THE
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
WHAT ARE THE ISSUES ?
Submit your questions and comments
to be posted on the Question /Answer page by Thursday June 15, 2023
. Send them to
publiccomment@abingtonpa.gov
and if you are willing, copy me or
blind copy me – I will be trying to be sure that they got included.
lel@abingtoncitizens.com
HERE IN GREEN
ARE THE THINGS WE
DO
WANT
TO SEE IN THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
SOME PEOPLE WROTE TO THEIR
COMMISSIONERS
have the commissioners been told to submit the opinions of
their residents to the Comp Plan compiler, so their opinions can be included.
I’m sure they thought they were sending them to the right source
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RESIDENTS (AND COMMISSIONERS ) NEED TO BE INFORMED
WE NEED AMPLE TIME FOR RESIDENTS TO
SEE WHAT YOU PLAN TO DO, before any cogent comments from residents can called
final
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WE NEED YOU TO EXPLAIN HOW A “ VISION”
LEADS DIRECTLY TO CHANGED ZONING.
By creating a document with a “vision" such as, for instance,
that you think it is a good idea to increase density ½ mile around trains,
you have, effectively, given yourselves the power to "change the
zoning". Yes, yes - I know. You're not actually re-zoning in
this document. But because the official “vision" will be used
as the basis of endless Text and Map Amendments
put forth by developers, ( or by the Economic Development Corporation that you wish
to create), you are enabling the zoning that you describe in the Comp Plan and
negating Spot Zoing protections for the residents impacted by this zoning. Spot Zoning
says it is illegal in PA to zone a property
differently than others for the benefit of one property owner. If a Text
and Map Amendment is approved, all other properties
Township-wide with the same
conditions would also benefit from the same zoning. However, it is NOT necessarily considered
illegal Spot Zoning, according to Spot Zoning caselaw, if it is the official "vision " of the Commissioners.
So THAT is why we don't want you creating a document with the “vision" of so much
density around our trains and shopping centers and of residential high-rises on
top of shopping center parking lots. And why we don't want you
creating a “vision" that RI or other "R" residences can be used as
offices or other non-residential for a University or other institution which you
know was vigorously opposed, and why we don't want
you creating a “vision" of "Transition Zones" so that any street, like
Highland Ave, that is next to Commercial can be re-zoned to light commercial,
which you know was vigorously opposed. The PREIT / Bel Canto
building on the Bloomingdales parking lot was vigorously
opposed. So they backed off--- until the Comprehensive Plan could be passed with
a "vision" of high-rises on parking lots, and density near trains. It will
be a slam dunk once that "vision" passes and they won't need to worry about what
the pesky public has to say. And this “vision" rezoning method is why you
shouldn't be allowed to create
an Economic Development Corporation, if you also can create
the enabling “vision" that would let you rezone any property
however you want it to be, for the benefit of a developer who would also be
using my tax money in the form of grants to build whatever HE wants and without
having to ask us or give the affected properties within 500 feet any notice or
opportunity to hire lawyers or pathway to reasonably oppose it. The way
you are doing it, they have no clue this "enabling" is being done... and
it is 100 % clear you are not interesting in telling them, or you would have by
now. You also have cancelled endless Vacant Property meetings, because
these properties were not being cited properly and brought into compliance. It
appeared that the goal was more about speculative development.
PA law requires that in normal zoning
changes, properties within 500 feet would get notified. You are removing that
protection just by creating your “vision". It would also be a clear
conflict of interest for you to create a document that allows you to
change the zoning on so many properties throughout Abington and then have your
EDCorp buy them. It is not legal to change the zoning in order to pump up the
value of a property. That’s what you would be doing. That “
Vision” that you are creating allows approval by Commissioners for
projects that would otherwise be illegal Spot Zoning. You'll say “ Yes we agreed
this was our plan, and we even held public meetings
when we approved this "vision" --- therefore, Spot Zoning
will not apply". Spot Zoning rules
would not allow you to make one property different for the benefit of that
owner. Nor would the Zoning Hearing Board be able to approve such a
change. But now there is case law
that says if you have a Comprehensive Plan
with such a "vision", you can approve it and it is not considered "Spot
Zoning"
Explain this to the public. If they don't
know this, because you have managed since 2019 not to have a fully open
conversation on this, it is the same as them being “duped”
DO THE
COMMISSIONERS UNDERSTAND HOW SPOT ZONING PROTECTIONS ARE BEING OVERRIDDEN?
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WE WANT THE
COMMISSIONERS TO MAKE AN EFFORT TO INFORM THEIR CONSTITUENTS
….
Since none of us know of a single
Commissioner that held a town hall or spent time writing their residents about
the DETAILS of the plan…
do they even
know what’s in it?
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WE WANT TO
KNOW WHY THEY DIDN’T TELL THEIR CONSTITUENTS
what
was
being done at these meetings and encourage them to attend and give them
specifics to help inform their comment.
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HOMEOWNERSHIP
HOMEOWNER
OWNED UNITS ARE PREFERABLE TO LANDLORD OWNED UNITS –
by your own words that appear in the housing chapter of the
plan says homeownership is an indicator of better maintenance and stability in
the community. Yet in plan after plan and study after study in this Township,
those indicators as well as the wishes of homeowners and others have been
ignored . You continue to put in wording that would make it your vision to
increase density and add apartments when you know it is not wanted.
Why do what you, yourself, say is not ideal
to do?
