Our group has not heard about any revised plans for the CCRC proposal to be located on West Bridge Street. We will continue to attend the township meetings and inform you about any new or future development at this site. Thank you for your support.
EVRACCRC
Friday, August 22, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
2008 CCRC Proposal for 1241 W Bridge Street Rural Conservation Site
At the June 17th meeting of the planning commission, residents of East Vincent learned about the 2008 Continuing Care Retirement Community proposal for 1241 W Bridge Street which is located in the Rural Conservation District. We recorded the meeting for accuracy.
The property sits on almost 90.7 acres of land, some of which consists of wetlands and the STONY RUN CREEK/WATERSHED.
The proposed CCRC is larger than last year’s version and will consist of the following:
· 1026 Parking Spaces (not including cottages)
· Independent:
o 375 Flats
o 204 Cottages
o 96 Villas
· 125 Assisted Living Units
· 75 Skilled Nursing Units
Over 1000 new residents… All buildings will meet the 35 feet height requirement. The Flats, Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing facilities will be 3 stories tall. The Cottages and Villas will be 35 feet tall. The cottages will be on average about 1500 square feet. The main entrance will include a guard station and will be located on West Bridge Street. An emergency access road will be located on Ellis Woods Road. Some of the parking will include sub-surface parking areas. Open space was reduced greatly due to the decrease in building height. It appears that a large wooded area will be removed. Currently, 2 historic homes exist on the property, based on the proposed plan that was shown to the public on June 17th, both historic sites would be removed.
The current owner of the property, Mr Paul Bucco, is seeking a rezoning of this piece of land in order to accommodate the building of the CCRC. It is unknown to the residents who the actual developer or owner of the CCRC will be since Mr Bucco’s intentions are to sell or “flip” the property to a CCRC developer. We do not know whether the ultimate owner will have non-profit status.
During the session, no studies were presented by Mr Bucco or Mr Grafton for the project such as traffic impact studies, updated fiscal impact study for the larger complex, market analysis, ratio of staff to resident, etc. Mr Grafton spoke on Mr Bucco’s behalf and presented the proposal to the commission. Mr Grafton serves as East Coventry’s Township Planner. Mr Grafton stated that the facility would help to employ residents of East Vincent, but later remarked about “busing” in the housekeeping and food preparation staff. He also stated that the facility was needed for East Vincent residents, but then commented about the trend of placing elderly parents closer to their children which means that some of the residents could likely be from outside of our township. Mr Grafton also mentioned that many residents bring their vehicles only to abandon them on the property.
EVRACCRC are concerned about the environmental impact that a facility of this size and scope will have on the STONY RUN CREEK/WATERSHED, various wetlands and animal inhabitants such as Bog Turtles, etc. Another concern is about the cost for our elderly to afford entrance into such a facility. In order to meet the financial requirements of being a resident of a CCRC, the applicant will undergo a financial review. Some CCRC’s may charge for this review. Mr Grafton remarked that the entrance fee is “RELATIVELY EXPENSIVE.” He stated that in Chester County, the entrance fee ranged from $200,000 - $800,000 and would include a monthly maintenance fee with no exact figure clearly stated. As resident needs and services provided increase, so would the monthly fee. In other words, as a resident moved from the cottage and villas to the flats, assisted living and skilled nursing, the monthly fee would increase for those services. In our research for Chester County, the monthly fees range from slightly over $1,000 – almost $6,000 per month for assisted living. Comparatively, for independent living in Chester County, the monthly fees range from over $600 – over $5,000 per month. This research can be found in the Guide to Retirement Living Source Book, Winter 2007 edition. Mr Grafton also remarked that the average age of an individual in this CCRC would be in their 80’s.
Besides the obvious concerns that we have about the traffic, noise, lights, water, & sewer, we are also concerned about the over saturation of such facilities in Pennsylvania. We are concerned about what will happen to this facility in the future when the number of elderly in the country and Pennsylvania decreases and there are not enough residents to fill these units as there are currently in the baby boom era. Will there be abandoned buildings and cars on the property when the need for CCRC’s decline in coming years?
The members of EVRACCRC have many questions that remain unanswered.
The property sits on almost 90.7 acres of land, some of which consists of wetlands and the STONY RUN CREEK/WATERSHED.
The proposed CCRC is larger than last year’s version and will consist of the following:
· 1026 Parking Spaces (not including cottages)
· Independent:
o 375 Flats
o 204 Cottages
o 96 Villas
· 125 Assisted Living Units
· 75 Skilled Nursing Units
Over 1000 new residents… All buildings will meet the 35 feet height requirement. The Flats, Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing facilities will be 3 stories tall. The Cottages and Villas will be 35 feet tall. The cottages will be on average about 1500 square feet. The main entrance will include a guard station and will be located on West Bridge Street. An emergency access road will be located on Ellis Woods Road. Some of the parking will include sub-surface parking areas. Open space was reduced greatly due to the decrease in building height. It appears that a large wooded area will be removed. Currently, 2 historic homes exist on the property, based on the proposed plan that was shown to the public on June 17th, both historic sites would be removed.
The current owner of the property, Mr Paul Bucco, is seeking a rezoning of this piece of land in order to accommodate the building of the CCRC. It is unknown to the residents who the actual developer or owner of the CCRC will be since Mr Bucco’s intentions are to sell or “flip” the property to a CCRC developer. We do not know whether the ultimate owner will have non-profit status.
