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Pennhurst Zoning Amendment

Pennhurst Acquisitions did not attend the July 19th Planning Commission meeting or the August 16th PC meeting. At both meetings the Commission discussed their many concerns about the amendment that would need to be addressed before they would consider the amendment for final recommendation.

There is a recent market and financial feasibility study undertaken by Urban Partners and supported by the Community Design Collaborative that documents a market demand to preserve the core historic buildings at Pennhurst.

A request to amend the Zoning Amendment Application for Pennhurst to include a rental residential reuse of 11 buildings of the historic core has been made to the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors of East Vincent township.

The Planning Commission is reviewing a petition submitted to the Board Of Supervisors by Richard Chakejian, asking that the zoning of his property be changed from Low Residential to General Industrial (GI). This petition also requests to amend the GI district to include all uses permitted in the Professional Office district (PO) and to include the following additional uses not permitted in either the GI or PO district.
    1. Recreation Building, including but not limited to use for entertainment, historical, and amusement-oriented tours and events, such as, but not limited to, a haunted house and other theme-oriented uses, including any associated accessory uses.
    2. Outdoor entertainment, amusement, recreation and theatre.
    3. Composting.
    4. Age Restricted Community which may be, but is not required to be, a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) where Assisted Living and/or Nursing Home facilities are provided.

Note that these uses tie into the two businesses Mr. Chakejian currently operates on the Pennhurst tract. By a previous amendment to the Zoning Ordinance, his company Penn Organics does commercial scale composting and the Pennhurst Asylum haunted house amusement would be added as a use by right.

The rationale for his zoning petition is obvious. If accepted, the limitations imposed on Penn Organics would disappear and the haunted house becomes an East Vincent autumn fixture regardless of the outcome of the Zoning Board Decision currently on appeal in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas.

This property is currently zoned low residential.
This is a major change to our GI district.
Traffic is a major problem since there is no access to this property other than narrow residential roads.

Haunted House at Pennhurst

A haunted house attraction was staged at the old Pennhurst Asylum in the fall of 2010. The property is zoned low residential but was allowed to operate anyway. The East Vincent Zoning Hearing Board heard the case after a group of citizens complained about the legality of the attraction in a residential area . The Zoning hearing Board ruled it was legal (Decision) and the case is currently being appealed in the PA court system.

This Haunted House grossed nearly a million dollars after being operated over seven weekends before Halloween. Many residents complained about the noise and traffic on the residential roads leading to the attraction as there is no proper acces to the site.

Composting Operation at Pennhurst

A zoning amendment request was passed last year to allow industrial uses in any of the township’s Low Residential Zones, where there are 50 acres assembled, for the processing of waste materials to produce compost and to commercially sell the product onsite.

Formation of Pennhurst Memorial and Preservation Alliance

A Group called Pennhurst Memorial and Preservation Alliance (PMPA) formed in 2008 to launch a major effort to save this internationally significant place of memory from destruction. http://www.preservepennhurst.com
Excerpted from the PMPA website: “Through its environmentally-responsible and socially-sensitive re-use, Pennhurst can again become not only a profitable contributor to the region, but the birthplace of a needed renewed conscience for the future. are pleased to announce that, in partnership with the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, the PM&PA has been awarded a design services grant through the American Institute of Architect's Community Design Collaborative (see http://www.preservepennhurst.com/default.aspx?pg=45).  Thanks to the kind cooperation of property owner Richard Chakejian, the grant will be used to conduct a conceptual design/feasibility study. With Mr. Chakejian's support, the CDC study will examine the possibilities for what, if undertaken, could very well may be the most groundbreaking adaptive re-use in Pennsylvania history.”
“The end product of the conceptual design/feasibility study will be a specific vision of the best way to create a mixed use, new urbanist high-tech/green community of conscience centered around a national memorial, museum, research center, and conference facility – all concerned with disability history.  These facilities will be the first of their kind in the nation. The design charrette is a community development exercise that brings together experts in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, regional planning, architecture, land use and economic development.  The team engages in an active dialogue with a task force of community leaders to produce a feasibility report that will be presented to the public in a large forum.” 