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THE
HOUSING CHAPTER : THE WORDS OF THE COMP PLAN TEAM ON
HOME OWNERSHIP
p 1:"homeownership rates are typically
associated with neighborhood stability and a high
level of home and property maintenance/// p2 says appartments have
much higher vacancy rates than homeowner owned homes
They added that :
p2 Abington
has over 4,200 rental units with an 8%
vacancy rate --so over 330 available at any given time ... Why
would we plan against neighborhood stability and a high level of home and
property maintenance?
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DON’T REMOVE AFFORDABLE HOMES
The plans we have seen
so far have removed Homeowner Owned units and increased Landlord Owned units .
If affordable single family homes in affordable single-family homes in nice
neighborhoods are to be broken up into multi-units, many of which would be
landlord owned, this will mean that young or less affluent homebuyers would have
less opportunity to appreciate the dream of homeownership. One of the charms of
diversity in Abington is the mix of large homes, medium size and priced homes,
and affordable homes.
We need more affordable homes, not fewer
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BENEFITS OF HOMEOWNERSHIP
Lack of homeownership is such a
severe disadvantage that it was a campaign issue in Philadelphia’s Mayoral race
this year. It does not lead to reduced
payments in your senior years. There is no nest egg after paying rent for 30
years. There is no generational wealth to pass on and give your children a leg
up. You cannot be discriminated against . You don’t have to share the air or the
“critters” that your neighbor has. You
can be safer and know who’s coming and going where you live. Young people learn
skills and learn how to care for and about something.
Abington needs affordable homes
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DON’T RE-ZONE
ANY SINGLE FAMILY HOMES TO OTHER USES – HOMEOWNER-OWNED UNITS SHOULD MAINTAIN A
TOP PRIORITY
Transition zones, for instance,
are not necessary to include -
Just let the row of residential remain where it is. If you make it “light
commercial” it will just be bringing commercial further back into the
neighborhood. The homeowners buying next to commercial are aware they are doing
that. The Planners and Zoner’s themselves said that residential and commercial
don’t mix …… yet when it was convenient for them, they decided apartments on the
commercial Shopping Center parking lots were just fine.
If they don’t mix, that would make no sense, would it ? Don’t “envision”
them as duplexes or triplexes or twins.
Don’t
destroy affordable single family homes – especially
in favor of landlord owned units.
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MAINTAIN OUR
STABLE ZONING -Limit text and map amendments in whatever manner you can - residents of Abington want their zoning preserved as they bought it. The
primary way to do this is to NOT provide a vision to enable
Text and Map amendments-- which
developers will use to rewrite our zoning
in the wink of an eye instead of having zoning that took months or years of
careful consideration, as normal re-zoning process would .
Letting developers “have at it will not provide sound zoning…..
it will create a giant mess And
zoning left to the whim and will of the
commissioners , sadly makes a situation that is all too tempting for undue
influence to become a factor.
Residents have a right to rely on the zoning that they bought with their
property.
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WHY SHOULD SOME GET "GIFTED" MORE
ZONING RIGHTS THAN OTHERS ? People have a right not to have others next door to them obtain
multiple times the rights that they bought with their properties, while they,
themselves, have to abide by the laws.
The text and map amendment process should be made more rigorous with more
rights for residents and far less easy for developers to pop in, show the
history of shopping often
enough till everybody goes home and then present an ordinance that does things never
fully explained in any of the previous meetings, that affects many other places
in the Township that are also not shown, but that impacts nearly everyone's
life. A surprize triplex should not pop up next door to you.
Developers should not be re-writing our zoning
to their liking with Text and Map Amendments
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INCREASED DENSITY
- UNLIMITED -
TO WHOSE BENEFIT ?
RESIDENTS AND
HOMEOWNERS DON’T WANT IT.
Many of your plans and studies
contain visions of increased density – especially more and more residential
units around transit hubs. Yet, we
believe you are very much aware that the Homeowners in this Township, AND many
of the tenants, are
greatly opposed to this
because of the traffic congestion and
other problems that will impact all of us and because of neighborhood stability,
crowded schools and so many more
things explored in these questions, including the financial downsides, the cost
per student ( $22K )
and expansion of roads
. If you sent news to every house telling
them you were expanding residential units with no visible way to
limit it in any fashion, (without
simultaneously sending a false
analysis that some mythical “expanded tax base “ was going to
keep their taxes low or other
false claims such as
there was a mythical need for
housing) you
know that they would not approve what you are doing.
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THERE IS NO
VISIBLE WAY TO LIMIT DEVELOPMENT ONCE YOU OPEN THIS PANDORA’S BOX --
This is
huge. Once you allow the use of your
“vision” to enable text and map changes in one place – they will simply
proliferate. There is no visible mechanism to put on the brakes that we can see.
Your “vision” will be used again and again.
That is unconscionably
irresponsible --The comprehensive plan
must find a way to limit text and map amendments- As it previously
was in the map with the circles, there would have been no way of controlling how
many applications came in, and once one was accepted, then one could not begin
to turn down the next and the next and the next. No method was shown by our
manager or Comprehensive Plan team that would address how limits
could be put on the text and map amendments once the vision was set .
A responsible plan would require that the management show us exactly how
the number of units would be limited, so we would understand how many children
were coming to the school how many more police officers we needed, what other
services we needed to increase. Infrastructure costs. How is it
responsible to create a plan that enables text and map amendments in an unlimited number?
