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THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
"VISION 2035" IS  BEING USED AS A BACK DOOR 
FOR TOWNSHIP WIDE REZONING


  Manager Manfredi seeks to gift himself the right to "rezone" your properties in a complicated and deceptive process that lays the groundwork via a "vision"  for text and map amendments  that are, quite simply, a "back door" around your zoning.

To try to simplify - normally Spot Zoning Laws protect you from someone building an apartment building on the single family residential zone lot next door to you.  However, case law has said, that if the Commissioners have a "bona fide" vision that imagines that kind of zoning on that lot next to you, it would not violate Spot Zoning laws to allow that apartment building to be built. 

Then your Commissioners set about creating a greatly irresponsible Comprehensive Plan full of "visions" that would enable so MUCH that residents would oppose.  When residents said "we don't like what you're writing -- they responded by saying "Nothings been proposed . There are no applications"  So they took away the residents rights to protest while the plans were being built ------  and later.... it will be too late to protest. The visions will all be in place . 

    Your Commissioners  have given you no way to understand what they are doing or why you should participate and speak up. (Some of them don't even seem to understand it)  Once passed, it will enable text and map amendments at an unprecedented rate. Manager Manfredi, who will glean an extra approximately $3M annually  from his unprecedented recent tax hikes ( that he instituted during Covid even)  has promised the  zoning approvals will be "consistent" with the "vision" - a vision you knew nothing about because they kept it as hush hush as they could.

    Meetings weren't taped and put on the TV - it wasn't  explained in Commissioner or Township Newsletters, they refused to put it on the interactive maps and yanked the standard map as soon as we started circulating it.  They refused  Q&A townhall sessions, refused to answer most questions submitted by email, refused to post a Q&A page, and literally did whatever they could to keep it from the public. The uninformed public was invited May 25th to determine the Future Land Use .... with NO prior background and no guiding documents.  The figures used in the Comp Plan were at times outright attempts at deceit of the public – at times completely contradictory on one page to what was published  on another. Carelessness,  or purposeful deceit – I believe it was the latter.

All this presents a ridiculous scenario showing completely inept management -- and in addition, our Manager assigned Simone Collins to create the Future Land Use chapter, a firm from out of the area ( Norristown)  who had not been privy to ANY  of the prior 2 years discussions or citizen testimony.  So they just created whatever they wanted ….not what we had spent several years  working to improve.   A year and a half of resident testimony down the tubes. This screams mismanagement.

 

   Below this  has not been updated - but the earlier information shows what their plan was

  THE BENEFIT IS TO DEVELOPERS ... NOT US
Most of what is in the plan is contrary to the wishes of the residents, unless you happily welcome multi-units triplexes,  commercial and much deeper density right in your own neighborhood !  Even if YOUR neighborhood isn't directly affected, you  will enjoy the excessive traffic, the cost of educating each child (at $22,000 or more), having your hositals, parks, etc.  filled  
and the nature of your Township changed without your say. The discussion starts after the picture of the map below.

  Submit your questions to : vision2035@abingtonpa.gov

The main question might be, why did you do everything possible to keep the public uninformed about this for 2 years, when you now are going to make a pretense of " taking it to the public".  But we could not get you to videotape the meetings, provide summaries, hold a Q&A informtional meeting, answer the questions we submitted to you,  put this on the TV scrolling,  or  use any other means to inform the residents. They even removed the map rather than providing an interactive GIS map as they were asked, so you could see if your house was in one of the circles and possibly would be subject to very different development than you bought .   You might even ask why they put false population figures in the document --- long after they knew them to be wrong.....
See https://abingtoncitizens.com/page/PopulationConfusion.html

Send thoughts to me : lel@abingtoncitizens.com 

   NEXT MEETING - They wrapped this up in the end of 2022 and  now will bring it to ...... The Comprehensive Plan Consistency Committee???? That's not til March 29 . I thought it was coming up in February  ....???   Ask Mike Thompson when the next date is  & what the process is .....

