It's Good To Be The King!

Unless, you’re not.

When candidates for higher office bang on our doors or send us mail asking for our trust and our vote, we are always wary, wondering whether the person is seeking election out of an altruistic and sincere desire to give back to the community, or whether it’s to exploit the position for personal gain.

You don’t have to look far to find instances of judges, senators, commissioners and even the president abusing their power or using their elected positions to line their own pockets. Chicago has become famous for it, and Pennsylvania has had no shortage of candidates for this Hall of Shame…the ‘pay to play’ scandal involving some elected and PA Turnpike officials that broke last month comes to mind as the most recent example. In that vein we feel justified in being skeptical about elected officials in general.

When a prospective business came to Lower Providence last year to investigate opening a branch on the Norristown Ford property, they said they were met with delays, discouragement and an attempt by a mysterious and unnamed “group of neighbors” to extort concessions from them before their plans could proceed. Feeling unwelcomed, frustrated, and facing the prospect of an expensive and time-consuming approval process with what they viewed as having zero chance of success, they took the jobs and tax revenue they would have generated and settled elsewhere. (Read more here).

It didn’t make sense. I was puzzled as to why any township such as ours, with an eroding tax base and escalating costs, would not make a serious attempt to work with any interested business, instead of chasing them away.  

As is often the case, the clarity of hindsight allows seemingly illogical things to make sense.  What I learned recently illustrated that it’s bad enough that the interests of one family were put over the interests of the entire Township; what’s more egregious is that the interests elevated and given priority were those of an elected official who swore an oath to serve the best interests of the Township.

Supervisor Don Thomas, and members of his family, own property right next to the Norristown Ford property.  Those mysterious concerned neighbors making demands based upon informal plans that had never been advertised for public hearing have never been named, but the description of their location fits none other than the Thomas family. Only those on the inside of 100 Parklane Drive – staff, solicitor and the supervisors - would even have known that  such plans existed.  

The focus became clearer at the March 28, 2013 Zoning Hearing Board meeting, wherein this same supervisor presented his application for a plan to convert an existing garage on his property into four residential studio apartments, for a total of five residences at that location.  Now it’s apparent why the “group of neighbors” with all the alleged concerns about Bestline wanted Bestline, among other things, to provide an electrical line run to what appears to be the same building as that slated to be converted to residences, residential units which, presumably, would be much harder to rent out if a bustling commercial business were immediately adjacent.  

Curiously, Mr. Thomas’ position as a current supervisor wasn’t mentioned once during the hearing. Anyone watching the videotape at home would just think he’s a typical resident.  In addition, since his election, Don voted to appoint 4 out of the 5 sitting ZHB members. Isn’t this a conflict of interest? Couldn’t Mr. Thomas wait until he was out of office to pursue this?

According to the application (Z 13-01 Thomas application), Mr. Thomas was seeking:

Z 13-01 Donald & Denise Thomas – 19 N. Trooper Road, Norristown, PA 19403

The applicant is requesting a special exception in accordance with §143-150 for the proposed change of a non- conforming commercial use to four residential units, consisting of one (1) bedroom each, with kitchen facilities, living areas and common storage and §143-147 and proposes change in use is more restrictive.  The applicant is requesting a variance from §143-71 to permit one (1) parking space per unit rather than the required two (2) parking spaces per unit.  The Applicant is requesting an extension of the six (6) month expiration period to obtain all permits in accordance with §143-170.

As a resident who lives in LP and drives past this location at least twice a day, I had questions for the applicant, as did other residents in attendance.

My concerns (as well as those of residents along Brant Road behind the subject property) included the intensity of use, too many proposed residents very close to an already-congested intersection, possible left turns by residents onto North Trooper Road, impact on property values, and parking issues, which were discussed extensively.  The Brant Road folks in particular wanted assurances that visitors or residents’ second cars wouldn’t be parking in front of their homes which have access to the back of the Thomas properties. 

Curiously, one argument advanced by Mr. Thomas as a reason his application should be green-lighted  was that this is “ ‘affordable housing’ for our community, and while that may or may not be a thing to be commended, Lower Providence already has a considerable inventory of affordable housing. We are home to three apartment complexes and three mobile home parks, in addition to an assortment of town and carriage homes. In fact, the Thomas family owns numerous rental properties in the area, including the Sunnyside Mobile Home Park on Ridge Pike.  One of the Brant Road neighbors, realtor Mary Van Trieste, testified that placement of such rental housing is known to lower surrounding property values, not raise them. 