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IT IS LIKELY THAT THE FRIENDS OF THE COMMISSIONERS /
TOWNSHIP WILL BE THE PROFITEERS
The average homebuyer, even novice developers, know little to
nothing about Text and Map Amendments . And
only the Commissioners, staff and their friends are likely to understand
or be shown where all the “visions” are embedded, in which documents, and which properties
are most amenable to development
using them. They have been studied well
these past 7 years or more. It might be years and
years before others learn how to finagle these tool to their use. This is one of the ways
of “transferring the wealth” that has made the rich richer and the rest
poorer . The inequality of wealth has proven to be a damaging force in our
society – responsible for much of what is going wrong in America--- and in
Abington. The loss of speaking rights. The failure to provide services to
residents or even allow them to use the tools that we BUY for them is just the
tip of the iceberg. Why do you think it is OK to enable
complicated processes for the benefit of others that takes from the rights of
Abington residents in
such a blatant way?
THE COMP
PLAN NEEDS TO OVERRIDE THE PREVIOUS PLANS
AND STUDIES THAT RECOMMEND DENSITY
Knowing the residents do not want the expanded density, the Comp Plan should
specifically state that " the goal of zoning is
not to increase the density --
and
specifically state that the Comp Plan shall supercede
all other plans in this regard
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THE
EFFECTS OF THE 2017 ZONING RE-WRITES
HAVE NOT YET BEEN SEEN Many,
many properties received for instance a new zoning designation to allow
mixed-use. Many of these are commercial properties who will now be
allowed to build commercial on the bottom and residential on the top when they
renovate. The added income will incentivize renovation.
There is almost no way to calculate the number of units that could,
because of the re-writes, be ALREADY, BY
RIGHT built once these properties renovate.
Do you have a figure specifically for properties that were not mixed-use
but became mixed-use and others that now can add units
because of shared parking or other re-write conditions?
How many residential units could be allowed by these? That figure should
have been in the Comprehensive Plan as a very specific number that will impact
Abington Township, if you had any ability to calculate it. If not.
adding more
units could be disastrous
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NO PROPER FINANCIAL ANALYSIS NOR IMPACT
STATEMENTS
THE
FINANCIAL IMPACTS ARE NOT CALCULATED IN THE PLAN
Of course, you cannot be expected to calculate something that
has not yet been proposed --- so that is the problem with creating a “vision”
that almost automatically enables
zoning changes on a scale that is unlimited . The financials on
expanded density would offer huge downsides that will impact
the residents who live here now and who
voted in the Commissioners that are supposed to be looking out for their
interests. $22 K for students to our schools could cripple the Township
residents. No corporate owned
zoning should be enabled without strict, per property financial analyses.
If the plan is not in the interest of their
constituents’ health, safety, or welfare, the Commissioners should not institute
it.
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WE HAVE A HISTORY OF BOGUS REPORTS THAT WERE
ACCEPTED AS THOUGH GENUINE
PREIT finally submitted the much asked for financil anlysis and it was 100
% bogus -- They tried at first to even claim such things as permits as though
they were income rather than payment for a service received that often
requires more work than the cost of the permit can cover. They claimed 365
apaartments would produce just 14 students and there were a dozen other
other things that stretched the imagination or were absolute nonsense, like the
number of jobs they were bringing 155 I think - but they were bringing
hundreds of job seekers that would make it a net loss in jobs.....Despite the
fairytale, it was approved by the Economic Developmnet Committee which included
members who knew the figures were ridiculous.
So even if we got a Financial Analysis - would we believe any of it. ?
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PRESERVE our zoning protections & OUR TOOLS TO PREVENT CORRUPTION
PROTECT OUR ZONING This Plan should be amended to
enforce our zoning code at every opportunity and to accept text and map
amendments only when the Township as a WHOLE is in agreement and only when it
can be proven to be a finanacial gain that residents are in favor of accepting.
All residents – not the 10 that live nearby. Putting in development with only 8
votes out of 58K should be limited
to NEVER. A thorough and
proper financial analysis cannot be done with a vision that so far has sought to
encompass so many properties that it makes such sound measures virtually
impossible. So remove the “vision” of density that would enable you without
Community approval to violate our zoning laws and circumvent the Zoning Hearing
Board . So both Spot Zoning protections and 5oo feet notification
protections are both out the window
Limit Text and Map amendment approvals by limiting
the visions that enable them.
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THE PLAN
SEEKS TO TAKE OUR ZONING OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE ZONING HEARING BOARD
whose job it is to enforce the zoning laws, and put it in the hands of the
Commissioners, via text and map amendment means, where they seem to have no need to
conform to the same laws. We are opposed
to having our laws violated even in this supposedly ”legal” way.
There is no way that people would actually vote for the Commissioners to
be able to approve zoning at their will, whenever & however they liked it.
They tried to sneak it into a text and
map amendment for 40-60 apartments in the Old York Road corridor -- and it was only at the
last minute that it was discovered --- a tiny inoccuous clause in there
that residents didn't recognize but that would have put all the zoning decisions
in the hands of hte Commissioners, just as you are doing here. Putting zoning, Township wide, in the hands
of 15 commissioners (only 8 yes votes needed) would be a set up for incredible corruption.
And I believe that is the goal of this
Comprehensive Plan. Tell me how that
would not be the case?
Tell me why commissioners should be able to overrule
our zoning laws, & protections which already have far too much latitude.
And how we could prevent corruption if 8 votes can overturn our zoning document?
