission member, questioned travel safety and sanitation issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow will people and their horse trailers get in and out of the facility?\u00a0 Making that left turn from Route 100 onto Hickory Hill Road is dangerous! \u00a0And, as a commercial business, you will have to follow state requirements for manure,\u201d said Luft.<\/p>\n

Gallagher assured everyone that their brochure will include the safest directions to their property.<\/p>\n

Most neighbors said they believe this is a good opportunity for their area. Currently, the property is run down, with all-terrain vehicles driving around at night. They believe that Ken Berkley will uplift the property, improving everyone\u2019s land value.<\/p>\n

Gallagher acknowledged everyone\u2019s concern, and reinforced that, \u201cWe want to be neighbor-friendly and offer programs for all. We get it that some of you are not into horses. For me, it\u2019s not just a job. We love horses. With our hearts, we feel this is a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, the supervisors liked what was presented, and were impressed with the neighbor\u2019s discussion. They agreed that the buyer must work with the Zoning Hearing Board to apply for a variance for the additional horses and to change the property to commercial use.<\/p>\n

In other news, Parker Preserve land was discussed.<\/p>\n

Two owners are seeking variances to install pools and decks.<\/p>\n

Also, Township Engineer Matt Houtmann reported that two acres of open space behind Lot 17 was cleared, with the developer in clear violation of their agreement. Although grass has been planted, Supervisors Chairman Scotty Scottoline said that more needs to be done.\u00a0 The supervisors agreed to meet with developer Anthony Dambro to come up with a plan to return the open space to dense native meadow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Representatives of the buyer, neighbors, and Board of Supervisors discuss property’s future By Kris Firey-Poling, Correspondent, The Times PENNSBURY \u2014 Township residents discussed how to best use their land at Wednesday night\u2019s well-attended Board of Supervisor\u2019s meeting. Rachael Gallagher and Andrea Connors, representing buyer Ken Berkley, presented how they propose to use the Springdale Farm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[101,1021,5904],"class_list":["post-10382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-board-of-supervisors","tag-pennsbury","tag-springdale-farm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10383,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10382\/revisions\/10383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}