MANOR WOODS
(formerly Summerford)
Across from the entrance to Alverthorpe -
near Forest and Douglas Ave
Currently : In the 2022 budget another $120K is seen
allocated from the American Rescue Plan $ . That would so
far make $220K total allocated - this time it says
to remove invasives, create
trails, a parking area and put-up fencing - Estimated cost
$120,000
. Did the residents have the courtesy of a meeting
that Commissioner Rothman promised?
Do they know where the parking lot and fence will be ?
Because this was done in Mr Manfredi's inimitable "budget
funding" .... where he takes things that are supposed to
come before the public for their input in order to be
funded, and he makes them part of an 856 page budget document
and themn gives the public 3 minutes to comment on that document
and 12 other items ---- so effectively public comment is
removed. There were so MANY issues with this budget Manor Woods
was lost in the melee.
No activity
on Manor Woods should have occurred without the proper process.
Keep in mind residents got a whopping 22% tax increase -
and that was WITH the 9 $9million in Covid (American Rescue Plan
Act - ARPA ) funds for 2021 and another $ 9 million coming in
May 2022 , The 22 % hike raised $3 million - so we were
gifted 6 of those huge tax hikes - and STILL they chose to raise
your taxes .
As Manor
Woods neighbors know- the football stadium behind their
house was a reviled idea. In a year with a 22% tax hike,
for them to plan to put in parking, fencing and trails
through the woods is ridiculous - when you are across the street
from ....parking and trails through the woods ( at Alverthorpe
).......... So I have very little doubt in my heart of
hearts that the beginning of the stadium is underway.
The removal of the invasives
DEFINITELY should be done - but not like the
Boy Scout
Preserve - where they took every piece of vegetation down to
the mud - then never replanted with beneficial plants - so
literally they destroyed a 13 acre Wildlife Preserve .
Will they do that here? Who will
help watch? Contact me
lel@abingtoncitizens
PRIOR to this :
In the 2020 Budget, that saw a 9.9 % increase
in taxes which was to have been 1/3 of the total tax hike
needed, without any agenda item on Manor Woods brought
before the public at a Public Affairs meeting, Manager Manfredi
Budgeted $100,000. There was no
description we could find as to what exactly they were going to
do with that money. Manager Manfredi said there was
a plan that was to be followed. They will remove the
invasives But the "Masterplan" was concocted in 2012 and there
was a great deal of hoopla about whether the park was to
be used as a football field or an open space park ....
The neighbors were extremely unhappy with Football field
and preferred the open space plan. Ultimately the 2012
Masterplan had both. I
asked Drew Rothman, the Ward 3 Commissioner why none of the
neighbors I asked knew anytthing about it . He told me not to
worry, they would be notified and he would hold a meeting so
their voices could be heard .
Click
here to see
Abington Township Full Master Plan for Manor Woods as of May 2,
2012
In the past - a very
quick nutshell Sorry Fonts are a mess - will fix later
2001
2001 Sommerford
Corporation was granted a conditional use approval to
construct a facility on the undeveloped land
at Manor Park . At
some point-perhaps this year or the year after-Somerford was
approved to develop a 28,000 square-foot 64-bed hospice care
Alzheimer’s facility with a 50 foot buffer. (Somerford purchased
the land from the
Sisters of St. Basil.)
2002
2-20-02
The
Sisters of St Basil sold the property for $750,000
to the American Heritage partners LLC
2003 Montgomery County
created the resolution
for it’s Green Fields/Green Towns Program
2005
Cheltenham puts a moratorium on the sewer . This property is
affected by the moratorium .
2006
3-16-06
Township Solicitor Rex Herder rights to the Somerford
Corporation . To
date there has been no activity and
the
Township is exploring alternatives for increasing the number of
public athletic fields available to its residents.
Rex Herder was asked to inquire whether the Somerford
Corporation willing to sell -negotiating an amicable,
arms-length transaction given that the property has remained
undeveloped
2007
11-26-2007
Chesapeake asked
about sewer connections
2008
2008
1-3-08 Abington
received the letter from Jen Fields at DEP that there is a
moratorium on the sewer
4-23-08 Manager Conway and Parks Director Wendell
went to the county open space board yesterday 22 April
regarding an open space application for the Somerford property
it will be on the agenda May 1 2008
Closing should take place by the end of May the open
space board’s motion included language that would take into
consideration the preservation of trees in any future
developments
such as
ball fields.
The St. Basil sisters /Manor College
waived their first right of refusal.
The sisters and their attorney attended the open space
board meeting as well because of their concern about how the
property would be developed.
Manager Conway thought that ironic since they knew the
Alzheimer’s facility had been approved.
He said they have no immediate plans for anything
extensive but do not want to be precluded from
a ball
field or two in the future.
He is certain that their buffer would be as good as the
50 foot buffer in the current development plan
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5-13-08 Executive summary states this is the Contract date
for the sale with a closing date no later than
5-30-08
5-14-08 or later – an Executive summary is compiled . In it the
parcel shows as
being
assessed
at $97,700 which after applying the common level ratio of 50.7%
indicates an implied market value for the property of $192,702.
The tax liability on this parcel is $3216 currently.
American Heritage partners claimed that they put $700,000
into the property obtaining approvals.
