Supervisors Vote Down Langhorne Farm Development Plan (ICYMI)

MIDDLETOWN, PA — Supervisors in Middletown Township on Monday voted down plans that would develop a farm in Langhorne into a subdivision with 121 homes on it.

The preliminary subdivision and land development plan is for Stone Meadows Farm, a 168-acre property on Fulling Mill Road neighboring Core Creek Park and near St. Mary Medical Center.
The board shot down the plans unanimously, in a 5-0 vote, prompting cheers from the crowd on hand.

"Metropolitan came to our meeting with a plan that had too many questions unanswered and not complete," supervisors Chairman Tom Tosti told Patch. "They were in front of our planning commission nine times and could not get approval from them on any occasion. They asked us last night to give them guidance and I told them it was not our responsibility to guide them. They should have a plan to present that met the requirements of the township."

An attorney for Metropolitan Development Group, which is pushing the development proposal, did not immediately reply to a message from Patch seeking comment Tuesday morning.

Stone Meadows Farm, once a dairy and cattle farm, has grown corn and soybeans for the past 25 years. It was home to the Stone family for three generations.

During the course of discussions that have gone on for the past few years, Middletown planners have posed dozens of questions and concerns to the development group, many of them centering on impact to traffic in the busy Newtown-Langhorne Road area.

"I don't know about you, but as we left the meeting all we could feel is grateful," the group Save Stone Meadows Farm posted on Facebooklate Monday. "Grateful that the supervisors denied this plan that doesn't make sense for our community. Grateful for every single person who came out tonight in the cold and rain and those who stood the entire meeting. Grateful for the momentum we continue to build."

Monday's vote does not necessarily mean that the development plan is dead. It has been bandied back and forth for several years now in Middletown, with developers making changes to the plan based on feedback from township planners and supervisors.

Middletown Planning and Zoning director Pat Duffy said recently that, to date, there have been nine reviews of plans for the site, all of which have drawn opposition from residents.