Part II: Hylton’s Way…or the Highway
Save Our Land, Save Pottstown – Just Say No
Part II of a three part series of articles on Tom Hylton and why he should not be reappointed to a fourth term on the Pottstown Planning Commission
POTTSTOWN, PA – In our first article of the series, Part I: A Power Trip Benefiting One Man, we shared with our readers how Tom Hylton led the Pottstown Planning Commission from one bad decision to another since being named to the commission in 1999. In this, the second article of the series, we will examine Hylton and the damage he inflicted to Pottstown using the commission as his weapon of mass obstruction from 2003-2006.
Zone of His Own
In 2001 Pottstown taxpayers caught a glimpse of the next crusade about to be forced fed to them by Tom Hylton and his merry planning commission… rewriting the borough zoning code.
As no surprise, Hylton’s former employer, The Mercury, published an editorial lavishing heaping helpings of praise on his idea of rewriting Pottstown’s zoning ordinance…even making the claim that a rewritten ordinance will be key to Pottstown’s revitalization. And yes folks…that was ten years ago. So where is our revitalization?? Has anyone seen it? Did it bypass Pottstown and go directly to Phoenixville??
Tom Hylton spent two years furiously rewriting the zoning ordinance (as well as hiring and firing planning professionals from Montgomery County during the process) and in September of 2003, borough council adopted the newly written ordinance. Hylton collected over $100,000 in grant money to rewrite the ordinance (and don’t ask him for a detailed listing of how that grant money was spent…because he won’t provide it to you…it all went into the Trees, Inc./Save My Ass, Save My Grant Money/Preservation Hylton/Save It for the Next Election Campaign fund).
And while we’re speaking of money…Hylton has detailed information on the ordinance available on his Save Our Land website (just in case any other community wants to hire Tom to speak at their next event so he can discuss…ad nauseum…how well he worked with his fellow citizens to successfully rewrite the ordinance that has revitalized Pottstown…because, don’t forget, that the rewritten zoning code can be a “blueprint for other older communities that want to use zoning as a tool to protect architectural and historic heritage”). The big question is…has it attracted…or repelled…new businesses?? Once again…take a look around Pottstown. How many new businesses have come to town over the past seven years as a result of our “blueprint” ordinance?
One of the biggest flaws in the ordinance is the fact that every little project has to come before the planning commission for denial/approval. Why is that? Why is an architect required to be at every planning commission meeting? Who is paying for that? That certainly is above and beyond the scope of a municipal planning commission. And it was all orchestrated by Tom Hylton when he rewrote the ordinance. Why was this done? So that Tom Hylton can have full control over what gets denied or approved in his little 1950s mad scientist project known as Pottstown.
Riddle us this Batman…if this ordinance has been so successful for Pottstown over the past ten years why did borough council feel compelled to set up a Zoning Ordinance Review Committee during its July 12, 2010 meeting? And don’t bother looking for coverage on the formation of that committee in The Mercury…because they never reported on it (there’s just too many doggone fires and car crashes in the tri-county area that demand news coverage).
Let’s face the facts. The zoning ordinance rewritten by Tom Hylton and adopted in 2003 has been an absolute and unequivocal economic disaster for Pottstown. While Hylton loves the fact that it keeps Pottstown firmly entrenched in a 60 year old bygone era…we are now in the 21st century…and the ordinance continues to drive home the simple fact that Pottstown is an unfriendly and overly complicated place to do business. Which means that potential businesses will bypass Pottstown for more business friendly municipalities…thanks to Tom Hylton and his “user-friendly” ordinance.
But don’t take our word for it. Check out the Pottstown Economic Development Strategic Plan released in March of 2008 by Gannett Fleming, an international planning, design, and construction management firm. The plan is also available on the borough’s website.
