Haverford balks at price to buy former gum factory

Haverford Township officials have found themselves in a sticky dispute with the owners of a shuttered bubble-gum factory.

The township would like to acquire the property, but not for the nearly $6 million the owners are asking.

Instead, township commissioners will decide by early next month whether to use eminent domain to acquire the Philadelphia Chewing Gum Co. property, a 6.3-acre parcel at Eagle and Lawrence Roads.

If that happens, the family that owns the land, the Fenimores, will receive only $1.4 million, a figure determined by an appraisal performed at the township's request in 2006.

Township officials would like to see the gum factory, which closed in 2003, replaced with a police station, library or recreation center.

The factory, built in the 1920s as a knitting company, produced Swell Bubble Gum from 1948 until the plant closed five years ago, said David Brooman, a lawyer the township hired to handle the matter. The site has been idle since.

The Fenimores sought to develop the site for commercial use, which would require a zoning variance that the township so far has been unwilling to grant. Two years ago, the family proposed building a drive-through pharmacy and bank at the site, a plan the township disliked because of concerns about traffic on Eagle Road.

The township and the YMCA of Philadelphia and Vicinity have tried to buy the land but have come up short of the asking price.

With the condemnation vote approaching, the Fenimores offered to donate 3.7 acres of the site to the township for a new library in exchange for a zoning change that would allow them to build a commercial business on the remaining 3.2 acres. But Brooman advised the commissioners against that, calling it a measure to "sell" zoning.

If the township takes the land, the Fenimores can challenge it in court. If they lose the appeal, the Fenimores can challenge the compensation for their land, which could put Haverford on the hook for more money if the court rules in the Fenimores' favor.

David Snyder, a Philadelphia lawyer representing the Fenimores, said he was not optimistic that the family would strike a deal with the township before the commissioners vote.

"The amount that is being offered is far below fair market value," he said. "We intend to, at the appropriate time, challenge that amount.

"Of course, our first choice would be to let the Fenimores develop their land," Snyder added. "Unfortunately, the township has opted to stay on a course that won't allow them to do that."

Only two commissioners voted against taking the bubble-gum factory at the first reading of the proposal earlier this month. Democrat Tom Broido said he wasn't comfortable spending money to acquire the site before it was clear what the overall project would cost taxpayers. Building a combination police station and township building could cost $17 million, according to one estimate.

"There are absolutely no figures for the effects on taxpayers," Broido said. "I don't like to put a shovel into the ground before I know what I'm digging."

But Commissioner Rob Trumbull said that if the YMCA built at the bubble-gum factory site, the township could save $10 million to $13 million that it planned to spend for a recreation site at the Haverford State Hospital site. The township doesn't have an indoor swimming pool, the most expensive part of building a new center. If the YMCA builds its own center and pool, the township could downgrade its plans for the other recreation center, saving money to be used elsewhere, Trumbull said.

"If we can have the Y come in and essentially build a recreation center for us in the middle of the township, I just see that as a huge win," he said. "We would be irresponsible if we didn't explore that potential opportunity with the Y."

The YMCA may be a cost-saver for Haverford Township residents, but it won't be any easier for the YMCA to find the $20 million it would need for the project. Construction set to begin this fall on a YMCA in Ambler was delayed after credit dried up, said Carl Everett, a lawyer and member of the Philadelphia-area YMCA board of directors.

Still, even if the township took the property this year, the facility could take years to build, which would buy the YMCA and township officials more time to find financing.

Several plans are under discussion for the site, but one includes moving the police station - now on Darby Road - to the bubble-gum factory site and then building a YMCA at the old police station site. The YMCA can build at either site, Everett said.

An additional complication in building at the site of the bubble-gum factory is groundwater contamination from a wood-treatment facility that once stood across Eagle Road. Workers at the treatment plant poured fluid containing diesel fuel and pentachlorophenol (PCP) onto the ground for years, causing contamination so severe that globs of oil were seen in Naylor's Run, said Jill Lowe, the EPA remedial project manager for the Haverford PCP site. The federal government stepped in, declaring it a Superfund site and a high priority.

Since 2001, pumps have brought contaminated groundwater to a processing station that empties clean water back into Naylor's Run. The plume of contamination, which runs under the gum factory, has narrowed. Because the toxins are locked up in groundwater deep beneath the surface that no one is drinking, it's not dangerous for people to be on the site, Lowe said.

The EPA is involved with development plans at the site to ensure that equipment there is untouched by future development because completely cleaning the contamination could take decades. The EPA also recommends building in the footprint of the factory to avoid disturbing the groundwater.