Town Center

By Bill Belanger

The proposed Town Center Project on Baltimore Pike is not a good idea.

With regard to the eventual use of the site, I think there are a number of options, some less onerous than the others, but none I would go so far as to call "desirable." The analysis performed by the Township's consultants was pretty much on the mark as far as it went. It examined only the maximum use specifically permitted by present zoning. Even that level of development would create a far worse traffic situation on Baltimore pike. The "town center" option was so bad the traffic engineer simply couldn't analyze it! So what are the other options?

Here, we have to get creative and also look at all the constraints we are under. For example (though I'm an engineer, not a lawyer) I don't think we can simply re-zone the site. This might be viewed a taking and would require payment of fair market value for the change in value of the property. I don't think there's any way we can afford that cost if fair market value is viewed in the context of maximum permitted development. This gets into a bunch of legal issues outside my expertise. Similarly, I don't think there's any way we could afford to simply buy the property for open space, as nice as that might be.

Ideally, the site should be put to some useful purpose - one that generates some tax revenue but doesn't drain more from the township than it brings in, and which doesn't cause traffic and other problems for Middletown residents and others. Of course a significant increase in school tax base might help reduce the property tax burden on all RTM households. The problem is how to make it happen without causing other problems. The ideal use would be a research campus or light industry or some other use which requires lots of space for very few employees.

I don't particularly like the idea of retail space. Not only would it generate a lot of traffic, it would possibly trigger the decline of Granite Run Mall. That mall is already surrounded by competing retail space, and there's more being built out in Concordville. We only have to look down in Claymont, Delaware to see what a failed shopping center looks like. It's not pretty, and if it were to happen the retail stores and associated tax base would simply shift to a new location with little or no gain.

I wonder if we could offer tax incentives to drive the use in a desirable direction? Of course, compared to the school tax the township's tax is insignificant. The only way to make a significant impact would be if we could somehow get the school tax adjusted, which could only be done through the property assessment, which is done at the county level. Things really get weird when you consider all the things that would have to happen to make this work, but it may be the only leverage we really have from a tax standpoint. I doubt it is legal in view of the Court ordered reassessment of Delaware County properties to bring the assessments in line with fair market value. This idea has to be consigned to the "ask the lawyer" pile.

Aside from that, we might have few tools at our disposal at the township level. New buildings would require permits, of course, but we can't go beyond the building codes. Of course, the township building codes are adopted at the township level last time I looked a few years ago. Council might be able to adopt building codes applicable to buildings over a certain size and use. Since there is no building permit submitted at this point, a change in the codes would less likely be construed as a taking. This could drive any new buildings toward a certain size or use. The most important thing in this option would be to assure the code changes could survive a court challenge. That could be difficult. Again it's an "ask the lawyer."