Politics & Government

Neighbors Mobilizing Against Mobile Home Park

Residents of the Newtown Walk community are banding together to stop the proposal and Headly's board is hosting local officials tonight to discuss the project.

Residents near the Newtown Swim Club, where a 56-pad mobile home park has been proposed, are banding together in an attempt to stop the project from moving forward. 

In a letter distributed to homeowners of the Newtown Walk community, residents of that neighborhood say they plan to form a "non affiliated political action committee" and “use our clout to stop senseless developments which can destroy property values.”

Swim Club owner David Platt is working with County Builders to create a residential development on the 16.6-acre property on Newtown-Yardley Road once the club closes after this summer.  

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The application for a mobile home park was submitted after the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors shot down a plan for townhomes because it exceeded the housing density permitted in that zoning district.

“It is our feeling in the community that a mobile home site will negatively impact property values,” the Newtown Walk letter states. "Ask yourself if you would pay for a premium carriage home if you knew there was a trailer park located less than one minute drive away?"

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And it’s not just Newtown Walk residents that are expressing an interest in what replaces the pools and decking at the Newtown Swim Club.

The Headly Trace board is hosting members of the township Board of Supervisors tonight to discuss the mobile home park. Headly abuts the Newtown Swim Club and the mobile home park could be as close as 30 feet from that community. 

Platt and County Builders representatives came before the township Board of Supervisors in November with a plan for 52 townhomes. Because the property is zoned for single-family housing, a variance is needed to construct higher density townhomes.

The supervisors, by a 3-2 vote, decided to oppose the variance and send its solicitor before the Zoning Hearing Board’s review of the application. That vote enraged County Builders President Mike Meister, who threatened that as a result, he would bring the mobile home park proposal to fruition.

A mobile home park is a permitted use for that property under the current township zoning.

The mobile home park plans will come before the township’s Planning Commission later this month or early next month, Board of Supervisors chairman Mike Gallagher told Patch last week. 

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