In the plan, it specifically states that the borough needs to “Rewrite zoning requirements in the urban core to encourage good-quality urban-style housing.” (Section 3.5, page 4)
It also states that the borough needs to “Review the Borough zoning ordinance to identify opportunities to make provisions and requirements more clear and predictable. The Borough should retain the services of a consultant with experience in preparing zoning ordinances to review the Borough zoning code.” (Section 1.9, page 18)
In the Opportunities and Challenges section of the plan (starting on page 40), under the Difficult Development Process subheader, reads the following: “The process for obtaining development permits and planning approval within the Borough can be unwieldy and slow. There is a perceived lack of clarity and specificity in the zoning code’s provisions and requirements, which can result in delays in the development permitting and approval process as requirements that should be clearly defined are negotiated. The resulting increased costs in time and money may discourage potential developers.”
Ouch! Maybe Pottstown should have hired a consultant with experience in preparing zoning ordinances to rewrite our ordinance…instead of allowing it to be done by a volunteer history major who has no professional planning credentials or degree in urban planning.
And how did Tom Hylton handle the release of this damning 2008 plan? He set his sights on Terri Lampe, the then Economic Development Director for Pottstown, after she stated the following in a February 2008 Mercury article, “This is planning, that we have not seen around here before and a lot of people are on board with it.” Guess who wasn’t on board with that comment and was instrumental in getting Lampe fired from her position with the borough in December of that year? So, thanks to Tom Hylton, the office of Pottstown’s economic development director has been dark and fruitless during the past two+ years.
This Paid Advertisement Has Not Been Endorsed by the Pottstown School District
On Monday, February 28, 2005 a “paid advertising supplement” was included as an insert in the printed edition of The Mercury. The long-winded title of the long-winded paid advertisement was Pottstown Planning Commission – Pottstown Elementary School and Pre-school Education Options, an independent report by David Anstrand, Educational Facilities Planner.
Does that name David Anstrand ring a bell? It should. Anstrand is a long time crony of Tom Hylton’s who gets contacted regularly to make Hylton’s pie in the sky proposals sound more professional then they actually are. After Hylton bought himself a seat on the Pottstown school board in 2009, Hylton contacted Anstrand and asked him to give a geothermal heat pump presentation on January 19, 2010 to the now defunct Neighborhood Schools Committee. Anstrand also was contacted by Hylton to critique the Washington Street Neighborhood Initiative project in 2006.
Once again over-stepping his planning commission authority, commission chair Tom Hylton wrote, dictated and published the 2005 educational manifesto. Hylton stated that the manifesto was paid for through a private foundation. Was that perhaps the Tom Hylton-George Wausnock private foundation??
According to a March 8, 2005 article in The Mercury, Hylton “raised the hackles of school officials” with the publication of the paid advertisement, which forced Hylton to include disclaimers in the final version that the paid advertisement was not endorsed by the school district. Hylton also used, without district permission, images of PSD children, which is an irrefutable invasion of privacy.
Probably the most annoying aspect of the paid advertisement was that it never once mentioned the tremendous cost savings to Pottstown taxpayers by eliminating all of the district’s 40+ year old elementary schools in favor of one consolidated new facility. Every one of the five options outlined included costs to renovate all five district elementary schools. And you wonder why Pottstown’s taxes are so high.
This was also the comedic advertisement that suggested renting space from downtown churches (in addition to spending $16-17 million to renovate the five district elementary schools) as a hodge-podge of buildings to use as classroom teaching space.
The Washington Street Neighborhood Initiative
An image of the proposed PSD central campus which would have bordered King, Washington, Warren and Walnut Streets.
In 2004 the Pottstown School District was developing a plan to build an early education center in the middle of Washington Street in the block between King and Chestnut Streets. It would be at this early education center, where all the district’s kindergarten and pre-kindergarten students would be taught.
Governor Rendell expressed a strong interest in the project and hinted at state funding. Private partners were also being pursued to help keep the construction costs to a minimum.
