Month: September 2024

DNA Testing For Dogs At Proposed Aston Apartment Complex

By Joseph B Dychala

Aston Township held an informal meeting yesterday, Sept. 3, to unveil plans for the Star Hill tract on Route 452 near Mount Alverno Road. The meeting was heavily attended with standing room only. Several, but not all, commissioners were present.

Nancy Bowden, 5th Ward Commissioner, opened the event and opined she would like to have a calm and peaceful meeting. Once public comments were opened to the audience that was not the case.

Representing the developer, Fernmoor Homes, were Jeffrey Fernbach, president, and Carol Gebhart, director of sales. Based in Jackson, N.J. the developers have been in business since 2009. Both Aston and Fernmoor had their engineers in attendance and did most of the speaking.

The initial presentation, received by an unusually quiet audience, erupted into shouts and jeers during the public comment period. Questions asked involved the meeting itself. Why was the meeting scheduled on the night of the first day of school for the Penn Delco District dominated the discussion. Who planned for this day and why? Why was such little notice given to residents? What caused the initial letter of notice from Aug. 19 to many of the Fifth Ward residents to be delayed until after Aug. 26?

Township assistant manager Kelly Pippen responded the meeting was planned informally without a vote and was important to have the meeting after Labor Day when presumably more people could attend. She noted the error in sending notices citing a “software blip” causing incorrect zip codes on some of the letters. When pressed for details she responded they were working with the software vendor, BDS, to determine the cause of the error. She took full responsibility for not proofreading the envelopes before mailing them. No reason was given why the meeting was not rescheduled when many residents received less than a week’s notice due to the software error. One participant retorted how rescheduling the meeting for a week or two later would not affect a project that was planned for over a decade and wasn’t slated to start for several months.

The project includes a single entrance into the proposed development of approximately 80 one-bedroom and 50 two-bedroom apartments with just under 250 parking stalls across four buildings. Building Three will host a gymnasium, kitchen area, bar and common room. The remaining buildings will only have a common room. All access to the buildings will be via electronic key fob. There will be no new traffic light but a left turn lane on southbound Pennell Road for access is proposed. A bollard fence will be installed and evergreen trees planted along Old Pennell Road for privacy. All potential residents of the apartments will be required to pass a criminal background check.

Discussions for rezoning the property, previously owned by Joe Grace, began in 2012 and were finalized and approved in 2018. Fernmoor Group acquired the property in 2022. The buildings will be three stories high, down from four in the initial proposal with a reduction in the total number of apartments. Construction is expected to begin within the next six months and take up to two years to complete.

Other questions involved if pets are allowed and how that may impact surrounding neighbors with dog waste. Carol Gebhart stated all pets will be DNA tested. If something isn’t cleaned up it will easily be able to determine the guilty party who will be fined accordingly. An audience member shouted, “why not install cameras on every corner like in China” in a sarcastic tone. Another participant mentioned this pet DNA in a follow up question and Mrs Gebhart stated she was offended. Her position was they came to meet the community as a courtesy and would not be mocked. Several shouts of “those were your own words” and similar sentiments followed.

In addition to the usual questions such as stormwater management, attaching to the public sewer system and traffic congestion concerns one audience member asked what effect cutting down large swaths of trees will have on the area citing the rise in average daily temperatures observed since the former Mercury Gun Club was turned into a warehouse facility. Acres of old growth native trees were removed. It was suggested “Heatwave Adam” is just the beginning if we continue to lose more trees. Another participant lamented that Penn’s Woods are simply gone. Finally several residents questioned if blasting would be required as the area historically has needed blasting to clear the large expanse of solid rock formations. Many residents on Old Pennell Road and Brakel Lane complained of cracks in their homes from when the nearby quarry restarted and anticipated more problems.

The developers explained they would be both owner and operator of the apartment complex and hire all management for both leasing and property maintenance. Questions asking if the property would eventually be sold and turned into Section 8 housing followed. One question posed was will this be a “Fifteen Minute City.” This caught the developers off guard who stated they did not know what that meant. The resourceful Fernbach, however, looked it up on the internet and replied there are no plans to have any commercial buildings or businesses as part of the development.

The most asked question was how can this project proceed when all the studies — water runoff, geological, wetlands remediation, traffic patterns and calming, sewage removal and other issues — were completed years ago before many other new developments nearby and the pipeline that runs parallel to Pennel Road existed. Township solicitor Michael Maddren essentially said It is what it is and it’s going to happen. He said developers have rights in Pennsylvania.

Makes one wonder if taxpayers and residents still have a right to how their own communities are developed in 21st Century America.

DNA Testing For Dogs At Proposed Aston Apartment