The following letter, regarding the proposed Patton Crossing development at the site of the former Penn State Mobile Home Park on North Atherton Street, was originally sent on March 26 from Lance Shaner, CEO of Shaner Group, to the Patton Township Board of Supervisors, manager, planning commission and staff.
Please be advised that we remain opposed to the Patton Crossing project as currently presented. We hereby incorporate by reference all the substantive legal grounds together with all public policy questions that have been previously articulated and put on the record in opposition to this highly dense project of a proposed eight-story hotel and other high-density buildings.
Once again, the Patton Crossing developer is seeking a piece-meal, self-serving rewrite of the Patton Township ordinances in the same vein as previously witnessed in The Station development, which clear cut a 70-year-old forest that devastated the market value of the adjoining homes on Deans Way. In short, private interests are prevailing over the public interest. Public officials are favoring certain private rights in contravention of legal, moral and ethical codes. The long-term interests of the public in maintaining and preserving the quality and character of our community are being trampled by the greed and underlying nefarious methods of development.
We have no interest in taking an adversarial position to the public body within which we own four hotels, employ hundreds of people and count numerous family members, employees and friends among the residents therein. However, I feel compelled to oppose the pattern of land development approval that has permeated the Township processes.
Similar to the misguided development of The Station, the Patton Crossing development is employing methods that amend codes without heed to legal and moral bounds in the name of progress, yet the central interest promoted thereby is of a private, money-making nature. Comparisons to The Station are inescapable, namely, the destruction of trees, failure to abide by stormwater restrictions, damage to adjoining lands of others, all for the benefit of a private developer. In the case of The Station, a private developer was granted every accommodation and then the original developer immediately sold the property to an out-of-state company.
If it is our public officials’ position that the laws and ordinances do not allow for them to oppose or restrict Patton Crossing or the Toftrees Master Plan, then this is an indictment of those laws and ordinances. The time has come for the complete re-examination, reformation and adoption of laws and codes that truly protect the public interest in Patton Township. We are prepared to employ our Commonwealth’s finest zoning and municipal ordinance experts to undertake such an examination and reformation and present to our elected officials for further review and discussion. We are ready and willing to underwrite such a project with 100 percent public input and 100 percent public transparency.
Our company and our employees that live in Toftrees and Park Forest do not want to see more of the destruction of the pristine forested areas that we saw happen on 30 acres in Toftrees at The Station. We would encourage those who have the same concerns to view well-built, aesthetically-pleasing structures limited to four stories or less to visit Williamsburg Square, Kish Bank headquarters, Wegmans and other well-thought-out, historic-looking buildings that are a credit to Patton Township. Our company employs two full-time Penn State graduates from the landscape architecture and agronomy school to oversee our staff of grounds caretakers who are entirely devoted to the maintenance and constant improvement of our grounds. At Williamsburg Square and Toftrees Resort, our plantings are specifically designed to add beauty.
All four of my hotels in Patton Township are four stories and 50 feet or less in height, and all were built to add to the beauty, history and scale of other properties in Patton Township.
In closing, Patton Township must re-examine its role and obligation in representing the public’s interests. The community has lost faith and confidence in your ability and/or willingness to enforce its laws in support of the public good. The time has come to restore such faith and confidence.
The Shaner Companies, Employees & Friends living in Toftrees and Park Forest
Lance T. Shaner
CEO
