Bensalem approves controversial townhouses

For nearly four hours Monday night, a debate roiled in Bucks County over the potential impact of a 175-townhouse development on the small, historic community of Lin-Park next door.

Several dozen residents warned of traffic nightmares, drainage problems - indeed, the ruination of their peaceful neighborhood.

But in the end, the Bensalem Township Council voted, 3-2, to allow the project. It will rise at the edge of Lin-Park, whose roots were set in the 1920s when a white farmer put aside land for blacks to build homes outside the city.

"The property owner has a right to develop the property," said Councilman Tony Belfield, who voted in favor of the plan along with Councilman Joseph Pilieri and Council President Joseph Szafran.

Frederick D. James Jr., president of the Lin-Park Civic Association, said he was disappointed - but not surprised. The two members who opposed it, Ed Kisselback and Joseph Knowles, are up for reelection this year, he noted.

"It went along the way the lines usually happen," James said after the late-night vote by the all-Republican Council.

The Rev. Gregory Holston, senior pastor at St. Matthew United Methodist Church in Lin-Park, told the council its decision would ignite the passions of a new generation of activists.

"They will remember in November," Holston said, to residents' applause. "And it's not going to be just this year."

The development by Somerton Valley Homes, to be built by K. Hovnanian, will occupy about 45 acres along Poquessing Creek near Somerton Road and Carters Mill Road, just off Street Road and Old Lincoln Highway.

More than half of the land will be open space. The township and the state have approved two roads that cross wetlands to reach the development.

Lin-Park is an amalgam of two historic communities. The first, Linconia, was founded in 1923 by Frank K. Brown, a Neshaminy Falls farmer who saw the need for blacks to own land in the countryside. The other, Concord Park, was created in the 1950s by builder and civil-rights activist Morris Milgram, who envisioned an integrated neighborhood of black and white homeowners.

In recent years, Lin-Park's diversity has grown with an infusion of other ethnicities, including Indian and Asian.

Residents say they preferred Somerton Valley's first plan: 74 single homes, which would have been a better fit with their neighborhood and generated less traffic.

But after the economy soured, Somerton Valley revised its plan. The council granted the zoning necessary for the townhouses.

On Monday night, residents said they were still simmering about that decision.

"This community has a long history of being ignored," said Felicia Webb Glover, who grew up in Lin-Park and returned after college.

Thomas R. Hecker, Somerton Valley's attorney, said the developers would work to resolve the traffic issue - a condition of the council's approval.

At least three residents expressed support for the townhouses. One was Tony Stallworth, who said the wooded tract had become a dumping ground. "This stuff is ugly back there," he said.

Several stressed they aren't against all development.

"We're open to change," said Gail Cardwell, who moved to Lin-Park about 2005. "We just would like it to not ruin our absolutely terrific neighborhood."