The
West Chester Area School District is seeking to sell some of its acreage on the
Rustin High School campus to a developer to build 50
houses. The property is located at 1100 Shiloh Road, West Chester PA.
We,
the undersigned, oppose the subdivision and ultimate sale and development of the
Rustin High School property for the above stated purpose. The density proposed
will put up to 4 homes on each acre (houses averaging 3500 to 3800 square feet),
when other homes in the area have one acre and in many cases more than an acre.
This out of scale development will completely change the character of this
neighborhood.
We
are in favor of helping to preserve community character and open space and
preventing out-of-scale development on Shiloh Road in Westtown.
Westtown Township, apart from one or two notable private holdings, has next-to-no protected public open space. Sharing land with the high school, the acreage in question creates a large open area that is accessible to residents, makes possible existing nature/recreational trails, allows for native habitat and creates a natural filter to unabated rainwater runoff into the adjacent stream. This is not a private land sale but the selloff of a publicly acquired property and should be halted by Westtown's supervisors.