Supervisors will consider whether to grant developer's request to demolish historic farmhouse at Villas at Newtown

By D.E. Schlatter 21st Century Media

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIPThe board of supervisors heatedly debated the request by the Villas at Newtown for a demolition permit to raze a historic wooden farmhouse on the property located at the entrance to the development at Upper Silver Lake Road and Penns Trail North.

The issue was not part of the Sept. 10 supervisors agenda and is expected to be formally discussed in detail at the boards Sept. 23 meeting.

The Newtown Township-based McGrath Homes, which is now developing the property under a court-supervised agreement reached with the township, no longer wants to preserve the farmhouse, as previously stipulated.

As a result, the developer had asked the Newtown Area Joint Historic Commission (NAJHC) to recommend that the structure be demolished.

The commission is responsible for the protection and preservation of historically and/or architecturally significant structures in Newtown Township and Newtown Borough, and makes recommendations to elected officials in both municipalities on whether historic structures should be saved.

It also reviews demolition applications.

In July, the NAJHC unanimously denied McGrath Homes request to tear down the farmhouse.

The desire to save the structure has prompted commission member Bill Mahler to implore the township supervisors not to grant the demolition permit.

Speaking during the public comment section of the Sept. 10 supervisors' meeting, Mahler, who also chairs the townships Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB), claimed that the unoccupied three-story farmhouse has considerable historic value.

Read the original here:
Supervisors will consider whether to grant developer's request to demolish historic farmhouse at Villas at Newtown