During the session, no studies were presented by Mr Bucco or Mr Grafton for the project such as traffic impact studies, updated fiscal impact study for the larger complex, market analysis, ratio of staff to resident, etc. Mr Grafton spoke on Mr Bucco’s behalf and presented the proposal to the commission. Mr Grafton serves as East Coventry’s Township Planner. Mr Grafton stated that the facility would help to employ residents of East Vincent, but later remarked about “busing” in the housekeeping and food preparation staff. He also stated that the facility was needed for East Vincent residents, but then commented about the trend of placing elderly parents closer to their children which means that some of the residents could likely be from outside of our township. Mr Grafton also mentioned that many residents bring their vehicles only to abandon them on the property.
EVRACCRC are concerned about the environmental impact that a facility of this size and scope will have on the STONY RUN CREEK/WATERSHED, various wetlands and animal inhabitants such as Bog Turtles, etc. Another concern is about the cost for our elderly to afford entrance into such a facility. In order to meet the financial requirements of being a resident of a CCRC, the applicant will undergo a financial review. Some CCRC’s may charge for this review. Mr Grafton remarked that the entrance fee is “RELATIVELY EXPENSIVE.” He stated that in Chester County, the entrance fee ranged from $200,000 - $800,000 and would include a monthly maintenance fee with no exact figure clearly stated. As resident needs and services provided increase, so would the monthly fee. In other words, as a resident moved from the cottage and villas to the flats, assisted living and skilled nursing, the monthly fee would increase for those services. In our research for Chester County, the monthly fees range from slightly over $1,000 – almost $6,000 per month for assisted living. Comparatively, for independent living in Chester County, the monthly fees range from over $600 – over $5,000 per month. This research can be found in the Guide to Retirement Living Source Book, Winter 2007 edition. Mr Grafton also remarked that the average age of an individual in this CCRC would be in their 80’s.
Besides the obvious concerns that we have about the traffic, noise, lights, water, & sewer, we are also concerned about the over saturation of such facilities in Pennsylvania. We are concerned about what will happen to this facility in the future when the number of elderly in the country and Pennsylvania decreases and there are not enough residents to fill these units as there are currently in the baby boom era. Will there be abandoned buildings and cars on the property when the need for CCRC’s decline in coming years?
The members of EVRACCRC have many questions that remain unanswered.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) Proposal Resurfaces
East Vincent Township has allowed Paul Bucco to present a proposal to the planning commission scheduled for June 17th at 7:00 pm. As before, we believe that most of the residents of this township are against a CCRC on West Bridge Street along with all the possibilities of future commercialization of that street which could occur should this type of proposal be allowed. This most recent proposal is actually larger in size than the previous one.
Please see recent Mercury Newspaper Article concerning this issue:
http://www.pottsmerc.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/Daily;jsessionid=PgYtL7vBL0xJBW12Lz8Kfy218cDW23DjK24fTWzkKwZ51rgbv1TL!819070101?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.pgpath=%2FPTM%2FHome&r21.content=%2FPTM%2FHome%2FTopStoryList_Story_2103401
We are asking for your help by attending the next Board of Supervisors Meeting on June 4th at 7:30 pm to raise your concerns about this proposal and how it will affect our rural residential community. The proposal will be presented at the next Planning Commission Meeting on June 17th at 7 pm. Your attendance at this meeting is very important. We are also hoping that you may want to help join our efforts by becoming part of our group of citizens against such development in our area by contacting us directly via email. Team members will discuss strategy, become more educated about the ramifications of a CCRC in our community, options for the land, etc. Please consider becoming more involved in our community. If interested, please contact us via email at evagainstccrc@comcast.net
Many of us, when we bought our homes on or near West Bridge Street or elsewhere in East Vincent Township, could not have envisioned such large scale development near us. I’m sure that we all expected residential homes…not CCRC’s, Malls, or commercialization. Nor did we expect the traffic from the staffing requirement of a CCRC and it’s residents. Local streets will probably be impacted as well by the traffic in order for workers to find short cuts to the location. So, we are sure that Stony Run, Bethel Church, Reitnoir, and others will see increased traffic.
Please see recent Mercury Newspaper Article concerning this issue:
http://www.pottsmerc.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/Daily;jsessionid=PgYtL7vBL0xJBW12Lz8Kfy218cDW23DjK24fTWzkKwZ51rgbv1TL!819070101?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.pgpath=%2FPTM%2FHome&r21.content=%2FPTM%2FHome%2FTopStoryList_Story_2103401
We are asking for your help by attending the next Board of Supervisors Meeting on June 4th at 7:30 pm to raise your concerns about this proposal and how it will affect our rural residential community. The proposal will be presented at the next Planning Commission Meeting on June 17th at 7 pm. Your attendance at this meeting is very important. We are also hoping that you may want to help join our efforts by becoming part of our group of citizens against such development in our area by contacting us directly via email. Team members will discuss strategy, become more educated about the ramifications of a CCRC in our community, options for the land, etc. Please consider becoming more involved in our community. If interested, please contact us via email at evagainstccrc@comcast.net
Many of us, when we bought our homes on or near West Bridge Street or elsewhere in East Vincent Township, could not have envisioned such large scale development near us. I’m sure that we all expected residential homes…not CCRC’s, Malls, or commercialization. Nor did we expect the traffic from the staffing requirement of a CCRC and it’s residents. Local streets will probably be impacted as well by the traffic in order for workers to find short cuts to the location. So, we are sure that Stony Run, Bethel Church, Reitnoir, and others will see increased traffic.
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