Officials Say They’re Offering To Give Market At Styer Orchard More Time

Middletown Township officials said they have extended an offer to the Barberides family to give them more time to wind down their business at the Styer property.

Earlier this month, the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors approved a deal to lease both the orchard and market to Tim Field, who already runs the orchard and farm. The move to one operator for the 109-acre, township-owned property leaves the Barberides family’s Market At Styer Orchards out after 20 years running their business.

The supervisors received proposals for the property under one operator and a committee of supervisors interviewed Field and the Barberides. Township officials have said they informed Field and the Barberides via certified letters and conversations that the leases for the orchard and market were expiring in 2020 and again when there were short-term lease extensions that lasted into this year.

The supervisors’ decision has stirred up people who support both families. The Barberides have shared a petition with nearly 20,000 signatures calling on the township to give the family at least 90 days to liquidate the store, provide financial compensation for the business, and financial compensation for store employees during the transition period between operators.

While the contract with the township and the Barberides lists that the township has to give them five days notice before they are to vacate, township officials were planning to provide 30 days. Officials said Tuesday evening at the public meeting that they are willing to allow the Barberides to run the store and wind down operations rent free until the end of March.

The Barberides have said in previous interviews with this news organization that they need time to sell their equipment and merchandise.

Supervisors Chairperson Tom Tosti said there were back taxes owed on the market, but they were paid up as of Tuesday.

Tosti doubled down on the fact that both families knew their leases were expiring for more than a year and the township wished to only have one operator. He said the township gave each family’s proposal a fair shake.

The nonprofit Heritage Conservancy had been in conversations to assume control over the property and oversee the leases, but the group backed out of talks in mid-2020, Tosti said.

“I don’t believe our township should be in the real estate business and Heritage Conservancy would have got us out of it,” he said, adding that the plan falling through meant the township will remain the landlord.

The farm along Woodbourne Road was purchased by the township to protect the site from development in 1999 for $2.2 million from T. Walter “Pop” Styer. The purchase was done using funds from the township, Bucks County, and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Supervisors said during Tuesday’s meeting that they wanted one operator for both sites and reviewed proposals from both families. Supervisors were not open to proposals from other parties outside of the Field and Barberides families.

Township Manager Stephanie Teoli Kuhls said one operator would unify the two separate parts of the property.

The two separate leases date back 20 years before the current supervisors and administration was in office. Teoli Kuhls said, for example, that the previous 20-year-old agreement would allow the market to sell mums but not the farm, and the farm could sell pumpkins but not the store.

“These leases really make no sense in our modern day. They restricted both from being successful,” Tosti said.

“Both proposals agreed that farm and store should be operated as one,” Supervisor Amy Strouse told LevittownNow.com recently, adding the supervisors knew their decision would “break hearts” for one of the families.

In the end, the supervisors felt Field, whose father and mother previously ran the orchard until a divorce in 2019, had the better proposal for the future of the property.

The township has said the Field proposal that was approved will have the market selling fresh food, baked goods, and grocery offerings, including produce coming directly from the farm. The proposal called for opportunities for customers to see the production cycle of food, the new holiday events, additional “agri-tainment” opportunities, and the planting of new modern apple varieties and pick-your-own crops that may include blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries.

The Field and Barberides families have had disagreements over the years and haven’t always seen eye to eye, both families have said.

Tosti said there was a “long history of issues at that farm between the two families” and township didn’t want to pick a side at this point.

Both families have invested $500,000 into the portions of the property they leased.

The township and the Barberides are now speaking through attorneys.

During public comment, resident Allan Reichenbach pressed the supervisors on their decision making.

Echoing previous statements, they defended their choice.

“I think you’ve made a very poor decision,” Reichenbach told the elected officials.

Others spoke during public comment questioning the supervisors’ decision-making process.

The supervisors said information and rumors on social media have only muddied the waters surrounding the decision they made.

Sharon Barberides said during the meeting that she was “astounded at what she was listening to.”

“Twenty years and this is the thanks we get. You should all be ashamed,” she told the supervisors.

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