A mix of single-family and townhomes are being proposed for a portion of Shady Brook Farm that sits in Middletown Township, according to plans released this week.
The age-restricted project is being called Farms Edge at Shady Brook and is being proposed by Foxlane Homes, Envision Land Use, and DeLuca Homes.
The plans will still need to go through Middletown Township’s land development process.
Last year, the Fleming family, who owns and operates Shady Brook Farm, announced they would sell 80 of the 130 acres to developers. The plan is to keep 50 acres for operating Shady Brook Farm, which has a popular agritainment and events business.
“The proposed development will maintain the local character of the community while supporting Middle town Township’s plans for a residential community with minimal impact,” according to a presentation circulated this week by the developers behind the Farms Edge at Shady Brook plan.
In addition to the residences, the plans call for new stormwater management areas, open space, wildflower meadows, a clubhouse, community garden, trails, and an eco-park.
The development would abut the Lower Makefield Township portion of the farm, farmland in Newtown Township, and housing already existing in Middletown Township, including Chilton Place and Shady Brook Drive.
According to the plans, access to the community would be gained through driveways on Stony Hill and Township Line roads. An emergency access road is proposed to connect to Chilton Place.
“Farms Edge At Shady Brook will be almost 54 acres, which 19 acres, or 35 percent, will remain green space,” said Brian Dries, a spokesperson for the developers. “The development team decided on an age-restricted community because it will generate the least amount of traffic, provide the highest amount new tax revenues for the school district and township without adding students to the district, and it provides the township with senior-living housing that better serves the local population.”
As proposed, the Farms Edge at Shady Brook community would provide close to $2.4 million annually in local, county, and school district real estate taxes, the developers said.
Dries said 26 acres of the land being sold by the Flemings in Lower Makefield Township is “dedicated to another development phase by Deluca Homes for additional commercial use that will be adjacent to Shady Brook Farm.”
Across the street from Shady Brook Farm, the Prickett Preserve at Edgewood, a 30-acre mixed-use development, opened this year with homes, businesses, and a Wegman’s.
Shady Brook Farm started in Bensalem Township in 1913 and then relocated later to its current location. The Fleming family said last year that the business has succeeded because they have been able to “continually adapt to the changing environment.”
The decision to sell the land came as the family was preparing to hand over the farm and business from the fourth generation to the fifth generation of the Fleming family.
The Fleming family began to focus more on agritainment and events at the farm in the 1990s and that has grown into a thriving line of business that has supported the farm in Lower Bucks County.
“It’s important for people to know that we have 10 children who are part of the fifth generation, and we want to them be part of our family business any way that we can,” Amy Fleming, a co-owner, said last year. “We are committed to maintaining the business as a gathering place where families, friends and neighbors of all ages can visit and create memories worth repeating.”
The proposal for development comes as residents in Middletown and Lower Makefield townships have spoken out against further development in the area.
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission forecasted in 2015 that Middletown Township’s population would grow by just under 4,000 people by 2045 to 49,000.
Middletown Township had large booms in development in the 1950s and 1960s, the 1980s, and late 1990s and early 2000s, according to building permit data.
The county’s taxpayer-supported, bond-funded nearly $150 million open space program wrapped up nearly a decade ago with close to 24,000 acres of farmland and wooded areas preserved from development.
In 2016, then-Bucks County Commissioner Chairperson Robert Loughery said the program was ending due to the amount of land preserved and limited public interest in a new bond referendum, which was first approved in 1997.
According to public records, Bucks County has preserved more than 1,000 acres in Middletown Township and Lower Makefield Township through the municipal open space program, agricultural preservation program and county park property. The county-preserved land does not include Shady Brook Farm.
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