It is a near empty and vast landscape, an accidental meadow that offers the apocalyptic terrain of a Cormac McCarthy novel and the sad reminder of a vanished period in New Garden Township where a business once stood that now stands frozen in time. How odd, the reporter thought, that all of this unkempt wilderness grown from the twin forces of neglect and time has evolved over time into its own invented ecosystem.

Odder still, the reporter thought, that for all of its nothingness, this property has become the most controversial patch of land in recent New Garden Township history, one that has been discussed, argued for and against and coveted by land developers who through the thicket of untamed growth have ogled at the potential for progress and profit.

Now, a Maryland-based developer known as Stonewall Capital is planning a massive, $300 million, mixed-use development there, and all indicators point to the creation of a 235-acre project that will include 622 residential units, a grocery store, a Wawa convenience store and additional retail space, with townhomes, villas, one-over-one condominiums and single-family homes that are likely to fetch between $300,000 to $1 million.

As the White Clay Point mixed-use development plan continues to plow its way through approval, however, residents continue to hammer away at anyone who will listen – township supervisors, the township manager, the developer, the Chester County Press reporter and themselves – in an effort to sound the alarm that this development will destroy the beauty and persona of the township forever. The township’s identity is worth saving, they preach.

What beauty, what persona and what identity the Chester County Press reporter asked himself, can possibly be found in the rubble of this dilapidated eyesore? Is it found in a township that has lost its general store that once served as its key identity? Is it found in its last remaining historic landmarks, that struggle to remain vibrant and standing? Is it found in the local mushroom industry that continues to spew harmful chemicals into the atmosphere, unchecked by authorities?

*    *    *    *

Standing in the middle of an acre of broken concrete, the Chester County Press reporter came to a conclusion that many who live near the site have struggled to admit for decades – that there is no there there in New Garden Township. Once a thriving farming community, it has been reduced to largely a drive-by municipality, nearly devoid of anything to draw the attention of those who use Route 41 as a thorofare to get to Delaware or to Kennett Square or to the gorgeous Chester County countryside.    

There have been efforts to create a more lasting imprint. Over the last few years – in various starts and stops – the government of New Garden Township has sought to fully engage the municipality in the new century by creating place markers in the landscape. They continue to reinvent New Garden Township Park as a destination for families and visitors who attend events there. They have helped to convert the former Loch Nairn Golf Course into The Smedley Preserve for use as a 105-acre passive-recreation preserve. In 2018, the township acquired the 137-acre property on Limestone Road formerly known as St. Anthony’s in the Hills parish day camp and are in the second stage of transforming it into open space and a passive natural park filled with trails.

And yet, to a significant portion of the more than 12,000 residents of New Garden Township, “progress” – in any shape or form – remains the ugliest word in the local vocabulary. They continue to reject the plans for White Clay Point, despite the fact that according to projections, the development will create more than 400 new jobs – 2,800 jobs during construction - and generate $54 million annually for the township.

In their desire to return New Garden Township to “the way it used to be, before all this development ruins it,” these residents do not acknowledge that Stonewall Capital is proposing to make a $26.8 million investment in projects that will improve the township, not ruin it.  Among its lengthy punch list will be the restoration of the Rowan House and the George Taylor Barn, two historic structures that are desperately in need of repair; creating access trails from the development to New Garden Hills; rehabilitating sewer lines, and in partnership with PennDOT, developing a new site access on Sunny Dell and Reynolds roads, a realignment of Sheehan and Sharp roads, upgrades to the Sunny Dell Road and Route 41 intersection; and widening Route 41 in each direction at the development’s entrance.

*    *    *    *

The winter winds whipped through the barren acreage of White Clay Point in the sad tenor of a choir during a funeral ceremony. The Chester County Press reporter peered over ledges, trudged further away from Route 41 into a thick growth of trees and waded into the golden brine of a meadow. Yes, he thought, White Clay Point will indeed alter the identity of New Garden Township. Yes, it will bring more people and more cars and more children who will fill area schools, but in order for any municipality to survive, its people and its leaders must accept the act of progress as an inevitable component of its future.

Over the next several months, it will be crucial for the township’s key officials to host public forums for feedback. Vision held in an insular bubble of blueprints and presentations eventually leads to blindness, so in an effort to invite local residents to become stakeholders, it will be a wise and gracious gesture on behalf of the principles of Stonewall Capital to hold a boots-on-the-ground tour of the property and invite the residents of New Garden Township to join them. 

True and sound progress achieved through insight and inclusion, the reporter thought as he drove away from the stark panorama of what will become White Clay Point, does not always end in calamity. Sometimes, with the help of others, it creates place markers in the landscape.

Sometimes, it invents a new There.