See https://abingtoncitizens.com/page/PopulationConfusion.html

Please tell your Commissioner you need his/her  help to have all these fancy tools you pay for work for YOU
Tell them you want to be able to look up your house and see if it is in a circle

HERE'S THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN INFO ON THE TOWNSHIP WEBSITE: 
https://www.abingtonpa.gov/government/board-of-commissioners/board-of-commissioners-intiatives/vision-2035-abington-s-comprehensive-plan-update

   The Nutshell : Please see the maps above and below -  the little blue circles are now just a quarter mile radius - they replaced the original 1/2 mi  radius grey circles on the original map . They indicate  Mixed Residential Overlays-  The dotted line circles (still 1/2 mile on the new map)  indicate Transit Oriented Districts that are distinguished by increased density, often of both commercial and residential. Is your home inside one of these circles?

       This is a clear abuse of power here  - as Manager Manfredi is accomplishing a goal that he has hinted at often - revising    our recently passed  zoning document and arranging to have it amended  to HIS liking - to improve the bottom line of  his friends, the developers.  This is the same manager who will not assign a real person to answer the phone when you call the Township, or require  his highly paid code personnel to do their jobs and cite  violations to improve blight and trash in the Township.  The same manager who regularly refuses to meet with or talk to residents or answer their questions - even when he says in public that he will or he does or he did.  He also refuses to answer many people's emails ( even if YOU'VE been lucky enough to get a response once or twice - everyone isn't and we ALL deserve to have a manager who is responsive.  But you can see on this map below what he wants to be very busy with........ the development of YOUR properties .

Mr Manfredi and his appointed team which includes an architect , Ward 6 Comr Mike Thompson who is already busy with his firm developing projects his colleagues have voted on - like Penn State -  and some that we haven't seen a vote on at all- like the  construction that went on in 2019 and 2020 and 2021  at the Township Building.  Working at Manager Manfredi's direction and pleasure, the Team is  planning  to change as many of our neighborhoods as they can  to the favor of the developers - and change our shopping districts, too- adding residential.  The grey circles indicate areas which will no longer be  R1, R2, R3 or R4  --- the number of units will grow exponentially -  and most of our commercial areas --- will  (if he's allowed to continue like this )  allow Mixed Residential usage  (apartments, duplexes, townshouses, etc.). Imagine the influx  of students to  the schools, or traffic on our already crowded roads, as there is NO WAY of calculating how many units such a rezoning  could produce . Even just the "visioning"  without the rezoning part, will enable proposals to escape Spot Zoning laws.  When an applicant asks for something outside of his "by right" zoning, it can be approved without being illegal Spot Zoning, if it is within the vision of the  Township Commissioners,  because of the recently enacted caselaw on Spot Zoning. So what they are accomplishing just by CREATING this map, is the "vision" that the developers want. It's open season in Abington.
 
Therefore residents - be sure it DOES reflect what YOU want before you let it pass

PLEASE FIND YOUR HOME & YOUR FRIENDS' & NEIGHBORS' AND ALERT THEM IF THEY ARE WITHIN THESE CIRCLES

On page 353 of our zoning code - (click right here to get to it ) you will find a zoning map that you can coordinante with this map below. This yellow map was the 1st map. Then they reduced the circled to 1/4 around the shopping centers

   Are we sure they intend to open the Zoning Code and change it ?  Yes - we are pretty sure  because on October 14th, 2021 at the Committee of  the Whole meeting, Manager Manfredi  gave a presentation  found here : 
https://abingtonpa.viebit.com/player.php?hash=21O1F8wW3HVC 

