Upper Southampton board places restrictions on proposed trauma facility

By Greg Vellner 21st Century Media News Service

Officials said the township zoning board must impose six conditions if it grants any approval for construction of the two-story, 16,000-square-foot facility on the south side of Street Road, east of the Southampton Post Office. The center, on a 6.5-acre tract zoned Residential-2, also is to include five 4,200-square-foot single-story buildings to house a maximum total of 40 patients ages 18 and older.

The township wants the conditions to be imposed by the zoning hearing board in the event that the zoning hearing board grants the special exception or approval of an unspecified use, states the motion approved unanimously by the supervisors.

The plan, by Delaware Valley Residential Care of Chalfont, has raised the ire of some homeowners because, they said in public hearings, it will negatively affect real estate values and because patients potentially pose a threat to nearby residents.

A public hearing on the plan continues March 19 before the zoning board.

The conditions sought by township supervisors include: DVRC must establish property along the rear of the proposed center as open space in perpetuity; a fence 6 to 8 feet in height must be installed along the front, both sides and rear of the building; dense evergreen plantings between the fence and the sites side and rear property lines; no recreational activities conducted within the side yard setback, with the exception of sidewalks for pedestrian use; emergency access onto Provident Road, as well as a physical barrier such as a chain-link or knock-down gate to prevent anyone other than emergency vehicles from using the access; and the facility cannot be used now or in the future as a treatment or family-care home for substance-abuse rehabilitation.

Since the center was first proposed last fall, opponents have expressed concern over its proximity to nearby homes. Some have called it an unadulterated nightmare and labeled traumatic brain injury patients as not normal.

DVRC said patients are highly functioning and that some hold jobs.

Officials said the township zoning board must impose six conditions if it grants any approval for construction of the two-story, 16,000-square-foot facility on the south side of Street Road, east of the Southampton Post Office. The center, on a 6.5-acre tract zoned Residential-2, also is to include five 4,200-square-foot single-story buildings to house a maximum total of 40 patients ages 18 and older.

The township wants the conditions to be imposed by the zoning hearing board in the event that the zoning hearing board grants the special exception or approval of an unspecified use, states the motion approved unanimously by the supervisors.

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Upper Southampton board places restrictions on proposed trauma facility