Towamencin hears details of road realignment, more units on Freddy Hill site

Township officials last week saw a new plan for developing the Freddy Hill Farms site with 338 housing units and a four-way intersection, both changes from previous plans.

Township officials and residents sounded off on those plans on Wednesday night with concerns about the added density.

The creation of the intersection at Sumneytown Pike and Troxel Road would be made possible with the sale of a home there, the developer said.

“The Seipt family has decided that Vern will sell his home, across from Troxel, to us as part of the development, to facilitate a realigned intersection,” said Pinnacle Realty Development principal Tony Maras. “There is a small increase in yield, as shown — I think we’re at 338 total units, up from the 321.”

The Seipt family is closing Freddy Hill Farms and Freddy’s Family Fun Center at the end of this season after more than five decades operating on Sumneytown Pike. Freddy Hill originated in the early 1970s when Joanne and Fred Seipt expanded a dairy farm into a store, processing plant, ice cream parlor and entertainment complex that includes two miniature golf courses, a driving range, a golf school, batting cages and a petting zoo, along with seasonal events such as hay rides and a corn maze, according to MediaNews Group archives. Joanne passed away at age 78 in 2012, and Fred passed in 2023 at age 88.

The township has fielded dozens of comments urging preservation of at least some of the site, and developer W.B. Homes secured approvals in May to build up to 33 homes on an adjacent property. In May Pinnacle presented two possible plans for the Freddy Hill site, one using a cluster development plan under the site’s current zoning to build a total of 141 housing units in three new neighborhoods, and a second with more density, featuring a total of 321 units — now up to 338 — in a mix of townhouses and single-family detached homes. 

Maras told the supervisors the developer and Seipt family have made two major changes, the first of which would be adding a fourth leg to the current T-shaped intersection of Sumneytown and Troxel, with a new north-south roadway heading into the new development and parallel to Kriebel Road.

‘That would take traffic off of Kriebel. We would give the township and residents input as to what that road would look like, and whether Kriebel becomes right-in, right-out, two way, one way — we think a right-out would be better, but we would leave that to the people who live there,” he said.

That new roadway would curve slightly west to allow access to a new neighborhood of 73 two-story townhouses and 70 three-story townhouses on the northeast corner of the site, then head south across a creek to a separate development of 35 townhouses plus 101 small lot single homes. A new east-west road would connect the new north-south road to Kriebel, and on the east side of Kribel would be built with a third new development of 60 single-family detached houses with sidewalks and stormwater basins throughout.

“There would be full widening along Sumneytown Pike — this is more or less the similar layout to what you had seen before,” Maras said. “We did increase the net open space, if you include the basins areas, which is about 49 percent now — we might be able to get that closer to 50 percent.”

    Site plan showing proposed ‘Option Two’ for redevelopment of the Freddy Hill Farms property in Towamencin, with Sumneytown Pike at top, Kriebel Road at center, and a proposed 321 units in three new neighborhoods of townhouses and single-family detached houses, as presented to the township supervisors on May 28, 2025. (Image courtesy of PRDC)
  

The developer has also committed to increasing the buffering along a creek running through the site, hiring a botanist to advise on how to remove invasive species, and the alignment of where the new road crosses a creek running through the site could change as plans are refined.

“But we took the comments about traffic safety, and the people on Kriebel and their concerns, very seriously,” Maras said.

“The Seipt family did feel strongly, if the site was going to be developed, as one of their last contributions to the township, they wanted to fix a longstanding problem at this intersection. That couldn’t be done without this home being moved, or removed, from the site,” he said.

Supervisors sound off

Supervisors chairwoman Joyce Snyder said she liked the new four-way intersection, saying “that feels much safer to me,” and asked if the new plans call for any widening of Kriebel. Maras said the current plans do not: “That really is designed to be a local road, and (widening) didn’t make sense — so we’re building this whole road in order to alleviate the concerns.”

Maras said the total site covers roughly 131 acres, of which about 64 would be preserved as open space. “If we want to do this, this is our proposal, as a way to do it. We know that some of the configuration will change a little bit, but we believe this is pretty close to what we would do,” Maras said.

Supervisor Chuck Wilson said he still opposes the higher-density plan and would prefer the 141-unit version, but Supervisor Kofi Osei countered that this proposal, plus several others for similar open space in the township, were signs of market signals.

“I do think the market is saying ‘residential’ — if an owner, or equitable owner, is asking for something, we should at least consider it,” Osei said.