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WHO ARE YOU
REPRESENTING, ANYWAY
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ONCE THIS
REFLECTS THE VIEWS OF THE PEOPLE SHOULD
SUPERCEDE OTHER PLANS once the vision in this plan reflects the vision of the
residents (which we have not yet seen ) then this plan should supersede previous
the written plans that may advocate for higher density around trains or higher
density around shopping centers. That density is characteristic of an urban area
and is not necessary in a suburban bedroom community. Those are urban
characteristics robbed the quality-of-life that suburbanites have purposely
chosen. We do
not want to become urban. This is our community. Take that "vision" of increased
density out of all the plans and out of our zoning ordinance.
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NO APARTMENTS, NO APARTMENTS, NO
APARTMENTS.... (And no Parking Garages)
APARTMENTS AND DENSITY ARE NEITHER NEEDED NOR
DESIRED
by the residents of this Township. Abington Township is a suburban bedroom
community, and the residents of this community preferred that it stays that way.
All
tenants of the comprehensive plan should respect and lead to the preservation of
this suburban bedroom community.
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MAINTAIN OUR
STABLE ZONING -Limit text and map amendments in whatever manner you can -
residents of Abington want their zoning preserved as they bought it.
Text and map amendments where developers propose / rewrite out
zoning which is done in the wink of an eye instead of over months or
years of careful consideration, as normal re-zoning process would be are not
something that leads to good zoning. It
will create a giant mess - and it means that zoning is left to the whim and will
of the commissioners --- and sadly makes a situation that is all too tempting
for undue influence to become a factor.
Residents have a right to rely on the zoning that they bought with their
property. And they have a right not to have others next door to them obtain
multiple times the rights that they bought with their properties.
The text and map amendment process should be made more rigorous with more
rights for residents and far less easy for developers to pop in, show the
history of shopping often enough till everybody goes home and then present an
ordinance that is never fully explained.Make
the Text and map process more rigorous
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WE WANT ANY
POPULATION INCREASES TO BE DONE IN A CONTROLLED MANNER W/ MINIMAL
INCREASES AT ONE TIME
Again -the 2017 zoning REWITES enabled way more development than we can even imagine.
No analysis was given as to how many possible units could be created.
So much more is coming from those changes, where for instance, areas
transitioned to “multi-use” have barely begun to get underway.
Why would you even consider adding more,
when you can’t calculate, haven’t tried to calculate, or
can't control
what is already approved.
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A PROPER PROCESS
GIVE US AMPLE
TIME- MORE MEETINGS IF NEEDED after 3 1/2 years , you profess to have
no idea what your Future Land Use plan should be. You removed the Future Land
Use
Chapter entirely when you learned it was NOT what was desired or in our interest and did not bring anything back
to us on May 25th when you disingenously said we could "create"
it . The residents who came to participate had
no context guidance or tools to understand the scope of the job at hand . Clearly far more
than one meeting was needed. Now the time has been slightly extended..... but July
2023 will be the
first chance we have to review anything at all. The plan for the Future Land use
of Abington deserves better than that So we are asking you to schedule as many additional meetings as are
necessary, and if requested by the
residents, an additional question
and answer session. or 2 and whatever the residents need to reach a
Comprehensive Plan that genuinely recognizes who owns this community .
This is one
of the most important chapters for our township moving forward. We should do it
right
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WE WANT OUR
SERVICES AND INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS TO BE ABLE TO KEEP PACE WITH
DEVELOPMENT
IT services, litter control & code enforcement & of
dumping of trash on public or private areas,
trash collection services,
recycling services, disposal services, sewer services, sewer plant expansion,
fire volunteers, fire trucks, equipment and other services,
police/crime/traffic control, libraries,
parks, recreation programs,
school buildings, over-crowded classrooms,
road maintenance, road widening and modifications, sidewalk installation
and maintenance, landlord tenant issues and the list goes on of things that will
need to expand quickly if we grow too fast.
Many of these
things are in a bad state currently, and need
improvement.
Why would we take on more when we can’t control what
we have?
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WE WANT
DEVELOPERS TO FULLY TAKE ON THE COSTS OF USING TOWNSHIP
PERSONNEL AND SERVICES TO
PROPOSE DEVELOPMENT
We want ALL personnel involved in helping developers
to carefully chart their hours and
the name of the project and have the costs reimbursed
by the developers – not have
Township residents pick up their costs for them. Currently, all the time Mr.
Narcowicz spent with PREIT in the formulation of their ordinance for the Willow
Grove Park Mall was not reimbursed to the Township, because the policy or
ordinance for that only includes reimbursement for a few people that by law
could be reimbursed. That policy/ordinance needs to be changed and
reimbursements for work done on behalf of developers should be meticulously and
directly accounted for
and pursued. This should not apply to
single-family homeowners.
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STABILITY IN ZONING AND IN POPULATION IS DESIRABLE
WE WANT THE
POPULATION TO STAY AS STABLE AS POSSIBLE IN ABINGTON
We are already the 10th densest town out of 2500 in Montco
There only 2 ways the
population is going to increase in Abington
1)
Families in their current homes expand more than they
shrink
2)
We build new homes beyond what is allowed
by right … which increases the
population a LOT more…
Since the 2017 zoning gave more “by right uses”, it is
guaranteed that we will already expand our population – but we don’t need to
have any more expansion - especially when we can’t properly calculate what we
will get. Many people already have a
“By Right “ ability to build new homes .
Allow
them their rights, but we do not want you
expanding that.
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WE WANT STABILITY IN
ZONING
Stability comes with a zoning code that we can rely on for years and years – and
is only tweaked when there are problems that need to be addressed.
