FYI…This is a PSA. Just came across this on FB
https://saveeasttown.com/devon-issues
Interesting timing considering the loss of Plantation Field venue.
Hope the neighbors rise up and stop this developer and his representative!
NIMBY!!!
Its ok to be “woke” and chastise Trump for stopping rezoning suburbs into places that allow housing projects, but if it affects your horse showing “Oh Hell No!” Lol.
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A very large equestrian estate near me was slowly being surrounded by suburban sprawl… and as the houses crept up to the property fences the writing had seemed to be on the wall. The new neighbors had complained about the horses and any smells or flies that might result. Bear in mind this was a meticulously run farm and very well managed and clean. COVID cancelled all the shows that would have been held there this year and I had not driven that way in many months - until yesterday.
OMG. It is gone. The custom barns. The diamond mesh fences. The run out sheds. The carefully groomed and raked walkways. The indoor arena was still there but the outdoor was a parking lot for construction equipment. All that excellent footing… for bulldozers. Even the stone turret by the gate was gone.
IMO it is a sad thing - and not a LOL.
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Devon isn’t just about “rezoning suburbs”; Devon is history. There is no other venue in the country like Devon, and it’s history dates back over 100 years. Because it is on Philadelphia’s Main Line, it is ridiculously valuable real estate. You aren’t going to get affordable housing placed here- no “projects”. What they are proposing allowing would be very, very expensive condos or apartments- because the Devon train station is across the street, and makes access for Philly professionals a piece of cake.
Trying to equivocate Trump’s vision with this particular property and area is simply silly.
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Happening to not so fancy places here.
Local rinkydink showgrounds had the last show in July.
Family sold off property (who can blame them?) and I expect by next year a subdivision will appear in place of the house, barn, small tack shop, cornfields, etc.
Fields just across the road from this place have already been converted to blocks of lookalike houses.
I count myself VERY fortunate that zoning here changed so less than 10ac cannot be subdivided.
My nearest neighbors are all on small acreages that preclude development, but less than 1/2mi up the road, there are now 5 separate subdivisions that did not exist when I moved here 16yrs ago.
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Not quite the same at Plantation Field…but if you annoy an owner enough…they say enough and sell out.
I figure the Devon Show Ground’s names are numbered. Follow the money.
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You honestly think that this prime property will be used for “housing projects?” lol to you, too.
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I live in the middle of the RV capital of the world. My horse barn is rurally locates, on 120 acres of fields and woods. Basic, county road. Recently, some of the adjacent farmland was sold off. Buyers petitioned for a zoning change from Agricultural to Commercial and got it. Now, a 80 acre “rv inspection facility” is being built - right next to the woods where we trail ride.
The developers advertised that they will employ 100 people and run 350 RVs through a day. Increased traffic, noise, etc. They butchered an area that was otherwise rural when there were existing areas that had capacity to expand manufacturing capacity. All in the name of the tax base.
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You seem nice.
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Change is hard. It was unclear to me whether the proposed re-zoning woud affect the showgrounds itself or just the surrounds - I’m afraid that infil around mass transit is the new wave. If one wants to push back against it, it might be better not to pearl-clutch about a parking garage and how “unsightly” that would be, and focus on more constructive things - the showground’s economic and historic value to the town, for example. Just saying.
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Weird political flex there w.r.t. “wokeness” and loss of horse show venues.
Does that poster realize that there’s a difference between 50 unit-per-acre yuppy apartments and low income housing? The last apartment complex I lived in was over 30 units per acre in a relatively recently redeveloped parcel of former horse country, and it was anything but “the projects”. Were it zoned for 50 units they would have slapped another 4-story building down in lieu of the dog park and picnic area and added another tanning bed to justify the cost of rent through amenities. It was my personal hell, as someone who prefers either urban or rural living, but the neighbors in single family homes nearby weren’t exactly thinking “there goes the neighborhood” when upwardly mobile folks who did want a communal tanning bed started moving in.
When sizeable horse properties sell to developers around my current area we get big signs that say things like “The Preserve at Thunder Horse Meadows: Starting at Low 400s” or “Homestead at Bridle Bluff Pointe: Home Sites Available from 350”. Or in the high density areas, “Coming Soon: The Ranchland Patio Homes” or if you really scrape the bottom of the barrel “Saddle Creek Apartments: Luxury 2BR 1.5Bath! Move-in Specials!” Something tells me it’s not the horse people preventing those sites from turning into public housing…
I always get a little sad to see places I’ve known as open spaces, farms, and equestrian facilities get bulldozed to become more quickly constructed, cookie cutter suburban infill. What can I say, I’m sentimental about trees and streams and critters, and maybe even horse shows. I would find it sad if that fate befell Devon.
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It would be heartbreaking for Devon to be torn down. There must be something the equestrian community on the East Coast can help do to ward off potential proposals. Can it be designated a National Historic Site?
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I see our “NIMBY” poster has slunk back to Alternative Facts Land.
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Ugh, I see the suburban sprawl where I board. There is now a large subdivision that backs up to the farm. It has been well planned and beautiful, but the fields are gone. I always wonder where the animals that built their homes there went. It would be a shame to lose a landmark such as Devon.
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I absolutely don’t want to see Devon taken down and developed but… (zipping up my flame suit here)… it’s a horrible place for a horse show. Historic or not, it’s a logistical nightmare between parking for trailers and spectators, getting in and out of the town, the cramped quarters of the show grounds themselves, etc. I can’t even count the amount of hours I’ve spent at DAD and have some fantastic memories there. But I think it’s time to move to a better suited venue
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I at least think that the “unsightly” parking garage on the vacant lot would be a positive addition, provided it was public. Parking around there is always a nightmare. I realize there’s a slippery slope when it comes to development, but even if the zoning is changed much of the property in question still belongs to the horse show foundation. I believe it’s pretty typical for existing uses to be grandfathered in, and I don’t know that they could be forced to sell it. The threat of development on the showgrounds itself might only be an issue far in the future.
It is the cost of defense that is the killer. Speaking as a member of a municipal zoning board…if it gets to the level of rancor that is apparent here, there are lawyers, lots of lawyers, involved. I would ask: what, if anything, is the USDF or the USEA doing to help Devon out? Or, as seems to be the pattern, are the horse sport umbrella organizations just leaving the landowners and event organizers out to dry?
What, in fact, is the horse industry doing to protect its land and its venues?
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:lol:
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Useful information here; https://www.nps.gov/subjects/histori…on/protect.htm
You could get it added to the National Register of Historic Places https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation…n_Pennsylvania
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