Survey Stakes Spotted At Penn's Woods Winery 2022

Jan 18, 2022

Last April we reported that Penns Woods Winery tried to put a fence around an additional 11 acres beyond their currently leased acreage in the First State National Historical Park. This would have blocked access to one of the best plateau trails in Beaver Valley and fenced off public land for private use just before the National Park Service was to add that land to the new national park unit. After a public outcry, the original fence line was reestablished, but as we mentioned at the time, this probably wasn’t the end of the winery owners’ attempt to alter that area of the new park.

Now they’re back. Not only does it look like the large meadow adjacent to the vineyard could be enclosed in the near future by the winery; the owners have submitted a zoning amendment which would allow commercial use at an important gateway to the national park. Of course, the NPS could block any high impact use of land adjoining its parkland by using eminent domain, a measure it has used several times across the country to protect other parks.

The “zoning text amendment” submitted by Penns Woods Winery would change the allowable use in that area from residential to commercial in a long established neighborhood dating back to the 1920s. If Concord Council approves this zoning change – which they are under no obligation to do – it would allow for the commercial processing of wine in a new facility and, as the winery’s attorney clumsily admitted at the most recent meeting, large banquet facilities. All of this would be built either on or immediately adjacent to National Park Service land. The new zoning, however, would likely apply to all 31 acres or so of NPS leased land. Curiously, the National Park Service staff and acting director at the First State National Historical Park were not invited to the last meeting, or as far as we know, the upcoming January 25th meeting on this matter. This will be held at the Concord Township building (7pm).

In addition to the troubling zoning amendment, new survey stakes have appeared around the seven acre “high meadow” adjacent to the vineyard. If you recall, these acres were threatened by two different development plans proposed by a very large donor to Concord’s political machine in 2012 and 2014. It took five years, tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, thousands of hours by hundreds of volunteers, and millions from Mt. Cuba to save this land.

 Now this beautiful vista could once again be threatened, this time by eight foot high plastic netting and fencing. The location of these survey stakes (see pics), incidentally, is bewildering for another reason: if the winery owners had ever had the rights to enclose any additional land as they have previously claimed, they would have supported Save the Valley’s efforts to protect Beaver Valley. But they did not. They were not only silent about the developments that would have hemmed in their vineyard, blocked the views of Beaver Valley, and appropriated acres they had legal rights to; they even called the police on us for the crime of distributing “awareness raising” flyers at a free fireworks event on Beaver Valley Road on July 4, 2014.

To find out just what the winery is entitled to, we recently submitted a Freedom of Information Request (FOIA)to the National Park Service to obtain a copy of the winery’s lease of this public land. How many acres does the winery legally lease? What is the term of the lease and what do
they pay in rent to fence off public parkland? What activities does the lease permit, among other things? These are fair questions to the extent that taxpayers have a right to know whether it’s even worth renting out public land to a for-profit corporation. What do we get in return? How much revenue does it really generate for the park? And is that revenue less than what they would pay in property taxes if they owned the land outright?

We got a surprising reply to our FOIA request. First we were told that “the National Park Service has no record of the requested lease.” Then after follow up emails, we got an even more disappointing answer saying that the real estate firm of Patterson Schwartz has the lease.

We then reached out to Patterson Schwartz and a representative of their office said that they don’t have the authority to disclose the lease but that they previously sent a copy of it to the National Park Service! We then asked FOIA officer, Jessica McHugh if NPS could get the lease from Patterson Schwartz and forward it on. She repeated the same denials. We then asked the acting superintendent Martina Meyers if she could obtain the lease but we did not hear back from her. We can’t be alone in thinking that there’s something fishy going on here, right?

Is it possible that the winery does not even HAVE an official, legally binding lease at all and whether they’ve fenced off 31 acres of public land without a contract with the NPS? Or does the lease stipulate an absurdly low lease fee and that’s not something NPS wants known? A reasonable person could be forgiven for thinking that they’re is trying to hide something. Why won’t they provide the lease?

Please attend the Concord Township meeting on January 25th at 7 pm. This is the second hearing for the Penns Woods Winery rezoning amendment which would change the zoning in that area of Beaver Valley Road from residential to commercial. This would allow for wine processing facilities and a large banquet hall in or immediately adjoining the First State National Historical Park.

Urge Chris Coons' and Tom Carper's offices to ask that they insist that NPS release Penns Woods Winery's lease.

https://www.carper.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email- senator-carper

https://www.coons.senate.gov/contact

Stay tuned. Spread the word!

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