The battle of Cardinal Crossing is heating up.
As he hinted he would do, developer Bruce Goodman is hauling Marple Township into court after his plans to develop the former longtime home of the Don Guanella School of Sproul Road were shot down by the township.
You can get all the details here.
Reading between the lines, it's not too hard to see why Goodman is upset.
In his suit, Goodman tries to make the case that township commissioners were all in favor of his plan to convert the 213-acre tract into a massive town center-style development, complete with hundreds of townhouses, retail and entertainment venues.
He alleges the commissioners did not oppose - until the plans became pubic and a huge groundswell of community opposition erupted, putting heat on officials to oppose the development of the pristine woods, one of the last big open chunks in the middle of the county.
In short, Goodman thinks the township pulled the rug out from under him, caving to public pressure to oppose his plans.
Unfortunately, by that time he says he had already invested more than $7 million in the plan.
Now he wants his money back.
The 269-page lawsuit details a series of meetings in which Goodman says he was encouraged to move forward with his plans.
Of course, township commissioners have a slightly different take on Cardinal Crossing. And they're not too happy with Goodman's lawsuit, not the things he is alleging in it.
Yesterday afternoon they released a statement blasting Goodman and the suit.
"Yesterday, attorneys for developer Bruce Goodman filed a salacious lawsuit against Marple Township that was filled with inaccurate characterizations of committee meetings, complete fabrications, and bold face lies," the statement reads. "At no point did the Board of Commissioners convey to the developer that his development would be approved and his characterization of the tone of discussions and meetings with township representatives are completely inaccurate and outrageous.
Commissioners had no prior knowledge of Goodman’s intent to make a $5 million non-refundable deposit to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.In fact, no reasonable person would ever expect that an experienced developer would put down a $5 million non-refundable deposit with no contingencies prior to having the required zoning for a development in place. It defies common sense and good business practice.
"It is ridiculous that Marple Township is being sued and targeted with a meritless complaint full of unwarranted and unsubstantiated statements of fact. The commissioners did our job and worked to ensure that the interests of Marple Township taxpayers and citizens were protected. We will vindicate ourselves and our township in the courts with the expert legal counsel assigned to us by the township’s insurance company."
This one could get real interesting.
In the meantime, the fate of the Don Guanella tract remains unclear.
After Goodman failed to get the final OK for his plans, the archdiocese pulled their agreement of sale. They are on record as saying they still want to sell the site and have put it back on the market.
One of the grassroots groups that opposed the plan, Save Marple Greenspace, has been putting intense pressure on Delaware County Council to preserve the tract. They want the county to put a question on the November ballot to see if the public would support a bond issue to buy the land.
The county is not planning to do that, but they are forming a group to look into the issue of open space, and have had some talks with the archdiocese.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how much collateral damage falls out from Goodman's lawsuit against Marple Township.
You might say hell hath no fury like a developer scorned.
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