NOTES FROM THE 11-02-00 TREDYFFRIN PLANNING
COMMISSION MEETING - BOB O'LEARY - GVA PLANNING COMMITTEE
This meeting was WELL attended by residents and filled the room - I would
say about 70 people. Two major items were on the agenda - Trammell Crow and the
Wilson Tract Park - but the majority of the group left at the end of the
Trammell Crow portion. The review and question period took about 2 hours so
I will try to summarize the major points made.
Trammell Crow Project --
-- When completed, will consist of 15 Bldgs, 4 of which are in Tredyffrin.
Total of 2.5 mil sq. ft. of office space with potential for 8 - 10,000
employees.
-- Phase I plan is for 500,000 sq. ft of space to be ready March 2002 and
will be with buildings on north side of project, adjacent to Yellow
Springs Rd.
-- Many improvements to Rt. 29 will be finished before the first occupancy,
but the final work is timed with the later phases.
-- Projected build out would be 10 - 15 years.
-- Turnpike will widen the Rt 29 bridge with compl. projected for late
2002, independent of proposed slip ramp project.
-- Additional improvements on Rt. 29 north of Yellow Springs and other
local E. Whiteland roads is funded by another developer - the Jack Lowe project -
I don't know what that project entails.
-- Buffering work adjacent to St. Peter's Church has been completed and
adjacent office buildings there are the last planned.
-- Yellow Springs Rd. entrance is in final design stage and is for
Eastbound entrance and Westbound exit only. Location is about 300' east of current
road into Quarry property and East of the Kennel.
-- This entrance is required to assure better traffic flow on Rt. 29 - it
is felt if Rt. 29 does not flow properly it will encourage drivers to continue
to find alternate side roads to use as they are doing now.
-- Traffic consultant presented study figures that indicate currently 213
cars/hr. at peak AM East of Church Rd. and 355 cars/hr. in PM. This will
increase essentially because of general growth in adjacent E. Whiteland
whichwe cannot control. They estimate only 3% of new office park traffic will
added east of Church Rd. -- Traffic consultant did not study effect of proposed slip ramp and
improved Rt. 29 as to potential reduction of traffic on Yellow Springs.
-- No utility construction work will be required along Yellow Springs to
feed the project.
-- Construction vehicles are projected to use "Construction Entrance" on
Rt.29 only.
-- Developer seems tuned into residents concerns about the historical and
rural nature of this road and are willing to help us and Township mitigate
the problems.
-- Chairman May commented that -
- traffic will continue to be a problem in this area mainly because of
development outside the control of Tredyffrin
- one possibility is to take back control of Yellow Springs from the
State. This would allow easier application of "traffic calming" additions
such as stop signs, speed bumps, etc.
- the Township is looking for additional ideas and suggestions.
S & S Development - 1520 Yellow Springs Rd. -
Approval was given to preliminary plan to subdivide 19 acres into 6 lots
for construction of 5 new homes, as long as split rail fencing is used to
separate the "common ground" from private lots.
Wilson Tract Park -
While not in our direct area of concern, I'm sure many of our residents
will be using this facility. The review of this project and the comments from
adjacent Chesterbrook owners are -
-- $8.5 mil project spread over multiple years. Initial construction to
begin Spring 2001.
-- Will include 3 miles of multiple use trails.
-- Residents concerned about noise from activities, possible future
lighting of some fields and use of portable sound systems.
-- Concession stand will be for volunteer uses only.
-- Design of buildings is "Chester County farm" look