“Thirty years from now, I don’t know how I could say to everyone that we passed the chance at (realigning) this intersection. That seems like the opposite of planning, to me,” he said.

Since the last presentation, Osei added, he’s talked to neighbors in that area, “and every single person that opened the door said ‘I do not want cut-through traffic,'” which the new road could help reduce. He then asked if the updated plan has enough space for Kriebel to be converted into a cul-de-sac to cut off through traffic, and Maras said those exact dimensions hadn’t been determined, “but that could be accomplished, if you wanted it.”

Residents grill developer

Casey Hannings, a neighbor who has started an online petition and Instagram account calling to “Save Freddy Hill,” said he thought the new road was the worst news yet.

“Honestly, this is heartbreaking. I don’t see this as a contribution. With the most amount of love for the Seipt family, this is a death sentence — this is really harmful” to the creek, grassland, and wildlife that live there. “You put a road right through it. It’s devastating.”

“The cul-de-sac location you’re talking about, that’s the headwaters. The pond and stream that runs under that patch of grass, is what leads into this creek…the road completely eviscerates the natural ecosystem and grasslands that are there. You’re not preserving anything, you’re destroying it,” Hannings said.

Suzanne Weir said she recalled talks about a similar development near her neighborhood on Bridle Path Drive roughly two decades ago, when a plan for dozens of townhouses “got shot down, because the study for egress and ingress was going to be horrendous,” and traffic has only increased since.

“I can’t get out of my development now. You build this, and it’s going to be 10 times worse than it is right now,” she said.

Pete Van Thuyne said he thought converting Kriebel into a cul-de-sac could shift traffic elsewhere, including onto Anders Road where line-of-sight concerns may be worse. “The number of cars you’re talking about, north-south on the road, is just crazy for roads that are not equipped to handle them.”

Shannon Main noted that two of the five seats on the board of supervisors, those currently held by Wilson and Amer Barghouth, will be on the ballot in the fall and those two will be succeeded by new supervisors within months.

“Right now, our interim supervisor, Amer, he’s the deciding vote on whether this gets through or not. The other four have already decided. Come November, you have to elect two new supervisors,” she said.

Sue Rieck asked if the board could consider only the original plan, and not the larger one. “This is not about what you want for the township, it’s what the residents want for the township. We should be going back to the original plan, the original zoning, and not be putting 300 or 400 houses on this property.”

Former supervisor Rich Marino said his experience in road construction, and daily drives through the area, gave him a different perspective.

“Getting that intersection aligned was huge, that’s a big help. But it doesn’t really solve anything, because it’s a very dense development there. You’re dumping a lot of traffic into that one somewhat undersized intersection,” he said. “Take a look at this backwards: Look at what those roads can handle, as opposed to what the land can handle, and then try to make the traffic work.”

Pam McAuliff said she lives on Kriebel and has to cross that street to access her mailbox, and “almost got knocked over” by a speeding driver recently: “You take your life in your own hands, to go out and get your mail.”

“It’s not a safe road. It’s not wide enough, it’s not safe enough. It needs to be improved,” she said.

Ellen Minnicks of Bridle Path Drive asked if the development would have any impact on sewer systems and well water, and Maras said infiltration testing is being done on the site now to answer such questions. Don Litman said he still has several questions the developer will need to answer: “Where are the places for kids to play? How are school buses going to turn, to pick up the schoolchildren and take them home? What kind of hazards are there going to be, for the kids to walk on the streets?”

One plan or another?

Once public comments closed, Wilson asked if the rest of the board would support a motion asking the developer to proceed with only the by-right plan, with the 141 units at the lower density and without the intersection upgrades.

“That’s what I’m asking, that you would bring that forward as your plan. The density on this project is just…we can’t handle it,” Wilson said.

Supervisor Kristin Warner seconded that motion, before Osei said he’d rather see the township planning commission vet the newest plan and provide their feedback.

“I really think the community wants zero. We’re not doing zero, so I would like to at least consider if this is a better plan. So I’m going to vote against stopping the process here,” he said.

Snyder said she’d also prefer to hear the planning commission feedback, and Barghouth agreed.

“I would like to see the two plans, side by side, and understand what improvements are being proposed, the impact from traffic. And then we can make a decision. My vote is to continue looking at both plans,” he said.

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on July 23 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information, visit www.Towamencin.org.

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