So we don’t want language or maps with circles that create a vision of
increased density to encourage developers to create text and map amendments that
they are confident you will pass.
That vision,
with the circles and pictures of apartments on the high rises
will be used to undo our spot zoning protections .
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ENTERTAINMENT /COMMUNTIY SERVICE USES/
MEDICAL/OFFICES ETC –ALL OK - PROVIDE JOBS , ACTIVITIES SERVICES ETC
Other uses that are useful to the residents already living here are
welcome – but residential uses are not.
If our commercial or
community service uses are transferred to residential use and find that more
lucrative, soon we will be lacking in what those use provide, like sopping and
Community activities . Commercial uses provide jobs. Residential brings in
people to take our jobs from us. We need jobs and tax $$ with no students
attached. Residential uses
take from our lives by
crowding our schools and parks and other services,
by taking our jobs
rather than increasing them
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SEPARATE COMMERCIAL AND
RESIDENTIAL TO PRESERVE GOOD FAMILY -ORIENTED , PEACEFUL NEIGHBORHOODS
Commercial areas need to stay commercial so robust commercial
uses can be allowed . Once you allow
residential, if they find it is more lucrative,
our commercial spaces will disappear –
driving up the costs for us to shop or have business located nearby. Stunningly,
Steve Kline explained prior to 2017 that we needed "Transition Zones", like on
Highland behind the hospital, to buffer the noise and activity from hte
residential uses. Then when he wanted to build high-rises on shopping center
parking lots with walkability etc as his talking points, he decided
those residential units would have no problem with the
the late night deliveries or the early morning commercial
trash trucks. In other words , his description was molded to fit what he wanted
to build. And that is what is being done here. But we want our residential
to remain separate and our commercial to thrive in a commerce environment .
Steve already made sure we had lots of
"mixed used in our actual zoning code. We don't need more. Preserve our
residential areas.
.
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MYTHS
MYTH
THERE IS NO POPULATION INCREASE OTHER THAN WHAT YOU ALLOW Population
numbers were different on different pages and they acknowledged
the problems and said that they would not be fixed.
In the end- there is no need for housing
units as they falsely claim in the plan . Half
of the numbers in the forecast were accounted for already- and the other half
was just plain made up. So all of that
population forecast nonsense should come OUT of the Comprehensive Plan – and it
should not try to deceive people by
saying units need to be built .
Here is where their numbers came from:
1) 433 units /723 people are accounted for in proposed units
already underway, like at the Baederwood Redstone, the Galman’s Jenkintown
Flats, etc – all seen on
see Chpt 7 pt 2 p2
& also on p5 –
2) 302 units / 740 people (on the same page/chart) would come from currently
undeveloped acreage all over the Township that they have calculated … (only
if it is developed) .
So nobody needs us to do anything for any of those in 1 or 2.
3) Then (oops… here’s the deception) they told you that 1446 people still needed
to be “ accommodated” and they had to build units somewhere to do that.
Lucky you! They have figured out that if they allow building on the parking lots at 4 shopping centers -seen
on page 7-they can nearly accomplish it. 1,227 people will fit
there. Lucky, lucky you!
Before you celebrate this incredible “find”
with them….. uh …. well ….. you do realize that if they don’t
allow building on those parking lots then we
won’t have those 1227 people. Problem solved.
Besides the figures being wrong and different
on various pages, we have already exceeded what their forecasts for 10 years down the
road was. It is clear the population forecasts are all smoke and mirrors and need to be removed from the Plan.
WHAT ROLE
DO THE RESIDENTS PLAY ?
THE VISION OF THE COMMISSIONERS SHOULD REFLECT THE
REQUESTS, COMMENTS AND THE VIEWS OF THE PEOPLE THAT THEY REPRESENT.
Our democracy recognizes that the only legitimate source of governmental power
comes from the consent of the governed.
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APARTMENTS AND DENSITY ARE NEITHER NEEDED
NOR DESIRED
by the residents of this Township. Abington Township is a suburban bedroom
community, and the residents of this community preferred that it stays that way.
All tenants of the
comprehensive plan should respect and lead to the preservation of this suburban
bedroom community.
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ONCE THE
COMP PLAN REFLECTS THE VIEWS OF THE PEOPLE, IT SHOULD SUPERCEDE OTHER PLANS
once the vision in this plan reflects the vision of the residents (which we have
not yet seen ) then this plan should supersede previous the written plans that
may advocate for higher density around trains or higher density around shopping
centers. That density is characteristic of an urban area and is not necessary in
a suburban bedroom community. Those are urban characteristics robbed the
quality-of-life that suburbanites have purposely chosen. We do not want to
become urban. This is our community.
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NOT AMPLE
TIME- MORE MEETINGS IF NEEDED
after 2 years , you
professed to have no idea what your Future Land Use plan was. We are making our
comments on “nothing” You removed the Future Land Use Chapter and did not bring
anything back May 25th so the residents had any context whatsoever to
understand what the scope of the job at hand was for creating a Future Land Use
Chapter. Clearly the time to prepare it was far more than one meeting . June 15
will be the first chance we have to review what you have decided that the
scope of this chapter is. So we are asking you to schedule at least one
additional meeting and, if requested by
the residents, an additional question and
answer session. or a 2nd meeting .
