The Sun

Garver Decision DelayedFree Access



Garver farm

Garver farm

The Derry Township Board of Supervisors has indefinitely delayed a decision in the long-running controversy over the Garver Farm property.

This 66-acre parcel of land is bounded by Middletown, Stoverdale, and Kaylor roads in western Derry Township, near the new Sheetz store.

The land is owned by the Garver family. The family wants the township to rezone the land so they can sell their property to a private developer, who would then build a community for senior citizens.

But many residents along the Middletown Road corridor strongly oppose this development. They worry about excessive traffic on a road that sometimes gets clogged during rush hour.

Derry Township director of development Chuck Emerick proposed a zoning change at the Feb. 12 board meeting. But after a very brief discussion, Board chairman Susan Cort said she wasn’t sure if the supervisors were prepared to take action at that meeting. Her four colleagues quickly agreed, and no vote was taken.

Photo: Nathan Merkel.

Photo: Nathan Merkel.

Although the supervisors did not explain their decision to take no action, they were undoubtedly influenced by the knowledge that PennDOT has no immediate plans to make road improvements along the Middletown Road corridor.

But at the same meeting, the supervisors voted 5-0 to approve a zoning overlay of a 53.5-acre parcel of land just off route 322 and East Main Street in Hummelstown, near the Grace United Methodist Church. This land, owned by the Milton Hershey School, can now be developed for a senior community. This land is part of the West End zoning district.

Patricia Foster, a Middletown Road-area resident, told The Sun after the meeting, “So the supervisors have okayed the building of a 55+ community off 322 next to Grace United Methodist Church. The few thousand residents along Middletown Road can only hope their delay in allowing an upzoning of the Garver tract means that perhaps they think one of these communities is enough for now?”

‘A Resource of People’

However, during the public comments after the regular meeting, Skip Becker, an announced Democratic candidate for township supervisor, spoke in favor of a new senior community on that site.

“They are not necessarily retirement communities,” he said. “These people work for a living, they just happen to be 55 years or older. Having that core of individuals who are 55-plus and an active adult community gives our community at large a resource of people who are typically educated, have jobs, and have time to provide their community with leadership and life experience.”

He added that these residents can also be a revenue stream who will pay school taxes that benefit everyone.

Gary Garver then spoke passionately about his family’s right to sell half of their 130 acres of farmland to a developer. He said the family has always tried to be good neighbors, even removing chickens, cows and pigs when area residents complained of noise and smell.

He said the family wanted the land to be developed for seniors “because that was the best thing for the township.”

Garver pointed out that traffic on Middletown Road is not as bad as traffic in downtown Hershey, on Route 322, and on Hockersville Road. And he said he didn’t understand the supervisors’ logic in approving the massive West End development for the Hershey Trust “without a real traffic study.”

“Is it collusion, is it discrimination? I don’t know,” Garver said.

He asked the supervisors to reconsider their decision and to work with him, adding, “It’s a legitimate good project for the community.”

‘No Timetable’

When asked after the meeting when action might be taken on rezoning, Cort told The Sun, “There’s no timetable set, and this board or any other board can choose to take action or not take action at any point in the future.”

At a November 2018 supervisors meeting, Emerick told The Sun that the Garvers could sell their land at any time to someone who would comply with current zoning ordinances. The property is currently zoned “C-1 Conservation.” That zoning allows building of single-family, detached homes on lots with a minimum size of 200 feet by 200 feet at a rate of 1 home per 5 net developable acres.

Editor’s Note: For more from the Derry Township supervisors meeting, see Page 15.

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