Nittany Valley Environmental Coalition
Our mission is to protect our constitutionally-guaranteed environmental rights as Pennsylvania citizens.
Does this sound familiar? No wonder the community is fed up with Penn State’s behavior and utter lack of concern about our community.
“Campuses expand across cities, often choosing to bank land, awaiting its appreciation, rather than invest in services and infrastructure that would aid the local community.”
When Universities Swallow Cities
Mainstream Media Coverage:
Compiled post-meeting reports by Kelli Hoover and David Hughes:
The August 2, 2017 meeting between Nittany Valley Water Coalition, Toll Brothers and Penn State representatives was positive and productive.
Kelli Hoover, David Hughes and Dave Stone represented the Nittany Valley Water Coalition.
Charles Elliott, Managing Director for Toll Brothers, represented the student housing developer.
Representing the land seller Penn State were Kurt Kissinger, Associate Vice President for Finance and Business; Rob Cooper, Director of Energy and Engineering for Office of Physical Plant; Charima Young, Director of Local Government and Community Relations; and two representatives from communications, including Lisa Powers, Director of News and Media Relations.
David Hughes started off with a presentation on the positives and negatives of the Toll Brothers proposed site. He pointed out on a map all of the sinkholes at the site in comparison to other parts of the region and why it was a good idea for Elliott to consider another location.
Whitehall Road Area – Sinkholes and Depressions – Circled Project Area
Kelli Hoover presented information about Penn State-owned land in Ferguson, College and Patton townships that might be suitable for building student housing, including information water coalition representatives had gleaned from supervisors and staff in those municipalities.
Elliott said he wished stakeholders had had this conversation back in 2012 when Toll Brothers was first looking into State College as a location to build student housing. He also commented that he had looked at other locations in the region but had been told that the travel time by bus from the West Whitehall Road site was shorter than from locations off North Atherton. Elliott also said at the time (5 years ago) there were a lot of complaints from locals about traffic on North. Atherton.
Hughes said that Elliott’s initial reaction seemed “frosty” but that he seemed to warm up as Elliott noticed how much work had been invested by water coalition members; Hughes estimated that more than 1,000 hours of volunteer labor have been put into the campaign, including research on legal issues, water risks and zoning codes.
Water coalition representatives offered their help in talking with municipalities to help gather information and see the process through if any of these other sites may work out.
The meeting finished about 10 minutes early (ran from 11:00 to 11:50 a.m.) and Elliott stayed behind to talk with Penn State representatives without water coalition representatives present.
Hoover, Hughes and Stone went out and talked to the press. Nittany Valley Water Coalition is hoping there will be follow-up in the near future.
From Kelli Hoover:
Monday, July 31, at 12 p.m. on the front steps of Old Main, the College Dems have organized a protest against the Toll Brothers development on our watershed and are delivering a letter to President Barron and the Board of Trustees.
They have notified the press and are asking Nittany Valley Water Coalition supporters to come out and support them with signs and our voices.
We have plenty of signs at the occupation site and we will bring them, so come out and join us.
We will also have flyers to hand out as well and extra yard signs to distribute. Or make and bring your own signs.
Nittany Valley Water Coalition has a meeting scheduled for THIS WEDNESDAY (August 2) with Toll Brothers and PSU representatives to discuss land swap options: a different location for the development,
We need to up the pressure to get PSU to negotiate with us in good faith. This protest will help.
PLEASE JOIN US AT NOON MONDAY ON THE FRONT STEPS OF OLD MAIN.
We are making progress and we need that extra push.
This report is based on information provided by Terry Melton, Kelli Hoover and Mark Huncik to Katherine Watt after the meeting.
Four Nittany Valley Water Coalition representatives met with five Penn State representatives on Tuesday, July 25, in Room 242 of the State College Borough Building, from noon to 1 p.m.
NVWC representatives included Kelli Hoover, Terry Melton, David Hughes and Mark Huncik.
Penn State representatives included Kurt Kissinger, Associate Vice President for Finance and Business; Zack Moore, Vice President for Government and Community Relations; Charima Young, Director of Local Government and Community Relations; Steve Watson, Office of Physical Plant, Director of Campus Planning and Design; and Rob Cooper, OPP, Director of Energy and Engineering.
Although NVWC had asked during a prior meeting for Penn State representatives to provide information on possible alternative sites for the Toll Brothers project, and the Penn State officials had verbally agreed to do so, they did not provide that information ahead of the July 25 meeting.
However, the NVWC representatives prepared thoroughly for the meeting, and presented a report (7.25.17 NVWC Report for PSU Execs) that assembled information on eight “University Planned District” parcels identified in the most-recent UPD District Plan, adopted by some but not all of the regional municipalities in Spring 1999. 1999 UPD District Plan
At the July 25 meeting, Penn State executives offered information on current uses at each site and answered questions about whether or not student housing is an allowable use. According to Hoover, in Penn State “lingo,” non-student housing means student housing not owned by the University.
