Mack & Fisher Respond to Questions About Development

As Newtown Township Supervisors, Dennis Fisher and I (John Mack) 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 at Newtown Shopping Center, the potential for commercial development along Newtown Bypass, and the further development of high density housing. We also asked the Newtown Patch to solicit questions from its readers.

We have selected the most-often asked questions to answer in this article.

Are you in favor of allowing Wawa to put a store and gas station on the Newtown Bypass?

While many people like Wawa, we as well as the Newtown Township Planning Commission (PC) do not favor changing the zoning ordinance to suit one developer. To be clear, the Newtown Board of Supervisors (BOS) has not formally seen the draft ordinance amendment that Wawa’s counsel prepared. During the PC review the people spoke out (read “Updated Wawa Plan Presented to Newtown Planning Commission”). The township listened and invited the Newtown Area Jointure (Upper Makefield, Wrightstown and Newtown townships) and the Bucks County Planning Commission (BCPC) to assist us going forward.

The Jointure is now drafting a different ordinance, which would be setting the performance standards for a Gas Station/with Convenience Store (GS/CS) Use. Such use may be required in light of Wawa's contention in several court cases (see here, for example) that excluding this “legitimate land use” is unconstitutional. The new ordinance would ultimately be reviewed by our township solicitor to present to the BOS. These performance standards will dictate which locations throughout the Jointure would allow a permissible GS/CS use. Writing a new ordinance and obtaining approvals from multiple townships will likely take months. There will be ample opportunity for the public on all sides of the issue to be involved in public discussions.

It’s not a matter of the Newtown Bypass becoming another Route 1. We will not let that happen! We prefer to keep the greenway appearance of the Bypass. We will only support zoning changes that offer substantial improvements to benefit the whole community and that keep traffic increases at a minimum. This is not a YES / NO on Wawa. It is about planning for the future needs of the public who live, work and shop in the Newtown area.

Where is everyone going to park in the Village at Newtown Shopping Center when construction is complete?

The Village at Newtown Shopping Center is currently in the final phase of a 35-40 million dollar makeover that Brixmor Property Group - the owner - hopes will revitalize the center. Many malls and shopping centers are struggling to survive due to competition from Amazon and other online shopping opportunities. To cope, some malls have decided to add high density housing on site to provide a built-in market (read, for example, the plans to revive the Oxford Valley Mall here). Brixmor hopes that restaurants, unique small businesses such as the Fuze Barbershop, and other amenities, will revive the Village at Newtown Shopping Center without the need to add residential property and the additional traffic, infrastructure, and service burdens that would entail.

Yes, parking and traffic in the Center has been a mess for some time. Will things improve once construction is complete or will parking and traffic remain problems after all is said and done? Nobody has a definitive answer to that question. However, we have invited representatives from Brixmor to come before the BOS to update the township and answer any questions Supervisors and the public may have. Brixmor agreed to do this and discuss "end conditions" when changes at the shopping center have “stabilized.”

The PC spent considerable time reviewing changes made to the original plan in response to Supervisors’ concerns with parking and traffic flow and recommended that the BOS support Brixmor’s plan with certain conditions related to parking. According to the minutes of a PC meeting at which this was discussed, “The applicant has shown a number of improvements in pedestrian flow, intersection improvements and traffic calming, making it more feasible for shoppers to park and walk from one section to another within the shopping center.”

It is essential to the business success of Brixmor that it correctly planned for adequate parking in the shopping center. If not, the businesses will suffer and so will Newtown Township. Brixmor has agreed to do a traffic study after construction is completed and if there are parking and traffic issues after construction ends, the Township will work with Brixmor to solve the problems.

Who gave Brixmor permission to expand the Village at Newtown so much? Are you saying that the overdevelopment of the shopping center is the fault of the ZHB? Didn’t the BOS vote yes to every project that came before it?

The Republican-led Newtown Zoning Hearing Board approved the parking plan for the Center on October 16, 2016. According to the minutes of the meeting the then existing variance allowed for 5.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail space. At the meeting, the ZHB approved 4.7 spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail space.

The shopping center is in the Planned Commercial (PC) zone, which permits Eating Places, Retail Shops, etc., provided the conditions for conditional use approval have been met in accordance with the Joint Municipal Comprehensive Plan for Newtown Township, Upper Makefield Township, and Wrightstown Township.

