12-05-04
Letter to the Chadds Ford Post
Barbara Jones
As one whose family has been resident on Atwater Road for 50 years, I strongly endorse the general sentiments in Lana Sheer’s letter and would like to expand on another aspect of the situation.
The already announced speculative sub-divisions constitute a land area as large as the Battlefield Park. Other speculative sub-divisions are undoubtedly being “worked on” by developers, and there will certainly be more applications. What this represents is a massive destructive assault on the whole Atwater community. The issue is not the sub-divisions themselves; the issue is the developers’ barbaric plans. On the first of these speculative sub-divisions, which is currently under construction, 169 mature trees have been clear cut, to reduce construction costs, effectively denuding one parcel directly on the tree lined road. This has also contributed to the storm water pollution of the wet lands and streams referred to in Lana’s letter.
As a demonstration that our concern is not sub-division per se, I would point out that an area, somewhat larger than the current proposals, has been gradually sub-divided over the previous 20 years by individual homeowners selling privately and that this has resulted in relatively little friction.
Prior to this developer assault, there were about 35 households on the street with about 100 occupants. Simply restricting ourselves to announced divisions, guesstimates of the effects on population (assuming the five bedroom Mac Mansions described by one of the developers at one of the Planning Committee meetings) suggest a population increase of 75% (100 going to 175). This is only the beginning; there may well be enough additional land to triple the street population.
Our immediate concern is, of course, the destruction of the historic beauty of our street. This is primarily, but not exclusively, wanton destruction of mature trees to lower building costs (something that I believe could have been mitigated by the Supervisors even within the existing ludicrous Ordinances).
The longer range concerns are for the infra-structure.
The ground water situation on the street is already marginal.
The road surface is being steadily pitted with heavy equipment. There are currently several large pot holes, a gravel street churned up by the heavy construction equipment of one of the developers and large pools of standing water.
The road itself is narrow and twisting. It is already a traffic hazard. With a 75 – 200% increase in population, and the introduction of significant numbers of additional teenagers, the highest risk group, more accidents are all but inevitable. Traversing the steep gradient of the street during inclement weather is quite hazardous.
Wetlands and streams are being polluted (I believe in contravention of Federal and State regulations).
I do not know if any wells have been contaminated yet, but it is only a matter of time.
The aquifers in the area are under greater and greater stress – again it is only a matter of time before more wells start running dry – one already has.
While we appreciate the considerable time and effort the individuals serving on the Planning Commission spend on our behalf, their efforts have sent Chadds Ford well on its way to becoming a treeless strip mall a la Route 202.
Concerned citizens must step forward and take the necessary steps to have our voices heard and our opinions reflected in the decisions of our local representatives.