But other than the zoning the property is unimproved and
stands exactly as they bought it
5-23-08
Actual Sale date - Land purchased from Abington Heritage
Partners LLC
-
the township purchased the land from this
cWhen the company’s plans fell through — the project made
it all the way through the planning development stage — the
township stepped in and purchased the land.
The cost was $2.2
million ( though the deed only mentions 2 million – the
200,000 might be costs) ;
the
Montgomery County Open Space Program
fronted 80 percent of the cost and the township picked up the
rest.
The cost which exceeded the purchase price
of the land
originally paid to
the Sisters by
nearly 1.5 million
was said to be so much more because of the new “improvements “
to the land – though no improvements actually had been made – it
had only acquired a more intense zoning ……none of which the
Township would be using . The valuation priced the land at
$378,788 per acre despite the moratorium – which continued on
for years and included a note that they were going to file for a
“certificate of need” to
bypass the moratorium .
The
land is to remain “pertually under and subject to “ the
conditions and restrictions
which will remain with the land. These include that :
It shall be utilized and maintained for open space purposes in
accordance with the Montgomery county Green Field/Green towns
program subject to limitation and further restrictions --
they have to minimize the application of potentially
harmful pesticides and preserve and enhance native agitation.
Within
18 months of the purchase of the property the Township shall
develop the appropriate facilities on the property as determined
through a master plan including parking area and trails to
enhance the public’s use of the property.
They appear to have clearly been in violation of this
because they did not make it accessible in 18 mo
-
In fact in 2021 it will still be inaccessible
The property was acquired to provide the public with park and
open space opportunities parking access and structures such as
pavilion and restroom facilities that relate to open space use
may be constructed on the property general municipal uses and
other uses not directly related to the open space purpose of the
property are not permitted.
The
Township shall preserve the majority of the property as a
forest.
their plan
was in no way intending to comply with the “forest”
aspect
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2009
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2010
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2011
11-30-11 A master plan
for the park has been completed
with a
parking lot on the Forrest Avenue side and a football field /
stadium on the
far side both going
merely from end to end
2012
1-6-12
From: Abington EAC [mailto:eac.abington@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 1:22 PM Subject: Fwd: Manor
Woods Master Plan meeting - Weds Jan 11, 7:00 pm at McKinley
Firehouse
Doug Wendell, Director of Abington Parks
Department, is holding a public meeting to present the Manor
Woods Master Plan on Wednesday January 11, 2012; at 7:00 pm at
the McKinley Firehouse, 893 Jenkintown Rd, Elkins Park PA 19027.
The township purchased Manor Woods a few
years ago from a company that was going to build an Alzheimers
facility there. The park is a 5-acre wooded area across from the
main entrance to Alverthorpe Park on Forrest Avenue. The Master
Plan includes a football stadium for the Abington Raiders. The
stadium, parking and facilities will take up almost the entire
parcel. Doug will be accepting public comments. Please spread
the word and encourage people to attend this meeting.The meeting
announcement will be broadcast on Channel 43.
)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
1-11-12
Chuck
Strodoski, a landscape architect with
YSM Landscape Architects, out of
York, presented a plan for the
land: It basically included trails and the possibility of a
small parking lot.
(Strodoski also discussed the possibility of constructing a
football field on the land; he and Wendell took heat from
residents for even considering the idea, and it was quickly
scrapped.)
Click
here to see
Abington Township Full Master Plan for Manor Woods as of May 2,
2012
2-24-12
Abington Patch article
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/abington/manor-woods-plan-to-public-affairs
Excerpt :
Last month, Chuck
Strodoski, a landscape architect with YSM
Landscape Architects, out of York,
presented a plan for the land: It basically included trails and
the possibility of a small parking lot.
(Strodoski also discussed the possibility of constructing
a football field on the land; he and Wendell took heat from
residents for even considering the idea, and it was quickly
scrapped.)…..
.....
Last night, Strodoski
presented a similar plan which included: removing evasive
species of plants from the land, creating trails, and perhaps
creating a small parking lot.
Some residents
said they just wanted the land to remain "open space," and not
"developed" in any way, even if "development" meant creating a
park and walking trails.
2013 to 2017
no activity I know of
2018
1-31-18 Request to
revive the “Master Plan “
At the
Public Affairs Meeting
tonight former Ward 3 Commissioner Michael O’Connor
attended --- he asked why the Master Plan for Manor Park
had not been acted on
- he did not
specify which one !
It is open space money . He said the plan is done,
the trees have been
marked – so we know what what we can scrub and get out As
few as 1 meeting is all it would take to get this going .
Commissioner Spiegelman
said we can
get this moving again. The Commissioner of the Ward should be
involved also
Commissioner
Peggy Myers said you
are correct – but we have other parks that have master plans too
that are not being implemented -
I’d like to add Crestmont park to the list
Commissioner Luker – the lion’s share of
that was the clubhouse (that
used to be the roundhouse )
Comm Myers
– there are other things too - Hillside – wasn’t a
master plan done for hillside?
Michael O’connor we already have a plan –
we just need to get underway
Comm Spiegelman
so get a meeting together – with our
manager , the
commissioner for the Ward , the park director
etc Lora Lehmann –
resident comments -– please include the neighbors . They were
concerned . They are
affected by the noise lights etc
They were very concerned
and should be included in any meetings .
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