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Hershey West End Expansion Report (midnight)
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Hershey Trust collects community input for 230-acre Hershey West End development plans
Jul 10, 2017 | PennLive
By Tricia Kline
Residents packed the rooms of the Cocoa Beanery Monday evening to review sketch plans, ask questions, and offer their opinions on a potential 230-acre village-style development being planned by The Hershey Trust. -
WGAL Channel 8 at 5:30 p.m.
| NBC
“Janelle: The future of 230 acres of farmland near Hershey Medical Center will be soon be decided. Danielle Woods is live on the potential development. Danielle: a curious crowd will be all eyes and ears…” -
WPMT Fox 43 at 10 p.m.
Jul 10, 2017 | Fox
“The Hershey Trust Company tonight -- unveiling its plans to develop what it's calling the "Hershey West End." The company plans to develop 230 acres of farmland near Penn State Hershey medical center in a mixed-use neighborhood. At a community meeting tonight in Hummelstown, community members were invited to share their thoughts on the project. The company says the project will include both residential and commercial space -- and about 50 percent of the land will be used as open or public spaces. Paul Ostergaard: "Well this is such a beautiful area and Hershey is such an amazing part of the state, and this is a great location for creating a very high quality community." No word on when development of the "Hershey West End" could begin.”
Traditional Media Coverage
Broadcast Media Coverage
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Hershey Trust collects community input for 230-acre Hershey West End development plans
Jul 10, 2017 | PennLive
By Tricia Kline
Residents packed the rooms of the Cocoa Beanery Monday evening to review sketch plans, ask questions, and offer their opinions on a potential 230-acre village-style development being planned by The Hershey Trust.
Being called Hershey West End, the land is near Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, is rimmed by Route 322 and Bullfrog Valley, Wood and Waltonville roads. It's owned by the Trust, which oversees Milton S. Hershey's $13 billion endowment of the private Milton Hershey School in Derry Township.
[The Hershey West End Proposal (Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRJ4nJBpFoI]
According to Trust attorney David Tshudy, the development of the land is aimed at making income to support the school, which he said is the Trust's "fudiciary duty".
According to plan officials, "For the past two years, The Trust and its consultant team have studied the possibility of a mixed-use, walkable village on this site."
Tonight was the first step in moving the idea forward--an open house for public engagement in the design process.
Easels containing sketch plans and design options lined the rooms, as design and engineering experts were on hand to answer questions. Members of the public were encouraged to share their thoughts, which were then posted with Post-It notes on the display boards. They could also place red stickers on the ideas they didn't like, and green stickers on those they did.
Within the first hour, notes included desires such as a "country, not city feel", "no office or retail", "prefer open space", "a walking town", and "more art/galleries/museums". Most of the stickers were green, and were located on photos that depicted sidewalk cafes, certain styles of townhouses, a produce market, and apartments--at least one sticker marking the "loft-style apartment"--with amenities such as a home office and wood flooring.
[Hershey Trust planning development of 230 acres near Penn State Milton Hershey Medical Center (Video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfe3sNnNRhc]
Megan O'Hara, with Urban Design Associates--the design team for the project--said shortly after the doors opened for the open house, she was already getting ideas from the public.
"I am hearing a lot of interest in senior housing like single-story duplexes, and within walking distance to trails and walking paths," she said.
Fred Bonci, with LaQuatra Bonci Associates, said he was fielding a lot of questions about people wanting to "keep somewhat of the character that's there," he said. Comments included desires to "not become too touristry" and instead be a neighborhood feel.
He said several were also asking that environmentally-friendly lighting be used.
Some residents expressed concern about increased traffic in an already busy corridor, as well as flooding that has occurred in this tract of land.
Alex Piehl, with RGS Associations, said that while geological and drainage studies have not yet been done, no plan would move forward unless those studies came back positive. Storm water plans also must go through a stringent permitting process.
Area concerns also include the area's propensity toward sinkholes.
For the most part, the plan is at least 18 months away, according to Tshudy, who said with all of the meetings and permitting and plan approvals ahead, "We won't be able to turn earth until the first quarter of 2019."
However, several parts of the first phase of the master plan are already moving forward.
These include a building expansion for U-Gro, a possible medical office building, senior-oriented housing adjacent to Grace United Methodist Church, and the transformation of a vacant barn, built in 1861, into a live music venue.
The new barn venue already has a name: "Englewood". According to Jeffrey Sharp, with Loto Station LLC, "We have been looking for a place like this for 10 years."
He said they are looking forward to preserving the well-maintained barn's history--including exposed limestone in the design--to make it a destination spot.
"It will be as good a live music venue of that size as you can find on the east coast," he said.
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| NBC
“Janelle: The future of 230 acres of farmland near Hershey Medical Center will be soon be decided. Danielle Woods is live on the potential development. Danielle: a curious crowd will be all eyes and ears…”
-
Jul 10, 2017 | Fox
“The Hershey Trust Company tonight -- unveiling its plans to develop what it's calling the "Hershey West End." The company plans to develop 230 acres of farmland near Penn State Hershey medical center in a mixed-use neighborhood. At a community meeting tonight in Hummelstown, community members were invited to share their thoughts on the project. The company says the project will include both residential and commercial space -- and about 50 percent of the land will be used as open or public spaces. Paul Ostergaard: "Well this is such a beautiful area and Hershey is such an amazing part of the state, and this is a great location for creating a very high quality community." No word on when development of the "Hershey West End" could begin.”
Traditional Media Coverage
Broadcast Media Coverage
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