The parcels identified by NVWC representatives include:
Penn State objections
According to Melton, Watson pointed out that rezoning would be needed for each of the proposed parcels
Kissinger stated that, because Penn State has a sales contract with Toll Brothers, Penn State executives can’t look like they’re trying to undermine the contract by proposing alternatives.
Kissinger repeatedly used the term “program” in relation to Toll Brothers proposed housing developments, and stressed uncertainty about whether parts of UPD would “fit” the Toll Brothers program, since some UPD areas have multi-use zoning (including non-residential or commercial uses along with housing).
Penn State executives expressed concern that neighbors in the areas around the alternatives might object to student housing in their neighborhoods, and also expressed concerns about environmental impacts on the Big Hollow water wells near UPD 7.
Moore expressed concern about preservation of natural settings (forested areas) in the parcels identified, particularly UPD 14, comparing removal of trees as contradictory to “preserving nature.”
Water coalition rebuttals
Nittany Valley Water Coalition representatives acknowledged that rezoning would be needed, and said they would support rezoning in an alternative site to promote sustainable, community-respecting development.
Water coalition members pointed out the hypocrisy of Penn State’s position on threats to University water wells and forests as contrasted with the University’s willingness to put the public Thomas and Harter water wells, Slab Cabin Run, and nearby farm fields and forest groves at risk.
Water coalition members noted that there is already student housing in most of the alternative neighborhoods.
Regarding the existing contract, NVWC representatives emphasized that Penn State’s role at this time is simply to identify parcels that the University would consider for a land swap.
Whether Toll Brothers executives accept the land swap offer – to foster positive community relations in the Centre Region – is up to Toll Brothers executives.
At end of meeting, NVWC shared the online PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources map, showing documented sinkholes and depressions in the Centre region, including multiple documented sinkholes in the Whitehall Road/Blue Course Drive property near the intermittent stream and swale.
Although the Penn State executives did not put anything in writing, they verbally agreed to examine the list prepared by NVWC and identify parcels that are feasible from Penn State’s perspective and parcels that are not feasible, including the feasibility of subsections of larger parcels. For example, if one portion of a 500+ acre parcel is not a practical choice, other sections of that same parcel may be workable.
Melton said Penn State executives agreed to forward the information by email to NVWC representatives by Friday, July 28, ahead of the scheduled August 2 trilateral meeting between Hoover, Hughes and Melton (representing the water coalition); Kissinger, Cooper and Young (representing Penn State) and Charles Elliott, Managing Director of Toll Brothers.
Melton said she anticipates Penn State will put forward at least two or three alternatives in their July 28 email, and commented of the July 25 meeting, “It went as well as could have been expected.”
Centre Daily Times reporter Sara Rafacz interviewed meeting participants afterwards, and interviewed Hughes on camera for a forthcoming CDT video report.
Cited in the June 28, 2017 letter to PSU’s David Gray from Ferguson Township Zoning Administrator Jeff Ressler and/or in Kurt Kissinger’s email to NVWC’s Kelli Hoover and David Hughes, and/or possibly relevant.
Of great interest:
Is Penn State-owned land public land, free for use by the general public as citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or is it private land, subject to enforcement of trespassing laws against individuals through the police power of the state on behalf of the landowner?
I couldn’t find the Ferguson Township ordinance regarding permission of landowner required for signage placed on a property, cited in the letter as Ch. 19, Part 1, Section 6, #13, but have reached out to Jeff Ressler for clarification.
UPDATE – Revised ordinance, revised on June 5, 2017 (two days after the protest began on June 3, 2017) sent to me by Jeff Ressler:
1033 Amendment Signs and Billboards CH 19
Relevant phrase is on page 11,
“13. Signs erected without the permission of the property owner, with the exception of those authorized or required by local, state or federal government.”
Which then begs the question, is a peaceful public protest that includes signs “authorized” by Constitutional First Amendment rights?
Posted by Katherine Watt
From: “Kissinger, Kurt”
Date: Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 10:23 PM
To: Kelli Hoover, Mark Huncik, Terry Melton
Cc: Charima Young, Zack Moore, Steve Watson, Rob Cooper
Subject: Penn State Lands
Good evening,
I’m sending the following information in advance of our discussion [scheduled for July 25] in order to provide some context to University-owned lands in College/Patton Townships referenced during our meeting last month. Within the general vicinity of Fox Hollow Road and the airport, there are a number of considerations that could influence the feasibility of finding a 46 acre area to accommodate the proposed land use.
