NVWC – Questions put to David Gray, PSU Vice President for Finance and Business

Email sent to David Gray by Kelli Hoover this morning:

Dear David:

I sent these questions to [Director of Community Relations] Charima [Young] on Friday, November 17.

Both the Nittany Valley Water Coalition and Toll Brothers would like answers to these questions before Thanksgiving.

These questions are:

A. Does Penn State have a list of what is expected from Toll Brothers to enable a decision to sell the West College Ave. parcel in lieu of the West Whitehall Road parcel?

B. Was a timeline established for Toll Brothers to respond and if so, what is that timeline?

[Penn State Senior Director of News and Media Relations] Lisa Powers’ list in the Centre Daily Times on November 17 was that Penn State needs:

C. “Written feasibility studies.” More than one?

D. “Zoning inquiries or recommendations…to Penn State.” Does this mean you want in writing what Toll Brothers was told by Ferguson Township staff about how the West College Ave. parcel might be re-zoned to permit student housing and light commercial? I.e., mixed use? [Toll Brothers Campus Living Managing Director] Charles Elliott can provide this information since Toll Brothers has had at least two discussions about this with Ferguson Township staff.

E.  “Overall analysis of the site.” What does this mean? This is pretty vague. Can you be more specific?

The information required from Toll Brothers needs to be clear, inclusive, and a timeline stipulated that would allow Penn State officials to review and make a decision about whether to take the offer to the Penn State Board of Trustees.

F. Who is the decision-maker about what is needed and whether or not to take this to the Board of Trustees?

G. Can you provide Penn State’s land purchase protocol/checklist that requires this list of written information Penn State needs from a buyer before they can enter a sales negotiation?

H. Would Penn State be willing to hold funds in escrow from Toll Brothers and postpone the close of the Whitehall Road contract while information and negotiations over the West College Ave. site continue? Richard Keyser, [Toll Brothers Vice President of Commercial Acquisition and Development] calls this “warehousing.”

I. We would still like information about the Penn State Real Estate Task Force, when it was created, who’s on it, and what their qualifications are.

J. Most importantly, we are requesting a meeting of yourself [representing Penn State], and representatives from Toll Brothers, Nittany Valley Water Coalition and Ferguson Township, using an agreed-upon mediator, to work out a solution that all parties can accept. Lara Fowler, who is an expert mediator, is willing to serve this role. She will be contacting you as well.

Thank you,

Kelli Hoover

NVWC Press Release – November 15, 2017

Toll Brothers makes offer to Penn State for an alternative site to Whitehall Road for student housing

Nittany Valley Water Coalition (NVWC) held a follow-up meeting on November 14th with Toll Brothers’ representative Richard Keyser, Vice-President of Apartment Living, to discuss their recent review of PSU-owned land that would serve as an alternative site for a student housing project currently slated for Whitehall Road.

On October 31, Toll Brothers submitted a formal Letter of Intent expressing interest in purchasing a 19-acre parcel on West College Avenue in front of the Blue Course golf course and across the road from the Waffle Shop as the alternative site. In prior meetings with NVWC, Toll Brothers expressed interest in the W. College location due to its proximity to campus, downtown, and student amenities. There is also strong community support for this property as an alternative site for the planned development.

Since August, Toll Brothers has been conducting due diligence research and design planning to determine the feasibility of this site for a mixed-use development, a combination of student housing and commercial use. Most new and proposed developments in the region have some type of mixed-use component, which is also consistent with regional planning directives and has support by the larger community.

Mr. Keyser emphasized that Toll Brothers wants to work with the community and hopes to engage in the development process and land sale with the cooperation of Ferguson Township and Penn State as quickly as possible.

However, in a follow-up meeting with a representative from Penn State, Charima Young, she cited a poorly defined “process that must be followed” that could delay or thwart any desired “land swap” even though Kurt Kissinger, Associate Vice- President for Business & Finance has previously stated in writing to the NVWC that Penn State has no plans for the West College site. According to Toll Brothers and Penn State, price is not at issue. Mr. Keyser stated that Toll Brothers wants the W. College site, not Whitehall, so the impediment to this “land swap” is a timing issue exacerbated by Penn State.

Ms. Young informed us that there is now a task force of Board of Trustees members who are charged with reviewing and making decisions on all Penn State land holdings to determine best use of these properties. She did not know when this task force was established but that question is relevant to consideration of the sale of the W. College parcel to Toll Brothers in lieu of the Whitehall parcels.

Putting this decision into the hands of a task force is a stalling tactic. PSU told the public many times that they were just the seller of land, and it was not their concern what is done with it after the sale. What changed? It appears that Penn State’s objective is to run out the clock forcing Toll Brothers to take possession of the land on Whitehall via the existing sales agreement, which is due to close in the next few weeks.