And, of course, Tom Hylton was interested in the idea. Although his interest was only in sabotaging the idea, as it didn’t play well with what he wanted…and that was to build an unprecedented and unnecessary sixth elementary school on the borough owned lot at the corner of High and Evans Streets. So, as chair of the planning commission, Hylton took it upon himself to throw as many obstacles as he could into the path of progress to make sure the district’s Washington Street Initiative (which evolved into the community centers school concept) would never come to fruition…because after all…the school district already made it well known that they were not interested in Hylton’s unsolicited uneducated advice. Hylton’s ideas on the matter were made clear in the February 28 16-page paid advertisement in The Mercury, and those ideas were plainly not in the best interests of Pottstown taxpayers, nor their children.
At an April 27, 2005 meeting between the planning commission and the school board, patience levels were pushed to the limit as Tom Hylton continually crossed the line in making decisions on the school board’s behalf, while overstepping his role as a member of the planning commission. Jim Fairchild, Pottstown’s then Economic Development Director and also a member of the planning commission, said it best during the meeting: “The planning commission should be concerning itself with subdivisions and land development plans, not educational philosophy.”
In March of 2006, Tom Hylton (wearing his planning commission chairman hat) authored an antagonistic critique of the proposed Washington Street Neighborhood Initiative, after he saw his neighborhood schools myth exposed for the fraud that it is with the proposal to close all five 40+ year old elementary schools and replace them with a progressive and centralized elementary campus in the center of town that would benefit all Pottstown citizens and put Pottstown on the map as an innovative pro-education town. After a March 8 borough council closed-door executive session (perhaps a culture of secrecy?), Hylton was named as a member of the newly formed four member task force to oversee the Washington Street project, having replaced the borough’s Economic Oversight Committee (which was made up of officials from the school district, borough council and local businesses). Again, as no surprise, Hylton found faults with the plan and brought forth his crony consultants to shoot down the plan. Mary Werner DeNadai, David Anstrand and Will Selman are three of the cast of characters Hylton solicited to comment on the plan. Will Selman is a planning analyst who was frequently consulted by Tom Hylton as he was disastrously re-writing the borough’s zoning ordinance. As longtime SP readers will recall, DeNadai accompanied Hylton last February when the two of them (along with Pottstown school board member Valerie Harris) toured Rupert Elementary prior to the closing of an RFP that DeNadai’s firm was potentially bidding on.
For comprehensive information (articles, videos, presentations, etc.) on the history of the elementary schools projects of the Pottstown School District, be sure to check out their website.
Still on the fence about whether Pottstown Borough Council should reappoint Tom Hylton to a fourth term on the borough planning commission? Then stay tuned for the third and final article of our three part series.
“Trees, Inc./Save My Ass, Save My Grant Money/Preservation Hylton/Save It for the Next Election Campaign fund”
Ha! That really says it all. It’s all about “Preservation Hylton.” You know what else says a lot? The fact that publication of a minor coffee table book in 1995 is still Mr. Hylton’s main claim to fame. Let’s remember: Hylton’s book was mostly about abandoning suburban sprawl in favor of more densely populated, walkable cities and towns. He didn’t invent the concept. He simply wrote a coffee table book about communities that were already succeeding at making towns as attractive to consumers as suburban McMansions.
Hylton’s book advocates concentrating development in towns like Pottstown. So why has he worked tirelessly to prevent any meaningful development here? He has raged against projects that would increase walkability and make Pottstown more attractive to upwardly mobile residents.
Oddly enough, one of the editorial reviews of his book on Amazon.com says Hylton’s book contains a plan “to recapture communities that existed in the ’50s and ’60s.” Isn’t that what Save Pottstown has been saying all along? That Hylton is stuck on this idea of turning back the clock? Well, we can’t turn back time. We can’t force women to stay at home and bake cookies while the kids are at school. We can’t go back to single-income families, jobs for life, and – no matter how walkable we make our towns – we probably can’t enforce single-car families either.
No matter how we may wax nostalgic, we must move forward. We can’t follow Hylton back to the 50′s. He can’t bring back Firestone, Bethlehem Steel, and Doehler Jarvis. And we can’t save our town by protecting urban decay and blight. And yet the latter seems to be as important to Hylton as the former.