Creation of New Parklands for East Vincent Township

In the fall of 2007, through the efforts of then Supervisor Elect, Christine McNeil, Supervisor John Funk and State Senator Andrew Dinniman, an agreement was reached to have the Commonwealth of PA transfer 79.521 acres of land to East Vincent township for use as a park for our residents. In 2009 Senator Dinniman brought forward the legislation to enable this land transfer. This summer, the State Legislature passed all required resolutions to finalize this transfer of land to the township. The township has accepted the lands for use of a park for its residents. The township will conduct a master planning process for residents to participate to give ideas and suggestions for uses in the park. The boundaries of the park are Pennhurst Road to Church Street, the boundary of the Simon’s farm and Haverfield to the east and the entrance road to the Veterans Hospital to the west. The area closest to the Simon Tract and Haverfield readily lends itself for a natural area for walking. The lands closest to the Veteran’s hospital will be developed for active recreational use. The SE Veterans’ are building new independent living quarters for the veterans. That portion of the land transfer will not be completed until the new housing is completed.

History and Background

Pennhurst Hospital and grounds comprise about 100 acres and is located in the NE section of East Vincent off Bridge Street, just beyond the SE Veterans Hospital.

Pennhurst Hospital for the mentally disabled was constructed by the state of PA in 1908 and operated as a state facility until a class action suit was filed against Pennhurst State Hospital. In 1977 US District Judge Raymond J Broderick found that the institution was found guilty of violating patients’ constitutional rights. He ordered the facility to close and the patients to be deinstitutionalized. The state closed the facility in 1987 and to this day it remains abandoned and unused.

Three portions of the State Hospital original property were sold by the state in the late 1980’s. They are 1.) Spring Hollow public golf course that straddles both sides of Route 724; 2.) 20 acres of land owned by the Owen J. Roberts School district between Brown Drive and Pennhurst Road and 3.) 120+acres Eden Valley Farm home to Black Angus Cattle and Equestrian uses. Both the farm and golf course have conservation restrictions placed on their deeds.

When Governor Robert Casey was in office, the state had to comply with PA Act 48, which requires a Property Disposition Plan to be developed by the Department of General Services in conjunction with the General Assembly to determine a reuse for the hospital grounds. The Federation of Northern Chester County Communities conducted a land use feasibility study in 1993 funded by a Chester County Planning Grant.

In 2000 Governor Ridge’s Administration awarded a public bidding reply to redevelop the 100+ acre Pennhurst Hospital Grounds located in East Vincent Township to a single bidder, Pennhurst Associates, a partnership based out of Allentown and including a local developer from West Vincent, Richard Chakejian. Their proposal was subsequently dramatically changed without a re-bidding process request from the state of PA. They bid on an adaptive reuse of the hospital grounds and changed it to an almost complete demolition proposal that included age restricted and continuing care high-rise buildings and a separate Alzheimer’s facility for a total of 6,000 new residents! Over a three-year period the developer put forth a second proposal to build 1,200-unit village commercial center at Pennhurst. The township rejected all of their plans with the issuance of the new zoning ordinance which would allow at Pennhurst a maximum density of (MR) Moderate Density Residential District calculation of 1.5 X net tract area or if Transfer Development Rights were used the calculation could be increased to 2.0.

Governor Rendell’s Administration terminated their contract with Pennhurst Associates in May 2003, for failure to receive local approval. In December 2003, the state was sued by the developer, and in 2006, an out of court agreement was reached whereby Pennhurst Associates would pay the state of PA $2 million for the 100+ acres if the developer could receive local approvals by October 29, 2007. The developer would then become the owner of the site and they would be immune from any “third party” challenges or suits. On October 17, 2007 the East Vincent Board of Supervisors Chairman, Ryan Costello and Vice Chairman, Walter Zaremba, granted the developer all Subdivision waivers and approvals to Pennhurst Associates, now called Pennhurst Acquisitions, over the strong objections, of Board Supervisor, John Funk. This vote secured the ownership of the Pennhurst Hospital grounds to the developer. “The approved subdivision plan  "subdivides" the property into four sections in order to facilitate this transaction" - From East Vincent Township Planning Committee minutes, June 19, 2007.

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Last Updated 11/01/2011