Over-developing in small towns like Newtown? (Lansdale, Washington: how much, houses, to live in)

[tommy92l]

I'm from Newtown and I can't help but notice the constant rate of new buildings going up.

If you're familiar with the town, on State St. by Starbucks there was an old Sherman Williams that has recently been torn down. You see, before that it was a Chrysler dealership so the back lot is MASSIVE.

They've torn that down, and are also tearing down the liquor store (The 2 back lots connect) and rebuilding it on the new area of land.


Anyway, I've just noticed that the town is almost not equipped to handle the traffic it has. People sitting in the middle of intersections because not enough cars can make it through the light.

I'm sure most of us can deal with it, but it would be hard to say it's not noticeable.

Just thought I'd ask to see what any of you thought.

I remember years ago people wishing that Newtown had some "attractions" so to speak, but wow. This is really a lot of building.

[mr.magoo]

I fel your pain tommy,
I live not far from you on the Jersey Side and lived in Yardley Borough for a stretch in the 1980s.

the small town feel of Newton, Richboro, et.al is and has been diminishing for quite some time now...becoming one large suburb of Philly as farms and Mom and Pop stores in the former quaint little hamlets are being swallowed up.

What used to be scenic drives in my sports car thru the bucolic farmland and the funky little towns of Lower and Upper Makefield townships with old 'Stoney's' and Victorian houses are now nightmarish traffic jams with one strip mall after another...

I remember when they first built BCCC and what an impact that made on Newtown.

Thank God for Farmland Preservation or there would not be a single working farm left in the area...
Some of the most fertile, flat, and picturesque farm acreage in the US is now sprouting McMansions.

What really upsets me is the influx of Philly people who move to the area to be 'in the country' and then raise holy hell about the smell of fertilizer and getting stuck behind a farm vehicle on their commute.

[tommy92l]

Originally Posted by mr.magoo

I fel your pain tommy,
I live not far from you on the Jersey Side and lived in Yardley Borough for a stretch in the 1980s.

the small town feel of Newton, Richboro, et.al is and has been diminishing for quite some time now...becoming one large suburb of Philly as farms and Mom and Pop stores in the former quaint little hamlets are being swallowed up.

What used to be scenic drives in my sports car thru the bucolic farmland and the funky little towns of Lower and Upper Makefield townships with old 'Stoney's' and Victorian houses are now nightmarish traffic jams with one strip mall after another...

I remember when they first built BCCC and what an impact that made on Newtown.

Thank God for Farmland Preservation or there would not be a single working farm left in the area...
Some of the most fertile, flat, and picturesque farm acreage in the US is now sprouting McMansions.

What really upsets me is the influx of Philly people who move to the area to be 'in the country' and then raise holy hell about the smell of fertilizer and getting stuck behind a farm vehicle on their commute.

I live right by a farm so trust me, I love the scenic attributes.

The drives here are just unparalleled.

But yes, I am glad you feel my pain, haha! To be honest, I never really thought much of it until I realized that the traffic was becoming consistently worse.

Now, even if we had traffic that functioned smoothly, fine. But where people are sitting in the middle of the street because the road isn't big enough? It's over the top !

[theatergypsy]

tommy, I'm familiar with Newtown - the old Newtown - since I used to live in Bucks County and my late brother was Mayor of Langhorne Manor Borough for many years. Newtown was always a quaint little town and the term bucolic certainly applied back in the day. But as people tried to escape the congestion and traffic of the cities, towns like Newtown soon ended up being what they were trying to escape.


That being said, Newtown isn't in northeastern PA - or NEPA. It's still southeastern PA. Here in NEPA, we have our own set(s) of problems, so I'm not sure you're going to find much more comment here than "I feel your pain."


Nice to hear from you.

[mr.magoo]

well tom,
you got three comments so far...for this sleepy old NEPA section of CD that's quite a feat...

most people here saw their shadow a few days ago and went back into hibernation.

[tommy92l]

LOL! I feel accomplished!

Thanks though guys, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one.

[mr.magoo]

Hey Tommy, I guess you know they closed the Falls Bridge for a few months...
That should cut down us NJ riff raff coming into Bucks for awhile...

ooops, just remembered I have a Dentist appt. on Tuesday in Washington's Crossing...guess I'm going to have to take that narrow bridge in from Titusville.

[thunderkat59]

I have lived all over PA and left due in some part to the slaughter/over-development of it that started in the 80's. I was on committees to fight it and we just spent a lot of our own money and got burnt out, so we just left. But, the universe works in weird ways and we are coming back. Newtown, Lansdale, Quakertown etc, are where we think it will be. Don't know where I'm going with this, but yeah, you aren't the only one!

[tommy92l]

Not to keep dragging on but I drove by it today and remembered that last summer I would go biking in the backlots and what not.

It hit me that it was simply massive. It really expands quite far. Check out the google maps image.

Now I'm not 100% sure that ALL of this will be turned into a new center but the 2 buildings toward the bottom of the photo are already gone.



really though, put into perspective how much of a congestion that will cause.

[Gerania]

I haven't been to Newtown in at least six years. My first visit was in 2005 (I think) and it was already too late.