I wonder if the person that is chosen to run this scheme knows when to use emails, hardwired phones, and cellphones without ending up in the federal, or state prison system.

Would anyone happen to know, at the conclusion of the evironmental study, if it is possible some of the land would be deemed unsuitable for housing as proposed in plan or does the Navy have to clean the property up to a level that is acceptable for residential housing?

Another "joke" in the whole re-developement crap. Should have kept it an airport.

Thanks Theresa!

If the original farmer who owned the land before Harold Pitcairn or the Navy had "dumped" a quantity of arsenic/nicotine pesicide, would it be the governments responsiblity? Since it was there originally?

No surprise here. The federal government moves very, very slowly. It was known for some time that this redevelopment effort would takes YEARS, perhaps even a decade to start seeing real progress.

Still overjoyed that it will NOT be an airport!

BRAC law has changed. If a business buys land or a building in Willow Grove, THEY are fully responsible for any environmental cleanup. Not Uncle Sam or the Navy. Who will take the chance when there are plenty of business properties for sale or rent? NO ONE. Environmental cleanup can absorb millions of dollars and involve you or your business in a decade of litigation. Think "Love Canal" or "Superfund site".

Which is why the initial attempt was made to keep the runway open and bring in Government agencies or NGO's (non Gov't Organizations) who wanted to get onto a secure, open runway in a strategic area. Government agencies aren't bound by the BRAC restrictions. FEMA wanted to fill the hangars with emergency supplies for a multi-state region, etc. FEMA wanted to move Philadelphia's COOP (Emergency Command Post) to WG. Vaccine makers, old aircraft restoration, etc. to name a few others.

Horsham had a Golden Goose ready to lay THOUSANDS of jobs, tax revenue, etc. It has amazed me to see how easily Horsham residents were manipulated with FALSE reports of FEDEX, UPS, Southwest Airlines and now the ridiculous "Philadelphia Airport overflow". Horsham cast off its' Golden Goose and its' contrary "Economic Plan" will yield hundreds or thousands of low income housing residents who will soak up much of the township's taxes for additional schools, police and emergency services.

Col Gregory Marston (ret)

Just think that was dumped 40 years ago long before the laws we have now. Hey Mc dummy have fun.

Hey ever see Doylestown Airport right in the middle of town no problems Mcdummy

Hey Mike How long have you lived in Horsham a lot less that the Base as been around. Horsham can not even afford to bust up the runway 3 feet thick.

A $5,000.00 check each year might be better than paying $3,000,000 in debt service each year and trying to regain that in "economic development"

Mike Shortall,
Just like the false HLRA claim that the Hanger would be useless to the museum, the $5000.00 per year claim is also false and misleading (self serving), as is the claim that the airport would not be economically viable. All three Bucks County airport Authority run airports are economically viable and the authority believes that the Horsham location would be the most viable. Put another way, if a business (non airliner) airport in Horsham would not be viable given the prime location, no business airport in the country would be viable.
If you go to the www.savewillowgrove.org website and download the airport feasibility study and read it you will see that the payment in lieu of taxes and community contributions line items add up to $15,000 in year one. By year three it is up to $106,000. That is money directly from the airfield and does not include the additional revenue from wage taxes from airport employees.

That tax revenue from airport operations alone is a small part of the picture. The big revenue numbers would come from the business and wage taxes from businesses supporting airport operations and businesses that locate on or near the airport because they need to be near an airport. That includes aerospace or aviation related companies and business headquarters that use business aircraft to visit out of the way manufacturing facilities. There is high demand for an airport in Horsham from those entities as evidenced by the BCAA and Montgomery County interest in the property.

An example of a peripheral business that serves the airport is a rental car agency. Far from that implying a large airliner airport, rental cars are rented by business aircraft users and pilots as well as private pilots visiting the area (I have rented cars many times when flying places in private aircraft). Nowhere near the number of cars rented at Philly international but still a source of revenue for Horsham.

Now contrast all that tax revenue with the HLRA's publicly stated objectives for the base redevelopment. "Tax Neutral"

Not only does the HLRA expect redevelopment to take 15 to 25 years with no tax revenue until then, the HLRA is "hoping" that the property will be tax neutral after that, in other words, zero tax benefit compared to today.

In addition, the HLRA says that housing would likely be built first and that it needs to be high density to make the redevelopment economically viable for a developer. Businesses are proven to contribute more taxes than they get in return and high density homes are proven to contribute less. So, it appears that for at least a few years if not more, there will likely be a negative tax consequence for Horsham residents. Enjoy!

Mike Shortall,

Lastly, I agree that most people that showed up against the airport were afraid of a full fledged commercial airliner airport.

I absolutely do not want that either but I am very comfortable that it would not happen for the many reasons I have stated before.

It was the perfect scare tactic for Horsham Township officials to use to get people to show up and it worked. They got their way thanks to all the people they mis-informed including yourself.

The main stated reason for the HLRA wanting housing is that they want more kids, presumably to offset the decline of kids and or revenue to the school district. Between the high density housing on the base property and the precedence it will set for high density housing off the base property, there should be plenty of kids and the need from more schools. And guess who gets to pay for all that?

Maybe chain gangs of non-violent prisoners from Bucks and Montco could be used to break up part of the runway.

The problem with the cleanup is the word "Consultant". It should be an independent company with no obligations to the Air Base. The difference is the Consultant will only work as directed and provide advice which may or may not be used or made public. However an independent company with no obligations will tell you the way it is, like it or not.
Thank goodness there will be no Airport. It would lower all our property values. Who needs the noise? Also the fact that exhaust from jet fuel is a carcinogen and would constantly rain on us. That fact is a well documented reason cancer rates are significantly higher in areas within 5 miles of an airport.

Mr. Pitcairn why don’t you place the Airport in Bryn Athyn? Or would that ruin your beauty sleep. If you dont live here your opinion means nothing!!!

Lowering property values means lower property taxes

The airbase is in Horsham not in another township and the fate should be decided by township and no carpetbaggers allowed their

Dear Bob, Unfortunately Municipal taxes are supposed to be based upon Municipal need. However why does the Municipal need go up when I add a deck or addition to my house? They re-asses and get more money. I guess they need to add a cop or fireman whenever you improve your house.
All this talk about money and none about the health. Well then again some rich local families in the past would actually inbreed to keep the money in the family. Money was and apparently still is more important to some.

Carbet baggers ? Please, did Horsham pay for the airport NOOOO, the US taxpayer did and that includes the Philadelphia area residents. You moved next to an active airbase your value of propertiy was based on location location location. Now that it is not an airport did your value go up 25%, NOOOO, why not ???? Location Location Location. You talk about losing 800K from the US Taxpayer, its gone, kiss it good by, do you own business and make payroll each week, do the math, you need jobs not funded by uncle sam, the well has run dry. An airport could have been up and running and you got on a soab box and yelled FIRE, CRASH, HOME VALUE. Frankly our highway system in the area kills over 200 people a Year, yes a year, lets shut down all the roads. Airports have nothing to do with Home Value, if so Horsham would be a getto next to a nosiy Navy base with afterburner jets.

Lem, I dont need the money, but I need clean air and enjoy not getting my house buzzed by planes. When I initially moved to Horsham from out of state, they didnt mention the Airport on the home brochure and the house wasnt getting buzzed by planes that day. Though I guess I didnt do enough homework at the time, but when you get transferred you dont always have the time. Anyway I prefer health and quiet over money. If you enjoy airports that much, I am sure you can find a house near one.

where was the oil or petroleum spill along Keith Valley Road that necessitated floating petroleum pigs in the ditch near the airbase fence last year?