Harner Farm land won’t be developed — yet

The supervisors on Monday denied a request to rezone Harner Farm, but they’re not opposed to the property being developed.

The board voted 4-1, with Chairman Steve Miller the only yes vote, to deny the request submitted by Aspen Whitehall Partners LLC. The supervisors stated, though, that they’d be interested in seeing a different rezoning plan.

Ferguson Township staff prepared a thorough analysis and came to the conclusion that there’s no rational reason why they wouldn’t recommend approval of the proposed rezoning, Lindsay Schoch, community planner for the township, said prior to the board’s decision.

The denied rezoning request was for the 71.4 of Harner Farm’s 102 acres that are for sale.

The zoning designation of those 71 acres is rural agricultural and corridor overlay, and the land is currently being used for farm-related and orchard uses.

Aspen requested that the zoning be changed to a mix of 44.6 acres of commercial, 22.5 acres of single-family residential and 4.3 acres of two-family residential.

Harner Farm is located along West College Avenue and is bisected by West Whitehall Road.

“We’re not going anywhere,” said owner Dan Harner. “We’re going to try to downsize and tighten things up and keep things going the way they have been.”

He said production would move to the remaining 34 acres of land the Harners haven’t put up for sale.

“I bought a property that is adjacent to a farm that I can look out and I can see the dew shining like diamonds on the grass. I have wild turkeys coming into my backyard and that’s all going to be lost with this type of development,” Brent Hutchings said during the public hearing.

Peter Buckland, board vice chairman, expressed concerns about the amount of impervious surface that much commercial space would have.

“I don’t think that this is a good rezoning plan,” he said.

Miller said he was in favor of approving the rezoning request because the property has been part of the planning for development over a long period of time. That has influenced what went in around it, and he said he doesn’t think the Harners could sell the property as a working farm.

Supervisor Laura Dininni said she supports the landowners’ right to sell their property for development.

She said she’d be in favor of a zoning change that’s more sensitive to the character of the community and the needs of the neighborhood around the development.

Justin Mandel, of Aspen Whitehall Partners, declined comment after the supervisors made their decision.

This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 11:37 PM with the headline "Harner Farm land won’t be developed — yet."