As illustrated on the aerial image, much of the University-owned land around this area is limited due to several existing factors:
Other factors that would need to be addressed with regard to potential development:
Zoning
Regional Growth Boundary
Proximity to Wells
Stormwater Management
Existing and Future Uses (beyond areas noted above)
We look forward to meeting with you and discussing these considerations in greater detail while listening to your ideas and suggestions in preparation for our meeting on August 2 with representatives from Toll Brothers.
Best,
Kurt
Posted by Katherine Watt
August 25, 1999 – Corporate Penn State buys land from RK Mellon Foundation and Mark and Marcia Bookman (50-50 joint owners, each selling their stake, for $1 and $99,307 respectively – 8.25.99 Deed 1; 8.25.99 Deed 2
November 7, 2003, Penn State Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz submits application to Ferguson Township seeking Township upzoning of the land from RA to R4, and incorporation into Regional Growth Boundary. 11.7.03 PSU-Sweetland Application to Ferguson Township for Upzoning RA to R4 with Deeds Attached
November 2003 to October 2004 – Numerous area municipalities and planning agencies recommend Ferguson Township deny Penn State’s upzoning application, to protect the water, farmland and regional growth boundary. Representative sample: 3.29.04 Centre Region Planning Agency to Ferguson Township Re Whitehall Road Zoning Change
June 14, 2004– Penn State Assistant Vice President for Finance and Business Dan Simienski submits $1,000 application check to Ferguson Township for rezoning review process. 6.14.04 PSU Rezoning Check Cover Letter D. Sieminski to M. Kunkle
September 7, 2004 – Ferguson Township supervisors approve the upzoning by 3-2. Steve Miller votes “No.” 9.7.04 Ferguson Township Board of Supervisors Minutes
February 25, 2008 – Penn State files “declaration of access easements” with Centre County Recorder of Deeds, citing subdivision plan. 2.25.08 PSU Easements Six Lot FT Subdivision
February 27, 2008 – Penn State’s Gary Schultz, as owner, files subdivision plat plan, approved by Ferguson Township Planning Commission on or about February 7, 2008 and by Ferguson Township Board of Supervisors on or about February 14, 2008 (signed by Board Chair Richard Mascolo, husband of Centre Region Parks Authority Board Chair Sue Mascolo) at Penn State’s request, clearly showing road access from Blue Course Drive to Shingletown Road across the watershed, and linking development of adjacent public park to development of student housing complex. 2007 PSU-Sweetland Engineering Six Lot Subdivision
December 29, 2011 – Penn State commissions production of glossy full-page marketing booklet to solicit bids at a meeting in Hershey, from developers, to construct student housing on land rezoned – at Penn State’s request – in 2004 and subdivided – at Penn State’s request – in 2008. 2011 Whitehall Road Investment Prospectus
April 24, 2012 – Penn State Senior Vice President for Finance and Business David Gray signs sales contract with Richard Keyser, Toll Brothers Vice President for Commercial Acquisitions and Development. 4.24.12 PSU-Toll Purchase and Sales Agreement
May 4, 2012 – Penn State Board of Trustees, led by Karen Peetz, President of Bank of New York Mellon, approves sales contract for $13.5 million. 5.4.12 PSU BOT Minutes (See page 10).
September 20, 2013 – Penn State Board of Trustees adds 5.5 acres to the planned sale, located outside the regional growth boundary and still zoned Rural Agricultural, to Toll Brothers, for the purpose of stormwater management basin construction. The minutes note that Karen Peetz is not present for vote, but in any case, the Board finds she has no conflict of interest under University bylaws, despite BNY Mellon’s Boston Company Asset Management being the seventh-largest investor in Toll Brothers. 9.20.13 PSU BOT Minutes (See page 11-12); 8.14.12 Toll Bros Peetz Reuters
July 7, 2017 – Penn State Senior Vice President for Finance and Business David Gray, in a CDT editorial, states
“the University is not involved in the proposed housing development.”
Post by Katherine Watt
On July 7, the Centre Daily Times published an op-ed by David Gray, Penn State Vice President for Finance and Business.
Gray wrote:
“…The university is not involved in the proposed housing development…”
That was but one of the false statements in Gray’s op-ed, and Nittany Valley Water Coalition members Kelli Hoover and Terry Melton rebutted it in their July 13 op-ed, citing evidence:
“However, in 2011 PSU produced a multi-page brochure to market this land to developers for student housing (files obtained by Right-to-Know filing).”
David Stone, Mark Huncik and I obtained the “investment prospectus” during a Right to Know review of documents held by the Ferguson Township Planning Department in December 2015.