 Follow Manager Manfredi's words........
Manfredi:   (16:30 mins )" again making sure the relevance and consistency are measured against the Township’s mission and vision  to enhance the livability for Township residents, considering any amendments to the zoning or subdivision or land development ordinance (16 :54 mins) we have sitting , right now, amendments to the zoning ordinance that have been worked on for a year. That’s going to have to be vetted - the zoning ordinance is going to have to be amended- (inaudible) and you can be sure when the zoning ordinance changes, & the subdivision ordinance changes that any text amendments that might come about are measured against the Comprehensive Plan that so many people have spent so much time working on ( 17:05 mins): And, of course, focusing on chapters that are currently being developed, & in particular the Housing and Future Land Use plans for the surrounding area. "
In addition on 11-13-21 Comr Mike Thompson told me the last zoning  in 2017 was done, he said, before  the Comprehensive Plan was done. And the Zoning should have been done AFTER the Comprehensive Plan.  So they are theoretically re-doing the plan, it appears, with the intent of then rezoning .  But Comr Thompson is not correct. The last zoning WAS done in conjunction with a proper Comprehensive Plan - It took 8 years to do the Zoning - because they rezoned absolutely EVERYTHING. And the zoning we had before that remained solid for 21 years  1996 to 2017 . People who buy property need to be able to rely on the zoning rights they buy... and not have Comrs and township Managers appease developers by changing it against the wishes of the voters. 

   Who benefits from this ?        I think you can clearly see that of the existing people - the ones paying Manager Manfredi's  salary - there will be little to no benefit to see  Abington's lovely single family neighborhoods  compromised  and diminished.  These neighborhoods, where homeownership is high and rentals are at a minimum are Abington's strength. They are the reason we have good schools. Homeowners care more about quality of life issues and less about bottom lines --- which is  what we have seen and can expect more of  if we allow the majority of housing to trun over to  "corporate ownership"  where the homes are someone else's "business", not their actual  home. Apartments, duplexes, townshouses  and other  urban style housing inhabited by renters make Abington less stable.  The Comprehensive Plan Committee itself posted its researched  conclusion that :
"Homeownership rates are typically associated with neighborhood stability and a high level of home and property maintenance." ( they didn't think you would notice them advocating for reduced homeownership on all the susequent pages)

     Why is Manager Manfredi being allowed to accomplish his rezoning wish list by using the Comprehensive Plan? The impacts of the recent rezoning are only just beginning to be seen and felt.  The entire Township was just totally rezoned in favor of developers in 2017. They are just starting now to make those applications for the increased rights .  It was an eight year re-zoning process.  And not done in our interests.  Manager  Manfredi  doesn't even know the extent of some rezoning decisions  just made - not just the overall rezoning - but even as a result of text and map amendments like the YMCA rezoning that will impact other properties they refused to discuss.
           Now Manager Manfredi wants to  open the zoning code again - on his whim - and help developers again -  zoning Township wide in a way that would compromise our beautiful single family home neighborhoods - even though his team's  OWN research states emphatically that homeownership is superior. Why would THAT not be  our goal?  Instead, everything AFTER that lovely analysis in the Comprehensive Plan says that they seek to be more like the communities with less stability and lower maintenance.  Huh? 

  Dense horrific zoning - driven by the Township NOT BY PROPERTY OWNERS --usually we are concerned about  greedy property owners improperly influencing the approval of their applications . But here we see the Township working  IN  ADVANCE  on their behalves - so they don't even have to apply for a variance  or text & map amendment. . They have our paid officials doing that work for them these days.  Hence the over 30 % increase in taxes you have had in the few years since Manfredi's arrival.

  The worst part of it is that the residents have no clue. Notification that had perennially been a part of responsible government  has been dropped completely under Mnafredi Hecker and Spiegelman. There have been as of this writing, 11 meetings on the Willow Grove Mall. Most residents got one notice and then never knew about the other meetings, were not told where to look and the information was purposely made hard to get.   Developers and their attorneys and consultants have been allowed to tell the public things that are completely untrue and  Manfredi, with the blessing of the Board leadership, John Spiegelman and Tom Hecker  - has provided no place to  get any misinformation corrected - eroding our speaking rights more each year .  The three of them, themselves have told untruths to residents, while simultaneously  your participation in your government  and ushering developers in with special consideration and  unwarranted use of our staff and resources. 

   Astounding conflicts of interest..... The Comprehensive  Plan team is  led by Ward 6 Commissioner Michael Thompson and County Planner who co-wrote the developer's ordinance for him Michael Narcowicz .  Can you say "conflict of interest" . Michael Narcowicz is part of the Montco Planning Commission that reviews projects for compliance with County & Township codes and standards --- yet he himself violated a dozen of those when he wrote the PREIT ordinance all in favor of the developer.  Commissioner Thompson and his company are involved in multiple construction projects through-out the Township --- so the new rules making it easier to acquire property  where the zoning has already been changed  are likely to be self -serving either now or in the future - and they are always ahead of us by years in planning their projects .  And Manager Manfredi - what is left to say  - he has  been a friend to developers at the expense of citizen rights since he first arrived in May 2017 and began dismantling our speaking rights and our website.  

