Residents give Tredyffrin Supervisors a standing ovation Tuesday night following their unanimous approval of an ordinance that allows the township to condemn former swim club land in Chesterbrook.
Looks like Tredyffrin will get its first pocket pickleball park – but don’t be jumping up and down just yet, pickle ballers.
This project’s going to take a while – years, perhaps.
And it won’t come cheap.
But it does eradicate a five-acre eyesore while it creates new public recreational space in one of Chesterbrook’s densest neighborhoods.
At a packed public hearing Tuesday night – the outcome of which never seemed in doubt – supervisors voted unanimously to pass an ordinance authorizing the township to seize by eminent domain the former Picket Post swim-and-racquet facility on Chase Road in Chesterbrook.
Tuesday’s decision means the township can now buy the former Picket Post property – a hostile takeover, if you will – from its current owner, developer Dave Ludin (aka Finery LLC).
Ludin bought the tract from the financially-strapped swim club seven years ago for more than $1.2 million, banking on a zoning change that would allow him to build dozens of townhouses. The site has been zoned “Rural Conservation” – no multi-family development allowed – since Chesterbrook was meticulously planned back in the ’70s.
So far, the developer’s big bet has been a big bust.
After the township denied his petition for a zoning change, he filed a court appeal – cha-ching – which is still pending.
Meanwhile, his abandoned parcel grows more ramshackle by the day. When the roof of the property’s dilapidated barn – where Ludin had hoped to put a few upscale condos – started collapsing, he had to pay to have the entire barn demolished.
Kids are reportedly sneaking in to play ball and the pool has yet to be drained, presenting a possible drowning hazard.
“We have to do something now. We do not need another tragedy, another drowning in this township,” implored Chesterbrook mom Judy Diclementi at the hearing, referring to the drowning death of a toddler in Wilson Farm Park last September.
The current state of the former Chase Rd. pool, tennis and pickleball courts, and the remnants of thedilapidated circa-1890 barn the developer razed in late 2023.
Despite the setbacks, it doesn’t appear Ludin will throw in the towel anytime soon.
At the start of Tuesday’s hearing, his new attorney, Brian Nagle, introduced a compromise plan: Ludin would be willing to build 28 instead of 40 townhomes and restrict them to people ages 55 and up. Nagle emphasized that the compromise plan turns the site from an pricey taxpayer burden to a potential revenue boon, one that wouldn’t burden TESD schools.
Curiously, after Nagle’s presentation and before public comment even began, almost every supervisor announced that he or she would be voting in favor of the condemnation. We say “curious” because in our experience, elected officials don’t tip their hands at public hearings until after residents weigh in.
More than an hour into the hearing, the public comment portion began and a parade of Chesterbrook residents – many holding “YES” signs – lined up to speak in support of the seizure.
Chesterbrook Civic Association President Joanna Fisher was the first of many residents to speak in support of the ordinance.
Most talked about the need to maintain the site’s original “Rural Conservation” zoning, which keeps an already dense, highly trafficked part of Chesterbrook from becoming even denser.
Some rued the property’s ongoing blight and said they looked forward to a pocket park within easy walking distance of their homes.
Some claimed they wouldn’t even mind the pop-pop-pop of pickleball – unlike Easttown neighbors who’ve battled the Upper Main Line YMCA over pickleball noise for months.
And a few speakers urged the township to drive a hard bargain.
“The developer took a risk and if he loses his shirt, that’s just a risk developers take,” said Chesterbrook resident Arthur Zadrozny.
Only a handful challenged the township condemnation’s plan, focusing on its murky price tag and uncertain timetable.
Doubters questioned the need to spend what could be millions of taxpayer dollars to provide pickleball at the Chase Road site when the township could spend about $300,000 to install courts at neighboring Wilson Farm Park.
“Wilson Farm Park is more accessible for all residents of the township and would be a fraction of the cost,” said Mike Heaberg (below), a former Tredyffrin supervisor and current Chester County Planning Commission board member. Heaberg urged further discussion of the developer’s compromise plan before “initiating an expensive, unpredictable eminent domain process.”
The ultimate price tag for what will be Tredyffrin’s 14th park is anyone’s guess.
Under eminent domain rules, the developer must get fair market value for his property. If the two sides can’t agree on a price, the tract’s fair market value will be decided in court.
The only cost figure supervisors are currently sharing is an estimated $250,000 to $300,000 to drain and fill the pool, restore the club’s six pickleball and four tennis courts, and clean up the restrooms.
But the final price tag will be substantially higher – somewhere in seven figures, maybe $2M or $3M or even more.
Supervisors won’t reveal what the township is willing to pay for the property because it would be “bad business” to reveal financials of a deal that’s “probably going to end up in litigation,” said Tredyffrin Board of Supervisors Chair David Miller at the hearing. The township will dip into its $18.2 million general reserve fund and apply for grants to pay for the project, Miller said.
Tredyffrin last exercised eminent domain in 1996 to acquire land for Wilson Farm Park, a battle that took three years to resolve in court.
there is wilson farm park in walking distance…. who is calling the shots in TE ?
This decision was driven – and approved – entirely by the Tredyffrin Board of Supervisors.