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Newtown Township Rejects Settlement Deal With Arcadia

Newtown Township Rejects Settlement Deal With Arcadia | Newtown News of Interest | Scoop.it

A three-year legal squabble between Newtown Township and a Philadelphia-based land developer remains unresolved.

 

In a unanimous vote* Tuesday, the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors decided not to enter into a settlement agreement from Arcadia Land Company, which is looking to construct 76 residential units (23 single-family detached houses and 53 single-family attached homes) on 22 acres off the Newtown Bypass at Buck Road. The proposal rejected by the board would have reduced the number of residential units to 60 while adding traffic improvements to Buck Road at Arcadia's expense.

 

[* Actually the motion to vote on the settlement of the Arcadia III "Mandamus" case was never made and thus no vote was taken. In any case, the result is that the settlement was NOT approved by the Board.]

 

[As reported by Bucks Local News:  "As part of the settlement, Arcadia, at its expense, would have attempted to pursue access directly onto the Newtown Bypass with a right out only. If that was unsuccessful it would have pursued a left out of the service road onto northbound Buck Road. And if that didn’t work, it would have pursued a proposed u-turn at Mill Pond and Buck to get traffic to the bypass from the development.

 

"There were also provisions in the agreement for set backs and landscape buffering between the development and neighboring Eagle Ridge and Newtown Crossing that are not required by ordinance. And it would have included improvements to Buck Road at the Bypass and at Buck and Mill Pond.

 

"The agreement would have also ended all litigation associated with the development."]

 

Arcadia has submitted three different land development plans for the land parcel since December 2017, all of which have been rejected by supervisors, who have cited overdevelopment and traffic concerns.

 

In an appeal filed on Dec. 21, 2019, Arcadia attorney John VanLuvanee argued his client did not receive a signed copy of township supervisors' rejection of the project and therefore the plans are "deemed approved" by the township.

 

[Read “Arcadia at Newtown Claims Its 3rd PRD "Has Been Deemed Approved" Because of Failure of Timely Action By Board of Supervisors. Newtown Solicitor Says It's a Frivolous Claim”;http://sco.lt/8xHSJl].

 

 

During last Tuesday's board meeting, several residents thanked supervisors for rejecting the most recent settlement agreement.

 

"On behalf of the 630 residents in our development, we appreciate the unanimous decision to not take action on the settlement agreement," Peter Nacona, Vice President for the Newtown Crossing Community Association, told supervisors. "We acknowledge and recognize that this is an available piece of property and there are going to be developers, but we also are very interested in the safety of our community."

 

When asked what Arcadia could have done to sweeten the deal, Supervisor Kyle Davis struggled to come up with an answer.

 

"I don't see a project going in there that won't be detrimental to traffic," Davis said. "I don't see any project there that makes sense."

johnmacknewtown's insight:

Read “Arcadia at Newtown Claims Its 3rd PRD "Has Been Deemed Approved" Because of Failure of Timely Action By Board of Supervisors. Newtown Solicitor Says It's a Frivolous Claim”; http://sco.lt/8xHSJl

 

Actually, it was the Township Solicitor - David Sander of Kilkenny Law - who failed to officially file the Board's decision before the deadline.

 

Fees paid to date to KILKENNY LAW for ARCADIA III MANDAMUS ACTION: 

 

04/17/20: $154.00

05/08/20: $196.00

06/19/20: $168.00

07/17/20: $1,386.00

12/22/20: $2,351.25

TOTAL for 2020 = $4,255.25

 

02/22/19: $189.00

03/22/19: $4,018.19

04/18/19: $1,059.75

05/17/19: $216.00

07/08/19: $148.50

09/20/19: $216.00

08/09/19: $378.00

10/18/19: $2,227.50

TOTAL for 2019 = $8,452.94

 

GRAND TOTAL = $8,452.94 + $4,255.25 = $12,708.19

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Newtown News of Interest
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