   EQUALLY DISTURRBING THINGS IN THE LAND USE CHAPTER Although residents have testified again and again that they do NOT want parking garages, here is our Township creating a "vision" for parking garages that will free up the parking lots for additional  building on the parking lots.

 CHRONOLOGICALLY

11-3-21 the map was first presented in the Comprehensive Plan meeting Oct 19. By Oct 23rd I had asked them to please overlay it on a map like the zoning map that is interactive and where you can see exactly what streets are inside the grey circles and the dotted circles . They literally refused to respond ... at all. Last week I said I was resending the request every day until I got a response. Still no response right up to  the Nov 3 Comprehensive Plan meeting - and that was sent to every Commissioner. At the meeting yesterday Comr Michael Thompson who heads the Comprehensive Plan team said there is no money to make the interactive map. I said that is ridiculous because we have 12 Million in our fund balance and they have a budget before them where eight out of nine million American Rescue Plan dollars were slated to be spent without any public input whatsoever. Even on things that were ridiculously frivilous and that were not desired by residents. And even despite the calim that they needed  a 22% tax hike . 

Manager Manfredi, who had been copied on all those communications requesting the information, said at the meeting that he did not know whether it could be put on the GIS system or why they had not done that, which of course requires only a call to the IT department or a response from Michael Narcowicz ( our County Planner and the other 1/2 of the Comp Plan leadership) or Michael Thompson. That was not done because he is not worried about being responsive to residents . 

       I also asked for the "language" that relates to the Mixed Residential Overlay and to the Transit Oriented District. Again my emails were ignored totally.  But  yesterday Comr Thompson told me they don't have any language yet. So.... imagine this....they drew circles around your homes, labeled them Mixed Residential Overlay and TOD - but they profess to have no idea what that means and have moved on to their next activity before deciding anything further. Another resident asked to discuss the map right then and was told to come to the next Comprehensive Plan meeting (where she would be allowed to sit through the presentation they had chosen on the next chapter or segment of the Comp Plan and at the end have one opportunity and just  3 minutes to ask questions or make a comment - both on this Land Use Plan and on whatever new material was presented.  The questions asked at meetings are only on rare occassions answered.

     I asked openly in the group - and then in individual conversations with Richard Manfredi, Michael Thompson and Michael Narcowiz - to schedule an open meeting in the VERY near future on this topic .  An open meeting is one where we are allowed to have "back and forth" and get answers to every question we ask, ask more than one question, and are treated with respect.   I hope all of you will ask your Commissioners to see that such a meeting is scheduled. |

  11-13-21

Here is TMI on the Saturday Nov 13th meeting ...... there were several of us there that asked right at the start of the meeting to have an open discussion about the grey and dotted circles. We were refused .

Comr Thompson said that map isn't on an interactive map because there wasn't any money . Hogwash - we have 12 million in the fund balance - the Manager spent $8M out of $9M on his own wish list choices of the American Rescue Plan - and there is $10 million more of that coming ..... so clearly we did not need to have a 30% tax increase in 2020 and 2022 . (22% of it hasn't been apassed yet - so it's not too late to speak up )

If the manager created his budget WITH the Commissioners ... it was done totally out of the public purview . The new way of avoiding a quorum that requires a public meeting is to ask all 15 to respond individually .....

We did not have a SINGLE workshop on an 856 page budget - that doesn't even have numbered pages for reference ...so YES we need people to help on this matter ... demanding a proper workshop before it is passed, numbered pages so we can refer to parts of it and share information - and expansion of the teeny, teeny , tiny charts that are not legible in printed form

The yellow map with the circles that we wanted to discuss Saturday would grant Mixed Residential over, for instance, the entire Willow Grove Mall Business District and make any of the "lego" exercises they did that day completely moot. The residents were asked to place legos on maps where they thought apartments, etc should go. Once apartments are allowed anywhere via the Yellow Map - what would it matter what residents want ? The property owner will take the highest and best use where HE wants it. No background was provided for the inexperienced residents . If you put a giant apartment building there, what will happen to your roads and schools? And your Commercial areas, if apartments are more lucrative ?