Please bear with me as I repeat myself. The ONLY reason I have to live in Pottstown is to send my children to the school district. I can work, play, and shop in Pottstown without being a resident. In real estate advertising, after the size of the home, condition, etc. is a list of the ratings of the school district. Right now, if I wwere compairing my house that I have in Pottstown, with my dad’s in North Coventry, which are about the same size, neighborhood and tax bill, I would be in North Coventry because of the schools. That may not be the nicest thing to say, but “it is what it is”
PS, fix the school district, and the town will follow.
Has it ever come up in any discussion to build something new with a design embracing the age of the town? Couldn’t that be a compromise that allows for a little from ‘column A’ and a little from ‘column B’? Why must we always return to the preservation and neighborhoods of old?
Any fool (well, maybe not) can see that these elementary buildings don’t hold the same weight they once did – they are no longer anchors in the community, they are crutches some people are clinging to since they are too timid to walk a new walk. I can assure people if I were looking at only the comparisons ‘on paper’ of adjacent towns Pottstown would fall to the bottom of the list – as it stands at present.
I find it odd, too, that a man with so much to say goes after people when they don’t agree instead of engaging in debate and reaching common ground. This says a great deal about the underlying character of a person and their confidence in what they are doing.
I, personally, feel that anyone that can’t see the other point of view and then reprioritize what they are fighting for as weak and scared. It takes a person of stong character to put their personal wants aside and meet in the middle. Writing something just doesn’t make it so. Allowing yourself to be vulnerable and admit you are wrong or unlearned shows a willingness to get it right.
It is not/should not be a character flaw to stand up and say, “I was wrong or missed the mark.” You won’t hear that from ‘Tom who knows best’ – I could be wrong?
I think the model of the 50′s/60′s town life isn’t a good one to follow. Basing much of what a person says on a 15 year old book speaks to the narrow view of the ‘big picture’, like cropping the photo and cutting heads off the people you are trying to showcase in the image. In this technological age isn’t 15 year old thought way outdated? Studying trends has its place and provides valid information but relying on it without adaptation to today’s lifestyles and trends is a mistake of epic proportion!!
It is a shame that Terri Lampe was let go but given her new knowledge and workings with the SD and extensive Boro knowledge it seems she a person that should be called upon to unite the two entities (Boro & SD) to help them help eachother and usher in a comprehensive plan that builds community – from boundry to boundry and everything in between! Maybe Tom did us all a favor, in disguise?
Thanks, but enough is enough. Put tired ideas and plans to rest, sir, and let someone else have a go. Don’t ask for your seat, your time has come. As we reflect upon your tenure on the Planning Commission we note that it is time to change course and rewrite some of the things you have done.
The better part of the historic buildings here are crying out for lack of attention or because of the wrong kind of attention, (uncharacteristic aluminum siding and the like). We are fast approaching a point of no return for many of the older buildings. New, efficent and innovative architecture can intergrate nicely into older towns. The juxtoposition of well maintained historic homes and businesses, thoughtfully complimented by new homes and buildings, suggests a regard for the past while honoring the pragmatic realities of the present and future. I find towns and cities that accomplish this very appealing indeed.
To this end, Pottstown need progressive thinkers, doers and team players. Time is of the essence if we are to attract the young, energeic, and spiritied generations. Borough leaders of the past share in the missed opportunities to make sensible choices, (they clearly had their own agendas), while one man, who claimed to know “everything” laid claim to the ill concieved notions of yore. Time for Change.
What fine, sensible and well versed responses to all these truths regarding Hylton. It is time to cast personal agendas aside and become progressive thinkers who work together and move our borough forward. Save Pottstown, what an article…thank you once again for keeping concerned citizens well informed. I think anyone with a computer should invite their neighbors, relatives and friends who do not have computers over to view everything on your web site. Hopefully more people will have this knowledge prior to going to the polls in the upcoming primary election!
I read the bookmarked articles. even if I agreed with Tom Hylton’s agenda, their is a conflict of interest here. If the school decides to do something with the elementary schools that he doesn’t agree with, he can use the planning commission to interfere with the process. No one should hold that many seats of power in any town.