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Residents and advocates urge board to reject Bishop Tube redevelopment; supervisors grant extension
Summary
Public commenters, including state Sen. Muth and Delaware Riverkeeper Anyka VanRossum, urged the East Whiteland Board to deny a developer’s extension for the Bishop Tube redevelopment over alleged contamination and insufficient remediation. The board voted to grant the extension to May 31, 2025.
Chair Scott Lambert reopened discussion on the Bishop Tube redevelopment and the board considered a requested extension for the project's final plan until May 31, 2025. Several residents and advocates urged the supervisors to deny any extension pending fuller remediation plans and public-health protections.
State Sen. Muth (introduced in the meeting transcript as “Senator Muth”) told the board it should "protect the residents of their public health" and said allowing townhouses on allegedly contaminated land "would be a moral failure to allow Townhouses to be built on toxic land." Anyka VanRossum of the Delaware River Keeper told the board the developer "has no intentions of completely remediating" the site and urged the supervisors to "outright say NO." Other commenters — identified in the transcript as Ms. Arnold, Carol Rapp and Debra Mobile — also urged the board to vote against the extension.
Township planning staff (Zach Barner) confirmed there was a written offer for an extension. During discussion Vice-Chair Rich Orlow argued that denying an extension and forcing an immediate decision could risk costly litigation and uncertain outcomes for residents; he urged caution in forcing a decision prematurely. Following discussion, Mr. Orlow made the motion to approve the extension; Member Peter Fixler seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
The extension is procedural: it preserves the developer’s entitlement to proceed under the current schedule while the township and public continue to review remediation and plan details. The board did not adopt any new remediation conditions at the meeting and the transcript shows no staff presentation of a revised remediation plan or timeline. The board indicated a verbal decision on a separate conditional-use matter (CU-12-2024) would be issued at the Feb. 12, 2025 meeting.
Next steps: the developer retains the extended time to pursue final plan actions; opponents and township officials may raise remediation and health concerns in future hearings or decisions.
