The court’s decision reverses a Commonwealth Court ruling and represents the latest obstacle to Cornerstone Communities, a 216-unit apartment complex. Residents against the ordinance said the ruling is the first step in overturning the ordinance and preventing the construction of the apartment complex.

 

Developer David Della Porta said the decision will have no effect on construction because it only applies to the 2001 zoning ordinance, not the 2003 ordinance. There has been an appeal concerning the plan for Cornerstone Communities, but Della Porta said it addresses minor issues. He said he hopes to begin construction within the next few months.

Township attorney Frone Crawford, however, said he believes all of the appeals will have to be resolved before construction can begin. He said the court’s decision could delay construction six to nine months.

Della Porta has said the apartment complex is an example of smart, environmentally friendly planning. Township officials have said the plan for Cornerstone Communities allows the municipality to preserve a higher percentage of open space, which will be donated to the township. The Villanova-based developer said the ordinance allows the township to concentrate development in areas that already have a lot of infrastructure such as roads and telephone lines, and preserve the rural areas.

"Residents who complain don’t understand the issues," Della Porta said.

Some township residents and members of a nonprofit community group have repeatedly challenged Della Porta’s plans, claiming it will ruin the township’s rural character and cause a severe increase in traffic.

"The township is elected by constituents and should do what the constituents desire," said Melissa Bertolami, whose husband, Michael, is listed as one of the petitioners of the appeal. "The ordinance will sacrifice the countryside for four or five acres of open space."

By allowing construction of developments like Cornerstone Communities, the ordinance will cause a severe increase in traffic and ruin the pastoral beauty of the countryside, Bertolami said.

Jason Phillips, president of Residents for Smart Development, has said the ordinance allows Della Porta and other developers to subvert the township’s zoning ordinance by allowing construction on precautionary slopes, which are defined in the ordinance as land that has a 15 to 25 percent slope over a minimum distance of six feet.

Phillips has said his group has spent more than $60,000 in legal expenses fighting the zoning ordinance and the proposed apartment complex. On the Residents for Smart Development Web site, Phillips wrote that the zoning ordinance strips West Vincent citizens of their right to participate in the legislative process.

He and other residents have said Cornerstone Communities and other developments that may follow it will destroy the township’s pastoral beauty.

Della Porta originally proposed 89 single-family homes and 91.5 acres of preserved open space for the site, called the Griffith farm tract. After being told to revise the plan by township officials, he drew up a proposal for 216 apartments, 10 single-family homes and almost 101 acres of preserved open space.

The plan was not permitted under the current zoning, but in December 2001 supervisors approved changes that allowed for the development of Cornerstone Communities. That decision has resulted in numerous appeals and protests from residents.

"This is just one more step in the litigation that has now been ongoing for several years," Crawford said.