Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Upper Darby<\/a> will consider buying a 15-acre forested property at the heart of a conservation fight after dozens of residents packed a public meeting and demanded the township look into purchasing options before rezoning the parcel for mixed-use development.<\/p>\n The Upper Darby Township Council on Wednesday considered moving forward an ordinance to create a mixed-use zoning district on a tract of land between State and Township Line Roads. The tract, known by residents as the Mozino Forest, contains unmaintained forest. Though the land is private property \u2014 owned by Peter Mozino and under contract to be sold to the Rockwell Development Group \u2014 residents have long utilized it as a place to walk, hike, and commune with nature. <\/p>\n Rockwell Development Group has proposed developing the property with a blend of single-family homes, townhouses, apartments, and ground-floor commercial spaces, as well as dedicated community and recreation spots and pedestrian walkways. <\/p>\n Rita LaRue, Upper Darby\u2019s director of community and economic development, said Rockwell originally came to the township with a plan to build 56 single-family homes on the site, a proposal that would be allowed under the site\u2019s existing zoning and would not require special zoning approvals. The township then asked Rockwell to consider an alternative, higher-density plan that would combine diverse housing types, retail, and community amenities, LaRue said. Over several months, Rockwell worked with the township\u2019s solicitor, engineer, and planning staff to bring the mixed-use zoning ordinance. <\/p>\n Upper Darby officials have said putting a denser, mixed-use development on the tract, rather than the 56 single-family homes, would help fulfill core township goals by bringing in more tax revenue and adding diverse housing options. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are very committed to having a mixed-use space that is not simply, you know, brick and mortar. We want it to be a place that adds to community life for everybody in Upper Darby,\u201d LaRue said. <\/p>\n At the meeting, Rockwell president Greg Lingo touted his Upper Darby bona fides, telling the crowd he was not the ill-intentioned, outside developer he had been portrayed as. The developer said he graduated from Upper Darby High School, is a taxpayer in the township, and has invested significantly in the Drexel Hill<\/a> neighborhood over the years. <\/p>\n Lingo said that while he understands residents\u2019 concerns about preserving green space, the land is private property and could be developed into a residential neighborhood regardless of whether the zoning amendment is passed. <\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t necessarily a decision between open space and a future mixed-use development,\u201d Lingo said. \u201cThis property is not open space. I\u2019m pleased to hear that people have just been using it as open space over the years. It\u2019s private property. It\u2019s property that\u2019s been neglected for as long as I can remember.\u201d<\/p>\n Lingo said he would be willing to sell the property if the township wanted to purchase it, but added that as a taxpayer, he does not \u201cthink that that\u2019s a great use.\u201d Lingo approximated the cost of the land at $8 million. <\/p>\n There were 15 proposals to purchase the property, none of which involved maintaining it as open, green space, planning commission member Debbie Nifong said at a June 8 meeting. <\/p>\n The planning commission voted 3-2 to recommend approval of the zoning change in June. <\/p>\n At the Wednesday night council meeting, residents packed the council chambers, donning green shirts and spilling out into the hallway in protest of the proposed zoning change. They described tranquil walks through the Mozino Forest and warned of environmental consequences if the land were to be developed. <\/p>\n \u201cI believe that having some open space, it\u2019s future gold in terms of urban planning,\u201d said Dolores Lombardi, a resident and former chair of the township\u2019s shade tree commission. \u201cMany cities are preserving open space, and creating more. An overdeveloped heat zone is not an attractive place to live in.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe whole forest is a natural sponge for our area. There will be severe downstream flooding,\u201d said resident Gail Grant, who warned of increased stormwater runoff should the green parcel be paved. <\/p>\n Residents questioned why the forested tract should be developed when the township has numerous vacant storefronts and existing corridors in need of redevelopment. <\/p>\n Members of the township\u2019s environmental advisory committee urged the council to strike down or table the zoning ordinance and said that, if given more time, they could put together a proposal for the township to purchase the land with supporting funds from local conservancies or state or federal bodies. <\/p>\n They cited the $13 million purchase of the Oakwell estate in Villanova<\/a> by the conservation nonprofit Natural Lands and the Wyncote<\/a> Foundation. The lush estate was once slated to become athletic fields for the Lower Merion<\/a> School District but was sold to the nonprofits after significant community pushback. <\/p>\n The council voted unanimously to table the ordinance, citing a need for more information from both Lingo and the environmental advocates. <\/p>\n \u201cI know the administration wants to look into seeing what sources we have available to see if we can come to some type of agreement,\u201d council member Kyle McIntyre said. <\/p>\n McIntyre said he did not want to \u201cget everyone\u2019s hopes up\u201d and described \u201ctwo trains running parallel to each other.\u201d While the township will \u201cdo everything in our power to possibly strike a deal\u201d to buy the land, McIntyre said, he expressed a desire to work with Lingo to \u201cmake sure that what we\u2019re building for this community actually does benefit it\u201d if a sale does not happen. <\/p>\n \u201cWe did learn a lot of things tonight, and I\u2019m eager to have those conversations with the township and see where we fit in and what we can do, so that we can make a decision that\u2019s good for everybody,\u201d Upper Darby Mayor Ed Brown said. <\/p>\n This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer\u2019s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com\/donate<\/a>. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org\/supporters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min Upper Darby will consider buying a 15-acre forested property at the heart of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[147,149,148,150,111850],"class_list":["post-264850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township","tag-upper-darby-mozino-forest-zoning-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}