By removing this chapter from the plan , you also removed all the
opportunities we would’ve had to comment on in all the subsequent meetings. So
we are asking that you restore those lost opportunities by allowing for more
meetings if we ask for them . This is one of the most important chapters for our
township moving forward
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NOT AMPLE TIME
TO FIND THE PROBLEMS AND CONFLICTING
VISIONS IN THE OTHER PLANS in addition to a voluminous comprehensive plan which is under
review right now by residents, the Township manager has seen fit to add 6 other
plans to a one week period. None of
the Township staff nor the manager himself can keep up properly with this
schedule. Major errors have been made in
the processes surrounding many of the meetings and development
projects--- documents not posted. Laws being ignored. Meetings scheduled without
the proper processes finished . These are errors that harm the residents of the
Township and will harm the future development of the Township. It’s being done
so fast that nothing is being done right. We want time to review the other plans
to see how they interact with the comprehensive plan. And language regarding the
density around the trains and shopping centers, for instance, should then be
formalized in the Comprehensive Plan to take precedence over the other plans
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NOT AMPLE
TIME
- WE ARE ASKING WHY ALL OF THIS IS
BEING DONE IN A RUSH? Is it
because we have developers who are anxious to get started with the new plan. Is
it because we have an economic development Corporation that is anxious to get
underway. Our zoning, our property
rights and so much that we hold dear is at stake in these documents and in these
processes. The future of Abington is
at stake. In 7 consecutive workdays between June 8 and June 16, 2023, the
manager set up 7 major master plans
and/or major hearings-- and even set some up improperly or illegally . Was it
because his staff had so much to do and couldn’t keep up --- or was
it intended .......? Why did we have to hire an outside consultant to
finish up the Comp Plan process ? Money seems to be no object. This
is a complete disservice to the public and will lead to a disastrous
underpinning for the future progress and development of our township (8th
Master Tree Plan/Conditional Use Hearing St. Basil’s//Conditional Use Hearing
1209 Rydal Rd./12th Master Parks and Recreation Plan review/13th
Strategic Plan/ 15th
Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use/16th HUD plan)
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NOT AMPLE
TIME - we want the comprehensive plan vision to provide stable zoning
. We don’t want zoning that is written by the developers , and passed in the
wink of an eye by the commissioners, instead of having the stability of a solid
zoning code that does not change year to year. We want text and map amendment’s,
were developers are writing our zoning for us to shrink to a minimum, if not to
be banned entirely by our commissioners determining that only a long thoughtful
process should ever be used to change the zoning.
The commissioners ”vision” is not the vision of the people that they
represent if they do not use the tools at their disposal to disseminate the
information for proper public comment.
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NO
APTS : We don’t want apartments –
Abington already has many many apartment units (over 4,200 )
and many more rental units found in
duplexes, triplexes, quads or even single-family homes that are for rent. They
have a vacancy rate- which means that there are hundreds of apartments or houses
available to rent at any given time.
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NO APTS
: we want to see the names
of those that do want so many apartments built . Those of us that didn’t want
the apartments built --- we took the time
to attend meetings. Why are we not seeing what we are asking for reflected in
the Plan . We have seen no more than
a couple of people speak up for
greater density. Who are the
commissioners representing? Is
money talking louder than our voices?
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NO HIGHER HEIGHTS - ABINGTON HAS BEEN ABLE TO ENJOY SEEING THE SKY
because we have largely 2 or 3 story buildings maximum. We do not want 4 and 5
story buildings. We do not want to drive down the long dark hallways of brick.
Two or three-story maximum heights is sufficient in Abington and should
not go for long periods that are not broken up with green space and trees.
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MYTH
BUILDING UP TO THE CURB IS GOOD – NO IT’S NOT
NO BUILDINGS SHOULD BE BUILT UP TO THE CURB
the absurdity of increasing population and increasing traffic on our
thoroughfares while simultaneously requiring buildings to build right up to the
curb was complete insanity. Our comprehensive plan should seek to amend our
zoning ordinance by moving residences back from major thoroughfares such that
these thoroughfares can be expanded or turn lanes can be put in.
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MYTH
WE DO NOT NEED MORE TRAIN SERVICE - nearly everyone in
Abington is within a 5 or 10 minute drive of the train and currently without
hordes of people nearby there is nearly always a parking spot.
One or 2 of the train stations
may need to expand their parking a little
bit already .
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MYTH
THERE IS SO NO SUCH THING AS PEOPLE WITHOUT CARS.
People who do not own a car do not use a train every time they go
somewhere. They use an Uber or they are a passenger on the bus. If you bring in
more people there will be more buses on your roads. And more Uber’s So they are
still on our roads -- just in a different vehicle. The dream scene that has been
sold for years and years and years about making walkable areas where people
don’t need cars is really a myth. Those people rent cars, do ride shares, they
borrow cars, etc. In a pandemic they are in trouble. Trains are not safe. At
night trains are not safe. For senior citizens trains are not safe. Trains can
be dirty. We are a suburban town because we prefer our clean cars to dirty and
sometimes unsafe trains.
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MYTH -WALK ABILITY-
AID THE WALK ABILITY OF THOSE WHO ARE CURRENTLY HERE. Right into the
plan that those requesting aids to walk ability who are current residents will
have their needs met before new apartments and new walk ability is considered.
There are neighborhoods, for instance, near trains that do not have
sidewalks to get to the train .
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SAFETY
SAFETY
WE WANT TO
DRIVE UP TO THE AREAS WE PATRONIZE. We want to be near our cars and
in safe, open daylight conditions .
We do not
want parking garages
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SAFETY NO BUILDING
IN FLOODPLAINS SHOULD BE ALLOWED. Abington already has enough flood
problems that residents have had to be evacuated and some residents have lost
their lives from the flooding.
