A year ago, the board overseeing redevelopment of the
former Willow Grove Naval Air Station set a goal: To break ground on the first
of about 1,500 new homes in early 2015.
That's not happening yet, and it probably won't until
next year.
"It's extremely frustrating. Extremely
frustrating," said William Whiteside, chairman of the Horsham Land
Redevelopment Agency and a Horsham Township councilman. "Every time we
turn around, there's some new delay from the Navy."
The project, which has moved in fits and starts since
2006, is largely stalled until the Navy completes its environmental impact
study, which was initially targeted for spring 2014.
The agency did take a major step forward at its meeting
Wednesday by selecting a master developer, California-based Catellus
Development Corp., to help negotiate the land purchase from the Navy.
But executive director Michael McGee advised the board
members that with the Navy's timeline "having slipped considerably,"
they should not begin negotiating prices for the 862-acre site until the
environmental survey (EIS) is complete.
"I'm told now the Navy is hopeful. Instead of
confident, they've underlined hopeful to have the EIS approved in the summer of
this year," he said.
The delay is in part due to chemical contaminants, known
as perfluorinated compounds, found in and around the former base.
The chemicals once were commonly used in firefighting
foams and haven't been used in years, but the Environmental Protection Agency
did not begin requiring local water agencies to test for the compounds until
last year. The Navy is now cleaning up the compounds where they exceed maximum
levels, including around the former military bases in Horsham and Warminster.
While the Navy has been tied up with remediation, the
redevelopment board spent about six months reviewing four master-developer
proposals.
Catellus, the firm that won by unanimous vote Wednesday,
has completed similar redevelopment projects on shuttered military bases in
California, Texas, and Illinois.
That experience, the board members said, will be crucial
as they plan to build a little bit of everything on the former military base:
1,486 residential units, an office park, a town center, a golf course, an
aviation museum, a middle school, a retirement community, a hotel and
conference center, stores, and a park.
A Navy report in December 2013 estimated that over 20
years, the redevelopment would generate $928 million in construction costs,
10,000 jobs, and $15.6 million a year in new tax revenue for Horsham Township.
Among the proposals Catellus beat out were partnerships
involving Toll Bros., the luxury home builder, founded in Horsham; Keystone
Properties, which has built several other mixed-use properties across
Montgomery County; and the Hankin Group, based in Chester County.
Curtis Griffin, a member of the redevelopment board and
superintendent of the Hatboro-Horsham School District, said all of the
proposals were strong, but Catellus stood out in its recruitment strategy.
"The master developer has to go out, not just to a
local Pennsylvania market, but a national, international market looking for
corporations, organizations, that would be interested in relocating to the
Horsham area," he said. "It's not just about the homes, it's about
the added value that the office parks and all of those elements bring."
Source: Philly.com
No comments:
Post a Comment