The current Democratic-led BOS has NOT approved every conditional use. The entire Board initially voted “no” to the proposed drive-through Starbucks due to traffic concerns. Brixmor initiated a lawsuit within days and the Township had to settle as it was advised that it could not win (read “Drive-thru Starbucks is Back on Track!”). Regardless of the traffic concerns, many residents enjoy the convenience of a drive-through Starbuck’s.

What about increased traffic? Won’t that result in more accidents?

As was just mentioned, the township is and has always been concerned about increased traffic in the Center that could impact the safety of citizens.

We’ve reviewed the accident data collected, maintained and shared with PennDot by the Newtown Police Department. In 2017, before major construction began that might affect traffic, there were 11 accidents (2.3% of total accidents) involving 22 vehicles and 4 injuries on the roads and intersections in the shopping center. In 2018, when construction was well under way, there 14 accidents (2.9% of total accidents) involving 28 vehicles and 6 injuries. In 2019 to date, when construction was at its peak along S. Eagle Road and West Road, the police report 10 accidents (2.6% of total accidents) involving 18 vehicles and 1 injury. Therefore, while there may be more traffic, there has been no significant increase in accidents even during construction.

There must be 25 new restaurants coming or which have opened since Lockheed’s departure. Are we enforcing or collecting EIT taxes from their employees especially cash income food servers?

In Newtown Township, EIT (Earned Income Tax) is a tax for general revenue purposes in the amount of 1% imposed on earned income including salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, incentive payments, fees, tips and other compensation received by residents of Newtown Township and by nonresidents of Newtown Township for work done or services performed or rendered in Newtown Township. This includes 1% of the net profits received from businesses, professions or other activities conducted by residents of Newtown Township and by nonresidents of Newtown Township. The 1% consists of 0.5% to the Township and 0.5% to the Council Rock School District.

At a time when malls have come under enormous stress throughout the country, Brixmor’s investment in the Village at Newtown Shopping Center speaks to the remarkable nature of Newtown. In his 2018 Audit report, the Township Manager noted “This [renovation] will certainly help the site increase its taxable value to the township.”

Given all the recent business development, will our real estate taxes decrease? What is the plan to improve the township’s resources?

The short answer is there is not enough new business tax income to justify a real estate tax decrease.

The development will undoubtedly increase our Earned Income Tax (EIT) revenue, as well as construction permit fees and ultimately an increased real estate assessment for the developer, but this will not cover the necessary service increases faced by the township according to the Township Manager in his report (op cit).

The larger picture is we have been and will be facing budget shortfalls in the township budgets. We are being proactively hiring a third-party consultant (with the help of a matching grant from the Commonwealth) to help us find savings, efficiencies and a develop a five-year planning process (read “Newtown Township To Develop a 5-Year Financial Plan”). We are being fiscally responsible in the face of an escalating amortization schedule to payoff the municipal complex, which was built in 2008, and the loss of $700K annually in the EIT when Lockheed Martin left.

Dennis Fisher and I support maintaining the high quality of life in Newtown. We are focused on offering valuable services and information. Residents should understand that Newtown Township levies only 4.5 mills in property taxes. 1 mill equals $43.60 for a house valued at $400,000. There is a delicate balance between allowing development and commerce to expand the tax base while being mindful of the need for public works, emergency services and administration.

Residents deserve and can afford services that make Newtown a safe and attractive place to live, work and raise a family. The current Democratic-led Board of Supervisors is addressing years of neglect driven short-sighted devotion to avoiding tax increases. After the small tax increase in 2018, Newtown Township’s tax rate remains the sixth lowest out of 54 municipalities in Bucks County, while the community is the county’s fifth wealthiest. See Table 1 below.

As our Finance Committee has suggested, the current BOS has prudently sought help from an independent financial consultant to look for operational efficiencies, find revenue sources and begin long term financial planning.

Our plan is to put the Township’s financial house in order, to ensure Newtown Township will grow and prosper by:

• Seeking out creative revenue sources and grants to lessen the burden on taxpayers
• Scrutinizing spending while maintaining the same level of services taxpayers expect
• Investing wisely in our roads, parks and trail system
• Prioritizing connections of our trail system (as grant funding is available)
• Making our commercial district a destination to shop and dine
• Inventory of unused square footage in our Business Commons

We will work with the Bucks County Planning Commission, the Lower Bucks Chamber of Commerce and our business community to survey business needs.