It included two pages of handwritten notes, indicating that on December 29, 2011 – five months before the Penn State Board of Trustees (led at that time by conflicted BNY Mellon President Karen Peetz) approved the main portion of the land sale from Penn State to Toll Brothers on May 4, 2012 – there was a private meeting at the Hotel Hershey.
Attendees at that meeting appear to have included Craig Rickards, then-Manager of Penn State Facilities and Real Estate Services (now deceased); Michael Jordan, a “PSU Grad, and Assistant VP and Controller” at Toll Brothers; Richard Keyser, Toll Brothers Vice President for Commercial Acquisitions and Development; Charles Elliott, Toll Brothers Managing Director and Charles Vatterott, Executive Vice President of Development at Aspen Heights.
2011 Whitehall Road Investment Prospectus
We do not know why the investment prospectus was in the public Ferguson Township Planning Department files for the Whitehall Road/Blue Course Drive development, and we do not know who else attended the December 29, 2011 meeting.
What we do know is that someone produced the brochure to help Penn State executives market the property to prospective student housing developers, and that Penn State’s David Gray subsequently signed a sales agreement with Toll Brothers’ Richard Keyser on April 24, 2012. We have a small portion of that document, also found during our Right to Know file review at Ferguson Township Planning Department in December 2015.
4.24.12 PSU-Toll Purchase and Sales Agreement
Penn State is exempt, by state law, from the Right to Know provisions that would enable citizens to shed light on these backroom deals.
Penn State executives have, in private meetings, repeatedly told NVWC representatives that the university cannot unilaterally withdraw from the 2012 sales contract to facilitate the execution of a land swap and protect the watershed and farmland.
Skeptical of that assertion, and wanting to be fully prepared for upcoming meetings with Penn State and Toll Brothers executives, NVWC representatives have repeated requested an opportunity to review the complete sales contract, including all contingency provisions.
Penn State executives have repeatedly denied those requests.
Post by Katherine Watt
Kelli Hoover and David Hughes, Nittany Valley Water Coalition representatives, received the following email today from Kurt Kissinger, Associate Vice President for Finance and Business at corporate Penn State.
Kelli and David,
Thank you for taking the time to meet with us before the July 4th holiday to discuss your concerns regarding the Toll Brothers planned residential development on Whitehall Road. I understand that Charima has scheduled a meeting with representatives of Toll Brothers in the next couple of weeks. I look forward to participating in the discussion.
As a follow-up to our discussion regarding the presence of protestors at the site, we appreciate your concern for the health, safety and well-being of all concerned, in addition to the adherence to relevant University policy and local ordinances. As we discussed, the protestors camping at the Whitehall property are in direct violation of University Policy AD 57, which prohibits camping on University property except in those areas designated by the Office of Physical Plant or other administrative unit of the University. Also, the University previously received a determination from Ferguson Township that camping on University property at another location in the township is not permitted. Accordingly, we kindly ask that camping on Penn State owned land on Whitehall Road cease immediately.
Furthermore, since our meeting we received the attached notification letter from Ferguson Township citing potential violation of the Township’s Sign Ordinance at the site. The University has 30 days to comply with the stated notice. Since the University has not granted its permission for the placing of signs, we kindly ask that you remove the signs immediately.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we will be notifying the protestors at the Whitehall Road property that they are trespassing. The area where the protest is occurring is not open to the public. The protesters’ presence on the site violates University policy and has not been consented to by Penn State.
Thank you for our cooperation, and I look forward to meeting with you again soon.
Best wishes,
Kurt
Kurt A. Kissinger, MPIA
Associate Vice President for Finance and Business
The Pennsylvania State University/Finance and Business/208 Old Main/University Park, PA 16802
Tel: 814-865-6574/ kak47@psu.edu/www.fandb.psu.edu
Kissinger attached the following notice from Ferguson Township Zoning Administrator Jeffrey Ressler, dated June 28 and stamped received by David Gray, Vice President for Finance and Business, on July 3.
6.28.17 Ferguson Twp Letter re Sign Ordinance Violations
Within a very short time, Penn State Office of Physical Plant employees drove up to the Whitehall Road/Blue Course Drive site and pounded two new notices into the ground.
Photo above.
More context as to why Penn State may be escalating in this way, at this time, to follow.
Also of note, as the above was happening this afternoon, the Penn State Board of Trustees committees were meeting in Harrisburg, and Ferguson Township Supervisor Laura Dininni was in executive session with the rest of the Ferguson Board of Supervisors, who are apparently attempting to remove her from the office to which Ferguson voters elected her, or otherwise discipline her, because her fierce advocacy for her constituents and community water and farmland makes other members of the board uncomfortable.
Posted by KW
We have been given an eviction notice from PSU. More updates to follow. Spread the word and come to the site if you can.