By Saktisri Gowrishankar, Staff Reporter

Some residents of Willistown Township are calling for the conservation of historic Rock Hill Farm after the publication of plans to develop the land.

Rock Hill Farm is rich in environmental, historical and sentimental value. The family of Tristram C. Colket Jr. owned the 246-acre property before land developer J. Brian O’Neill purchased the land for $25.4 million in December 2021.

O’Neill plans to convert the land into 22 luxury homes, but many Willistown citizens and administrators have expressed disapproval for the plan from a legal and personal standpoint. Save Rock Hill is one group of these citizens dedicated to preserving the farm through persuasive emails and letters to the township. Willistown Township Supervisor Bob Lange hopes Rock Hill will remain development-free, mainly because of his background as a farmer.

“Once (the farm is) developed, it’s never going to come back. That’s the problem we’re facing: we as a society in the United States are the first ones to criticize Brazil for taking down that rainforest, but then we do the same thing up here to a smaller degree. It’s really frustrating for me to watch this happen, especially being a farmer,” Lange said.

On Feb. 15, the township held a hearing at General Wayne Elementary School to review landscape plans submitted by developers to the Willistown Planning Commission. Willistown has held multiple hearings over the past two years, many of which members of Save Rock Hill attended. The Commission is at a standstill when it comes to making a decision.

According to Supervisor Lange, this lull in action is due to the developers repeatedly submitting plans that don’t comply with Willistown zoning regulations.

Members of the Willistown Conservation Trust have been closely involved with the developers’ plans as they discuss what will remain open land. Executive Director Kate Etherington and Director of Land Protection Erik Hetzel notes that the tributary that flows through the farm to Crum Creek and the habitat for wildlife are what make it an asset to the community and viable for conservation.

“Conservation is important at any time because land is a commodity. Natural land areas are commodities that aren’t being created; they’re being used up,” Hetzel said.

Development has not been uncommon in Chester County over the past 10 years. Various developing companies have turned old farmhouses like the 770 Dorlan Mill Rd. home, significant for the Dorlan family’s paper mill, and the 1010 Hershey Mill Rd property, significant for its acres of farmland, like Rock Hill, into newer residences.

Hetzel doesn’t believe overdevelopment is currently a glaring problem.

“I grew up near Great Valley High School in the 1970s and it was nothing but farm fields. And overdevelopment is a loaded term,” Hetzel said. “It’s what I saw going around me when I was growing up that inspired me to become a land planner to stop it. And what I learned from that is you can’t necessarily stop it. But you can do better.”

Saktisri Gowrishankar can be reached at [email protected]