Wherever there have been incidents of flooding, these should be carefully
charted, and buildings in those areas should be provided with an overlay that
limits new construction, impervious surface and removal of
absorbing trees, shrubs and plants.
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FINANCES
GRANTS SHOULD ONLY BE ACCEPTED FOR SENSIBLE
BUILDING If
grants are offered to increased density beyond what the residents care to
increase, those grants should be off-limits in Abington Township. Abington is
the 10th most dense of over 2500 Pennsylvania communities. It does
not need to strive to be number one -the most dense in PA.
The Economic Development Corporation reflects an attempt by Abington to
make use of your money in the form of grants at an unlimited growth rate -- that
would expand the Township’s ability to get grant money by amounts that we have
not been allowed to examine yet
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SECTION 8 SHOULD NOT BE MAKING LUXURY APARTMENT OWNERS
WHOLE
by paying rents in buildings that are so expensive that the taxpayers are
burdened. Section 8 is important and necessary - but in order to help as many
people as possible, the units that are eligible for section 8 should not be the
highest price luxury units with swimming pools tennis courts and amenity
buildings. When that is the case fewer people can be helped. Another family may
get no help at all.
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ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS REPRESENT A COMPLETE
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
the way the comp plan is being
written , it is clear that it will be easy for the legislators to use their
vision to rezone properties for the
benefit of their own Economic Development Corporation. The Vacant
properties were thoroughly studied at taxpayer expense by a Committee who should
have recognized that they were that way simply because the Code Department was
not properly issueing notices of violation . Having studied these properties (
out of public view in recent months) they knew just what conditions to
write in to allow for the Text and Map Amendments to build what they imagine.
An ED Corp is
also
not recommended for sound financial planning.
Residents need to recognize that the money they seek to use is coming from
taxpayer pockets. In multiple ways . And it is the Comprehensive Plan that
will make the rezoning of these properties a piece of cake. Despite you funding
the corp - then funding the project, they will
not return profits to you but will give them to the next guy who
wants to do the same thing for his new corporation.
Theoretically they say you
will like what they built - but we haven't like a single proposal that the
Commissioners were in favor of yet - so why would that change
IF WE CAN'T TRUST THEIR PROJECTS TO BE IN OUR
INTEREST, WHY WOULD WE GIVE THEM CONTROL OVER THE WHOLE TOWNSHIP?
Nearly every project that the Commissioners
have decided that they liked, like the PREIT debacle, has been railed against by the residents...
especially those
impacted by it. Even this Comprehensive Plan was done by ignoring the
input of the resients for months and months and forging ahead with a plan
to increase density. So we do not have the sense that our Commissioners are hearing us.
To further that notion, the stated goal of the ED Corp
was to not have to abide by our laws like bidding laws, and to
divorce the Commissioners from the
opinion of the public If there were any profit derived, that profit would
NOT go back to the people of Abington who funded the projects at an amount
that would not even appear in a line on their budget to be protested.
How do you account for unlimited use of our personnel for one dollar.
Shouldn't that be illegal? Add the Township's ability to create "visions"
that essentially rewrites our zoning..... as we saw them try to do with
the Old York and Susquehanna property. They even considered eminent domain, to
take what they wanted. It is theoretically illegal for legislative body
to rezone a property to increase the value for the property owner. But who is
going to stop that? A resident with his personal attorney? The beneficiary of
the largesse certainly isn't. The ""vision" and the EDCorp are going to be
botha density and financial disaster for Abington
HOW DO WE GET THE THINGS WE WANT?
WHAT PROJECTS DO WE WANT DONE AND WHY AREN'T THEY IN
THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN? A measure should be installed that the Township can only
build when they have so and so many resident signatures that a project is
desirable as proposed. A Community Center or
Affordable Homes are the kinds of projects where we would welcome grant money
be sought. But not for projects
decided by some group of friends the Commissioners appointed.
The Community should decide what they want built and be overwhelmingly in favor of
it. Commissioners don't need an EDCorp. They can build, but they have to abide
by bidding laws. Our personnel
could not be bought for one dollar and their time should have to be charted
carefully and charged toward the project. Every penny should be accounted for
under the project name, as should be the case for all projects in Abington. The
manager would not be able to be CEO of a separate entity while already
being paid to work full-time as our manager, especially with so much in
disarray. He needs to learn how to properly find qualified , experienced
people to run departments that impact people's lives, how to post
documents on time, and how to legally set up a Conditional Use hearing ….even, perhaps, one day,
figuring out how to find someone to answer the phone
when residents call, or to make sure there is someone front and center in
the Township building to greet and help those who enter. When these basic
things are left undone, why would we want him taking his time to entertain the proliferation of developers that,
contrary to our wishes, will increase density. The Township had no problem building a $1.6 million single room with a
kitchen at Crestmont. I think we could probably solve the problem of the
exorbitant price if we increase transparency and get more eyeballs on
things like this. Remember the goal of the ED Corp was to distance
itself from the opinions of the public...... You don't increase transparency and
oversight in that way . Quite the opposite. I'm betting we could build
whatever we anted.... and if we increased transparency, it would go well.
The “vision”
that previously prevailed in the Comp Plan
needs to be revised to expressly limit overdevelopment and to provide transparency and
oversight in all that Abington Township does.
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TRANSPARENT OPERATIONS IN ALL DEVELOPMENT IS
URGENT.
