An unpaved road runs between houses along Welsh Road in Hatfield Township and the so-called ‘Movie Lots’ currently in the process of being sold by the North Penn School District, as seen in July 2025.
Township questions whether applicant controls all parcels formerly owned by North Penn
A long-awaited public hearing on a proposed 161-home development of former "movie lots" in Hatfield Township came to an abrupt halt last week after township officials questioned whether the developer had legal standing to move forward.
The conditional use hearing Jan. 28 before Hatfield Township Commissioners centered on an application by Pulte Homes of PA Limited Partnership to build a single-family detached cluster development on roughly 96 acres between Welsh Road and Orvilla Road. The land includes the former Palo Beach tract and dozens of small parcels once owned by the North Penn School District, often referred to as “movie lots.”
“You may recall that this project originally began as a development of only the Palo-Beach property. To that end, Pulte submitted a conditional use application in March 2024 proposing a cluster development of 78 single-family homes. After that application was filed, several hearings were held — four in total. A consistent concern raised throughout those hearings involved the number of homes taking access through an existing residential neighborhood,” said applicant attorney Julie Von Spreckelsen from Eastburn & Gray. “As mentioned, the property is essentially landlocked, aside from limited access points and an easement to Orvilla Road, meaning most traffic would have traveled through local streets.”
She said Pulte heard those concerns and decided to pause the application in order to explore an alternate access point that would better address residents’ issues.
“During that time, Pulte learned that the school district was interested in selling its 133 ‘movie lot’ parcels. Pulte entered into an agreement to purchase those properties and is now the equitable owner,” she said. “As a result, the revised plan includes a new access point to Welsh Road.”
Early in the hearing, township Solicitor Christen Pionzio outlined procedures and marked more than 20 exhibits into the record. Dozens of residents then received party status, allowing them to question witnesses later in the process. Applicant attorney Julie Von Spreckelsen from Eastburn & Gray objected to the party status of every resident, mainly due to the fact that she could not verify that any of them live near the development, but Pionzio overruled each objection.
These witnesses included Leon Drive resident Thomas Deller, whom the applicant’s attorney objected as being a party to the hearing because his issues concerning drainage and flooding were a land development issue; Plains Mennonite Church Pastor Michael Derstine, whom the attorney objected to because he was not a property owner; Leon Drive resident Mary Bleakly, whom the applicant’s attorney also objected due to her distance to the property in question; Brighton Drive residents Susan and Michael Donohue; Welsh Road resident John Sperling; Grapevine Drive resident Joanne Oropeza; and West Orvilla Road resident Glenn Ibarquen, who said there is a proposition for access to the paper streets between his parcel and a neighbor.
But before testimony could fully begin, Pionzio and Hatfield Township Special Counsel Thomas Panzer raised concerns that the applicant had not proven it controls all of the North Penn parcels included in the plan.
“I do have concerns regarding standing as it relates to the school district parcels. I reviewed the deeds you submitted for the school district property and also pulled the 1922 movie lot plan. I then attempted to match the deeds you provided to the lots shown on that plan and compared them against the current tax maps. In doing so, I found gaps,” Pionzio said. “For example, in what is labeled as Block U on the 1922 plan — and which is still identified as Block U on the tax maps — you provided two deeds. One … shows ownership for Units 10, 11 and 12. Another … shows ownership for Lots 21, 22, 23 and 24. However, ownership for 10 additional parcels within that same block is not accounted for.”
Pionzio said there were also missing deeds.
“As I review this map and highlight the areas where deeds were supplied, there are still significant portions of the property that are unaccounted for. Because of these gaps, I am raising the issue of standing. I do not see how you have demonstrated that the school district owns all of these parcels or that they are properly included in your agreement of sale,” Pionzio said.
Von Spreckelsen replied that Pulte listed all the deeds that were provided, totaling 52 deeds, and that a lot of the parcels were grouped together.
“And then as time went on after 1922, because you're looking at a 1922 and plotting them there, there were many properties that were consolidated along the way,” she said.
“Standing is a threshold issue,” Panzer said. “It is the applicant’s burden. I too was concerned whether the applicant had actually demonstrated ownership of those interstitial parcels, those interior parcels.”
Panzer cited what he described as gaps in deed documentation and made a motion to dismiss the application for lack of standing.
“I think it’s premature to advance the application this evening without the applicant demonstrating they actually do own hundreds of those parcels,” he said.
Pionzio agreed there appeared to be missing pieces in the ownership record.
“I am not satisfied that you have standing on the North Penn School District parcels,” she said, while declining to dismiss the case outright.
Instead, Pionzio said the issue must be resolved before the hearing could proceed. Following a brief off-record discussion between attorneys, the applicant agreed to pause the case.
“Applicant agrees that it makes sense at this time to table tonight’s hearing and then work to understand the issues and try to get it resolved prior to coming back in to have a next hearing,” Pionzio said.
Residents who had waited to comment on traffic, flooding, and environmental concerns were told they would have to wait another month. The board voted to continue the hearing until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
Pionzio advised attendees to check the township website for updates in case the hearing needs to be postponed again.
In mid-September 2024 the North Penn School Board approved a $15 million sale agreement with Pulte for the “movie lots” near Welsh Road. The lots total about 56 acres and are located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Welsh and Forty Foot roads and are farmed on a year-to-year contract with an area farmer. The parcels which essentially are strips roughly 100 feet by 20 feet had been given away by movie theaters in the 1920s as prizes for those attending movies. The land was acquired by the school district over the years for non-payment of property taxes, and selling the lots had been discussed by the board as far back as 2022.
That initial vote included a 90-day due diligence period that has since been extended several times, and the district has said the extensions were requested in part to allow time for testing on the site, and to continue talks with Hatfield Township staff and residents on developing the movie lots and adjacent “Beach property” as one combined project rather than two separate ones; early plans had shown Pulte building 85 homes on the movie lots and 78 more on the Beach site.
Last summer, residents near the site reported receiving a letter from Pulte notifying them of a planned court action the developer said was necessary to clear paper streets from a plan that originated in 1922, and township officials said at that time that no plan approvals were imminent as the legal issues were being addressed.
The Reporter contributed to this article.