Also there was very little being directed by the actual residents - because the Planning Team, who out numbered them about 3 to one was constantly coaxing and coaching them to build taller and bigger and how about over here? In one case, an "apartment lego" was put next to the Roslyn Giant on the last patch of greenspace -- but that was put there by Planner and Team Leader Michael Narcowicz, who should have known how severe the stormwater problem is there. He said nothing about that issue - but ironically right behind him was a chart listing residents concerns .... with Stormwater management at the top of the list . You can't make this stuff up ( and it's on video. )

Amazingly legos representing the PREIT building in the Bloomies parking lot were put on the map - making it look like - Voila -- here is what the residents want . But again you can watch the video of the Planners doing most of the manoevering -- and cajoling. The residents were engaged and very ernest - but had no clue about all the issues each selection was shrouded in. So between 5 and 10 residents out of 56, 000 with no training and no background on the many issues created the "residents vision" of land use for the Comprehensive Plan. Amazing, no?

And residents who wanted to discuss the grey circles around hteir homes were told to come to the next meeting where we could sit for an hour or two and let them discuss whatever they want ......and if we last long enough we'll have 3 minutes at the end to speak. THAT IS NOT HOW OUR GOVERNMENT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK ... but unless we get people to step up and say enough is enough this nonsense will pass --- and change Abington forever.

The July 19th 2022 meeting was  cancelled

The Mar 15th, 2022  meeting : cancelled ( they had failed to post agenda & documents within the legal time)

 

We asked for an open mic roundtable style meeting . I hope you will, too - An open mic zoom would be fine - and/or a video taped in person roundtable to follow that .

They hope to pass this Comprehensive Plan by late March or early April .

Please ask to have the map made interactive immediately ( because it takes time to get the word out to people. They shouldn't be missing these meetings . And ask to have the language/definition for Mixed Residential Overlay and TOD districts clearly written on the Comprehensive Plan website. If each of you asks your Commissioner, Comr Thompson Manager Manfredi and Michael Narcowicz - and shares your answer back here, it will make a difference .

rmanfredi@AbingtonPA.gov ; mnarcowi@montcopa.org ; mthompson@abingtonpa.gov  

   This site is a forum for information sharing and idea sharing.  Please feel free to send your  view  and please be sure to  tell us about any information you believe to be incorrect - write  lel@abingtoncitizens.com

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Abington Township revamped the entire Township website at the end of 2015 and broke all the links to the information. In 2017, under Richard Manfredi, someone inexperienced was assigned to redo the entire website again. The public was not asked what problems they would like to see fixed. Their new plan was not well thought out, so everything was very hard to find and there were giant paragraphs you had to slog through in order to find the pertinent one or two lines that you needed. Or if you were lucky enough to even find the meetings and agenda page, there was (and still is) a whole page of nonsense on top, so you think you're on the wrong page. Zoom limks are burrid in a giant paragraph, so people can't find them to attend the meeting. They know about these  problems - but have just decided to ignore us.... for the whole of Richard Manfredi's time here (with Tom Hecker's consent).

 Now, in 2025, we are due to get a new Manager, and there are funds put aside to, once again, upgrade the Township website. We can only hope for a fresh chance at fixing some of these things, as our Township website is the best tool we have for communication and should be an easy, user friendly site for all.

We need volunteers willing to work together to help improve the Township site that everyone has to use,  to make it functional and accessible. 

 We will be repairing our broken links in this Abington Citizens site, too, and fixing some of our many, many typo's as much as is possible. (Yes, it's quite evident that, unlike the Township, WE don't have a paid staff of 275+ or a $93 million budget).

 So...please let us know if you find broken links or typos. Send us the URL and/or and the name of the page it is on, so we can correct it.
Thanks for the help.

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