No meetings should not be filmed and aired. It is such an
inexpensive way to provide oversight.
No requests for question-and-answer sessions should be ignored. Wherever
possible public responses should be posted so residents can see what their
fellow residents are saying…. And so on. Commissioners and staff should be
required in this vision to use all of the tools in their toolbox to the benefit
of the residents to understand and participate in the zoning and development
process process
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TRANSPARENT OPERATIONS INCLUDES
SHOWING ZOOM PARTICIPANTS AS WELL AS THE PUBLIC WHO IS IN THE ROOM
-
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POPULATION
FORECASTS - THE INCORRECT NUMBERS
WERE NEVER CORRECTED --
but they are also based on incorrect premises .
One of the factors was simply the number of units that the Township and
the County together would decide to approve that were above and beyond the use
by right on a given property . That’s a completely made up number. There is no
need to approve any such thing .
Population forecast numbers should only include 2 things : 1)
the number of units that someone could build by right because they have a
lot with those rights to do it
with an understanding that some of those have been undeveloped for decades and
there will not be any intention to develop them in this coming comprehensive
plan cycle and 2) the number of units that have already been approved - or are
currently in the pipeline for approval.
Neither of those incidences require us to build any units.
In number one, the owner will build them. We don’t have to In number 2,
they are already being built. So
there is no need to build any apartments
to accommodate any people.
Under the”magical migration theory” has exhibited on the TAZ map -
residents will migrate to where ever there are empty housing units that have
been built. So let’s let them migrate to some of the other townships until they
get to be the 10th most dense like we are.
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SURVEYS ARE
NOT A PREFERRED WAY OF GAUGING RESIDENT
PREFERENCES
. They are almost always skewed and have been manipulated to get the
answers desired, ie: eliminating the
option that is known to be most desired
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THERE IS NO
DEMAND FOR HIGH DENSITY HOUSING THAT WE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO.
The residents of this town, overwhelmingly prefer not to increase the density
and overwhelmingly want homes not apartments. They prefer to remain a
home-ownership focused Town which provides for stability, high maintenance,
lower vacancy rates and a more engaged community. The
population numbers provided showing people needing housing were
population poppycock - and verged on fraud. We need affordable housing. You
don't do that by taking affordable homes away.
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GREENSPACE - WE WANT MORE- APARTMENTS PROVIDE LESS
most homes in Abington are required to retain about 50% green space.
That provides health benefits such as reduction of pollution, stormwater
absorption, aesthetic pleasure, etc.
If you calculate out how much green space
per family or per person you get with either a single-family home or a 4
unit apartment building on the same property, you can easily see
a 4 unit apartment building
gives just one quarter of the health and quality of life benefits that green
space has to offer. We want more
green space.
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GREENSPACE GREENSPACE SHOULD NOT BE A BURDEN ON OWNER OCCUPIED HOMES.
Rental apartments and commercial establishments should do an equal share of
retaining green space, that cleans the air, filters and absorbs water, and
provides aesthetic enjoyment. Every single property owner should share equally.
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CORPORATE $$$/OUR VOICES
How dare developers come and write ordinances that are considered in the
wink of an eye instead of over months and many meetings .
How dare developers tell MY legislators what MY town should look like.
They are supposed to be representing me. I elected them . The developers did not
. When money becomes louder to my elected officials than my voice I’ll have a
lot more to worry about that apartments.
I’ll worry about but who's running
the health department, who's running my elections, who's running the emergency
management systems, who's overseeing the fire inspections , the inspections of
school buildings, etc. .
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CORPORATE $$$/OUR VOICES
owner-occupied homes, per the comprehensive plan itself, lead to better
maintenance and stability. That alone should dictate to our legislators the need
for more single-family owner-occupied units and as you corporate/landlord owned
units as possible. Besides
better maintenance and stability, homeownership provides families with
generational wealth, and provide senior citizens with a nested that helps with
their retirement. And always homeownership is a win-win an apartment ownership
is just a win for the developer. Some apartments are needed we already have
plenty of those
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MEDICAL HEALTH CARE
:
There is a nursing shortage we already don’t know how to fix . And over-crowded
hospitals and nursing shortages are already impacting our health and giving us 4
month waits for basic services or to see a Dr--- so MORE people will impact our health
care dramatically.. and would be irresponsible/
https://www.wesa.fm/health-science-tech/2023-05-22/pa-nurse-shortagae
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COUNTY
POLICIES
:
Montgomery County has one of the highest median property taxes in the United
States, and is ranked 76th of the
3143 counties in order of median
property taxes.The average yearly property tax paid by Montgomery County
residents amounts to about 4.17% of their yearly income. Because of it's very bad policies - which include letting developers everywhere and
to
build increasingly expensive "landlord owned/ corporate owned"
luxury units .........not affordable housing - and driving up costs so
the public has to subsidize "affordable units" for those making what should be
considered reasonable incomes but which no longer cover basic rent.
https://www.tax-rates.org/pennsylvania/montgomery_county_property_tax
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ABINGTON IS ALREADY THE 10TH MOST POPULATED CITY IN THE STATE
out of 2,568 cities
https://www.pennsylvania-demographics.com/abington-demographics
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PA IS LOSING RESIDENTS - WHY ARE WE
BUILDING MORE ?
They have been declining in population for years -
https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/opinion/2023/01/pas-population-loss-4th-highest-in-nation-the-reasons-why-and-the-solution-opinion.html#:~:text=The%20commonwealth%20has%20been%20losing,working%2Dage%20residents%20by%202025.