However, Toll Brothers could walk away; besides losing their funds in escrow, it is not clear that Penn State could force Toll Brothers to pay the remaining balance. Instead, they could purchase and build on any number of parcels available in the region.

The community supports Toll Brothers building student housing on West College Ave., not on Whitehall Road. upslope of Slab Cabin Run and the Thomas-Harter wells.

Although Penn State contracted with local farmers for winter wheat to be planted on the Whtehall Road site, no such planting has taken place. Therefore the risk to the Whitehall Road site for imminent development remains.

For additional information, contact:
Kelli Hoover at kxhoover2015@gmail.com, 814-883-4854, or visit nittanyvalley-eco.org

Nittany Valley Water Coalition Looking Ahead

From Kelli Hoover

The Nittany Valley Water Coalition is going to take Penn State at its word that the land we occupied for 127 days to protect it from development will be farmed for winter wheat under a lease agreement, but we will also keep a close eye on the site in case Penn State was lying and we need to remobilize quickly.

It is also possible that Penn State and/or Toll Brothers might terminate the farmer’s lease early, so vigilance is needed.

The timing of this lease agreement is not a coincidence given that the same grower was kicked off this land five years ago by Penn State when the university entered into negotiations with Toll Brothers to purchase the land.

So this 44 acres sat fallow for five years until the goals of the Nittany Valley Water Coalition occupation garnered so much public support that Penn State was feeling the pressure to do the right thing.

We’re going to continue participating in the land swap discussions with Toll Brothers and Penn State. Charles Elliott of Toll Brothers indicated last week that they need a few more weeks to complete their land use design proposal.

And we’re going to take a breather to regroup and reassess for two or three weeks until there’s new information on the farming plan or the land swap.

Time will tell and we will be watching.

127 days!

Today we were finally forced to leave our occupation site after 127 valiant days. We had been keeping stuff on the neighboring church but we knew that wouldn’t last and they were gracious in their hospitality.
We are glad we will be replaced with winter wheat. And we are waiting patiently for the decision by the Toll Brothers on the other site on West College/Blue Course.

Stay tuned!

We do not condone vilification of individuals

We wish to state that we, NVWC, do not condone the vilification of any members of the three parties involved (NVWC, Toll Brothers and Penn State). It does not help to single out individuals or allow for views by others to be posted on our website/FB page and thus approve such views.

Clearly this is a heated situation but we will ensure that going forward our official platforms do not focus on individuals but stick with the discussions of the principal parties.

 

NVWC Welcomes Winter Wheat

Press Release from Nittany Valley Water Coalition:

Today was a dark day for town-gown relationships when Penn State called the Ferguson Township Police to evict community members who have been staging a 124-day long occupation at the Toll Brothers proposed development of the Cottages on Whitehall Road and Blue Course Drive.

The Nittany Valley Water Coalition is committed to protecting the wells that supply two-thirds of State College’s water.

These wells are beside the proposed development site and are connected to the site by subsurface water flow and an intermittent stream.

Although we are saddened that Penn State chose to evict us by sending the local police force, we are happy for the land’s short term future.

We have learned that our camp will be sown with winter wheat which will not be harvested until next June! The power of soil to act as a natural filter leading to recharging of the wells with clean water is well known.

So, while we are sad to have been denied our First Amendment rights, we are happy with farming. We hope that Penn State, a Land Grant school, will realize that the future of this site is better as farming and not as hundreds of luxury cottages.

Kelli Hoover on Today’s Events

By Kelli Hoover

At 9 am this morning, Penn State University ordered the forcible eviction of peaceful protestors on land we have been occupying to protect our water supply from development.

Zach Moore of Penn State arrived at the site in a Ferguson Township police car to oversee the removal of all persons and property of the Nittany Valley Water Coalition (NVWC).

The NVWC has occupied the proposed development site on Whitehall Road near Blue Course Drive to protect it from development for four months now as we negotiate with Penn State and the developer for an alternative location for this development on PSU-owned land.

Ferguson Township police maintained a presence at the site all day and asked anyone who arrived at the site to leave by order of Penn State.

Penn State planning to lease the land for winter wheat farming

Just heard that Penn State is planning to lease the proposed development site to a local farmer for a winter wheat crop, that would be harvested in June 2018.

So, at a minimum, if the lease agreement goes through, there won’t be any residential development activity on the site between now and next summer.

Nittany Valley Water Coalition members are glad to hear the land will be used for agricultural purposes.

-Posted by Katherine Watt