What’s the 422?

A protest has been planned for Monday’s East Vincent Planning Commission meeting, apparently in response to the owner’s landscaping practices.

In an e-mail to What’s the 422?, Nathaniel Guest said: “I am told the (East Vincent) Planning Commission is meeting to consider the developer’s request to start a mulching operation on the Pennhurst campus.

“He’s been filling the buildings with wood chips, I’m told, and there is evidence of attempted arson. He has also been burning large piles of brush on site. This has a familiar ring to it of priming the pump for an ‘accidental’ fire.”

Guest, who is director of the grassroots group Preserve Pennhurst, noted that roads going into the former state hospital campus are blocked off, thus making it difficult for fire trucks to access the buildings.

A partnership called Pennhurst Acquisition bought the sprawling property from Pennsylvania in February 2008. Richard Chakejian, a principal in the partnership, said wood chips are being used to cover some “eye sores.”

However, wood chips are not being dumped into to the vacant buildings, as Guest claimed. Chakejian also says several trespassers on ATVs recently tried to light wood debris on fire.

“My agenda is to keep the property safe and secure,” he said. “It’s private property.”

A private security outfit was hired to help prevent vandalism and trespassing, Chakejian said.

Recently, his partnership hired a contractor to perform “light clearing” of weeds and brush. Local fire personnel are contacted whenever any clearing takes place, he added.

The developer has yet to submit construction plans to the township for Pennhurst.

On Friday, an East Vincent employee did confirm that an “amendment” concerning Pennhurst is on the planning commission’s agenda for Monday. This meeting starts at 7 p.m., at the township building (262 Ridge Road). Guest later clarified to a reporter that a street protest was never planned (as he had implied), just a call for Pennhurst supporters to attend the meeting.

In other news, infrastructure is on the plates of several area townships. Lower Frederick officials discussed the closure of Spring Mount Road on Thursday night.

Skippack officials invited residents to arrive at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday night to discuss T.H. Properties’ Biltmore Estates and Monroe Court. The regular meeting begins at 7:30 p.m., and it is expected that residents will have plenty of questions about the bankrupt developer.

In Lower Pottsgrove, elected commissioners meet Tuesday afternoon to review consulting proposals related to Route 422’s Sanatoga interchange. Joe Zlomek of the Sanatoga Post has the story here.