Stone Meadows Farm Plan Gets More Feedback From Residents

The builder looking to construct age-restricting housing on one of the largest undeveloped pieces of farmland in the Levittown area met with residents Monday evening.

Representatives from Central Bucks County-based builder Foxlane Homes, which is proposing constructing residences on the Stone Meadows Farm in Middletown Township, and developer Metropolitan Development Group held a forum with residents at the Middletown Township Municipal Complex as they forge ahead with a new bid to build at the site.

The latest plan is to build 82 duplexes, a total of 164 units, for those age 55 and older at the 168-acre farm that sits near Core Creek Park off Langhorne-Newtown Road (Route 413.) The plan is much smaller than the previous proposal for 121 single-family homes that was denied in late 2019.

The latest plan, which still has to go through the township’s land development process, calls for 67 acres of preserved space on the east side of the property along Fulling Mill Road. There would be an additional 41 acres of open space across the property and walking trails, which would be open to the public and connect to Core Creek Park. A club house for residents would also be built. The current homestead and structures abutting the Summit Trace development will be retained by the Stone Family.

The idea is the county would purchase a conservation easement to restrict development on the 67 acres of land along Fulling Mill Road. The land would remain in the hands of the Stone family, but the county would own development rights. The Stone family would have the right to built two single-family homes off Fulling Mill Road on the land if they desired, but there could be no other development.

The plan features two access roads connecting the duplexes, which would be set back from Langhorne-Newtown Road, to the main roadway. No traffic lights are planned, but turning lanes are sketched into the proposal.

The latest iteration of the plan would not lead to development along Fulling Mill Road.

At last week’s Middletown Township Board of Supervisors’ meeting, representatives for the developer said the new plan would have less of a traffic impact on Langhorne-Newtown Road, would include improvements to Langhorne-Newtown Road, and provide more tax revenue to the school district because there would not be young families living in the development. Overall, the development would provide an estimated $252,633 in tax revenue to the township and $1.2 million to the Neshaminy School District.

Monday’s meeting was less formal than a government meeting and allow for open discussion.

Joe Morrissey, president and owner of Foxlane Homes, said he knows the plan won’t make everyone happy, but they are working to make the plan acceptable for residents.

Morrissey said there will be stakes put out at the site to mark where the driveways will be located. Residents had been asking for that to help them get an idea of where the access roads would be situated.

“This is not a reality we want to manifest,” one resident said, stating she believed in controlling reality through thoughts.

She then spoke of “more practical matters,” like whether the developer would be able to get zoning approval for the development.

Several residents brought up concerns about drainage in storms.

Morrissey and an engineer said stormwater standards would make sure the development would be able to manage any water from the property. There will also be retention basins.

A 48-year property owner near the farm said the Stone family has a right to sell their land, and was pleased with the updated plans.

“I’d rather see no homes, but this is the lesser of two evils,” he said.

Morrissey told the crowd some people have asked if the open space on the plans could be used for farming. He said that is a possibility, and also stated a berm could be created along Langhorne-Newtown Road.

In response to concerns about traffic, the developer said they recently collected new traffic data to guide their plans.

There were also concerns the added traffic could delay emergency responses to nearby St. Mary Medical Center.

Morrissey said the plan will be scrutinized by the township’s traffic engineers.

“We’re not going solve it tonight, but we’re definitely going to do our share to make it better,” he stated.

There was some contention in the crowd about traffic lights for the development, but the builder and development representatives said PennDOT isn’t allowing lights for the development.

Morrissey told the crowd the Stone family is supportive of the updated plan. He noted they will “get a little less for their land” with the conservation easement, but it will make people happy.

“No one wants you here. Doesn’t that make you sad?’ one woman asked, wondering why they don’t instead build in Texas or Oklahoma “I don’t get it. We don’t want anymore building.”

Morrissey and Foxlane Homes official Marty Stallone said the property is already zoned residential and is valuable for development.

“You may not like us,” Stallone said. “If not us, somebody else would come in and buy the farm from them because its zoned residential.”

The Save Stone Meadows Farm group has fought development at the farm for years. They are being sued by the developer for their efforts.

Last Monday, Save Stone Meadows Farm attorney Zachary Sivertsen, of firm Eastburn and Gray, said the group has had “productive and positive conversations” with the developer, but the group was not officially backing the plans at that point.

The developer has an active appeal to the 2019 denial of the single-family home plan in the county courts. The latest plan is an attempt at a settlement with the township.

The new plan for the farm is expected to come before the county planning commission on the afternoon of Wednesday, December 1 and the township planning commission, an advisory body, at 7 p.m. that day at the township Municipal Complex.

The developer could bring the revised plan before the supervisors for review at their December 20 meeting, which would then be followed by the land development process.

Related:

• Stone Meadows Farm Developer Moves Forward With Proposal
• Developer Has New Plan To Build On 168-Acre Farm
• Supervisors Turn Down Preliminary Subdivision, Land Development For Stone Meadows Farm
• Planners Table Stone Meadow Farm Proposal
• Residents Give Input For Middletown Comprehensive Plan
• Planners Deny Stone Meadows Farm Proposal To Build 123 Homes
• Stone Meadows Farm Subdivision Gets Approval
• Officials Review Latest Plans To Bulldoze Largest Remaining Farm In Middletown
• Group Working To Save Stone Meadows Farm
• Middletown Twp. Tables Stone Farm Development Zoning Request
• More than 120 Homes Planned For Stone Farm, Middletown Could Preserve Portion Of Land
• Housing Development Could Overtake 168-Acre Farm

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