Alas, contrary to longstanding past practice by our ZHB of allowing any concerned resident to question or comment during a ZHB hearing, I was not permitted to question Mr. Thomas about much of anything (the owner of the Norristown Ford lot had also given me written permission to ask questions about the project on his behalf, as he did not know about the hearing and was out of town, but that was not permitted either).   You can view the hearing (here).  

Prime among the questions I had went toward clarifying another puzzling discrepancy (see story, here), which was “Exactly what business ARE you running out of that location?”  It’s a valid question of an applicant for zoning relief since the number and types of uses on a given property are relevant when considering granting relief.

As I reported previously, Mr. Thomas holds a current township ‘business license’ for the ‘business’ he allegedly runs out of his home/subject of the application. The license is in the name of Earl Thomas Heating Oil Co.,  (2013 business license) yet that was supposedly the business sold to Jay Gress in 2010 and by whom Mr. Thomas is now employed.  Mr. Thomas’ own 2009 campaign material stated that he’d sold his business, in order to persuade voters as to why he now had the time to do the job of supervisor.

My belief is that there is no business use there now and hasn’t been since at least 2009 or 2010, but that he continued to pull this license to keep active the claim that he is exempt from complying with the Township’s trash code as it allows him to select his own hauler instead of – as all other Township residents must - using the Township’s contracted trash company.  At the hearing it was made clear to Mr. Thomas that if his application were approved (and it was later that evening), the nonconforming use that permitted the business will go away and along with it, the trash privilege.

ZHB member and perennial political retread Tom Borai was openly hostile and rude to me and others in this public forum, letting his emotions get the best of him. Apparently he doesn’t like that I write this blog and accused me of being there to cause a three-ring circus.  I guess he’s all for transparency as long as he’s the guy holding the flashlight.

Typically, an applicant asks for more than what they want, knowing it will be negotiated down or that the ZHB will approve something more reasonable, and it gives one wiggle room. However, those same 4 people that Mr. Thomas appointed (Nancy McFarland, Tom Borai, Joyce Clueley, Bob Hardt) approved his application in toto, with minor conditions; Eric Frey voted against granting the application.  Personally, I would have expected, based on past experience and practice, for the ZHB to have approved perhaps 2 additional residential units, which would also negate the need for the requested variance on parking, but Mr. Thomas got every single thing he asked for.  

About that campaign mailer I retrieved from storage? On it Mr. Thomas claims that, not only was he now better able to serve “with my business sold (emphasis added) and my children grown ….” But that he “will represent you with honesty, fairness and dignity”.  Based on my observations, that may well be true, as long as he can protect his own business interests and personally profit at the expense of a business entity whose presence here would have benefitted all LP residents.

Mel Brooks couldn't have said it any better. It’s good to be the king.

from "History of the World Part I", 1981

Funny Business

If you're like most people, every week you go to work, pay your bills, feed your dog, play with your kids, and put out your trash. If you are like most people, that is.

If you are Lower Providence Township supervisor Don Thomas, you undoubtedly do all that, and put your trash out, too, but the difference is, who is picking it up?

G&C trash truck pulling out of Thomas' driveway on trash day

As I'm sure most everyone knows, like many other communities on the East Coast and in Pennsylvania, our community has one company, J.P. Mascaro, under contract to remove residents' trash. Unless you can  prove you are eligible for an exemption or, in rare instances, grandfathered from compliance by having another contractor in place prior to 1990,  the current contracted hauler must pick up your trash.

One such exemption is that if you own a business, you can use whatever company hauls your business trash away in lieu of the Township trash hauler. Supervisor Thomas claims that he owns and runs a valid business, Earl Thomas Heating Oil,  out of his home address and is thus exempted from compliance with the Township ordinance, a claim he substantiated by taking out a business license with the Township in that name. Accordingly, he is having HIS family's trash picked up by a private hauler, G & C Waste Services of East Norriton (see photos).   

While it is true that at in the past, there WAS a family business - Earl F. Thomas Heating Oil Inc.  - being operated out of  Don's home address, that business was sold to competitor Jay Gress, Inc. approximately three years ago, according to a principal at Gress. My understanding is that a condition of the sale was that Mr. Thomas was to be given a desk job at Jay Gress, and my sources confirm that not only does Mr. Thomas work there in a full-time capacity as a dispatcher, but that he "shows up for work every day and apparently only ever leaves the office to eat lunch..." Really? So when, exactly, is he running this business of his? Why would he even have another job if he was running his own business?

I suspect Jay Gress, Inc. would be very interested to know that a company they acquired and presumably paid good money for is allegedly still operating, particularly if there is a non-compete provision in the agreement of sale.

A Gress source told me that as a typical rule, whenver Jay Gress has acquired a business, it keeps the old entity name open, but the business address is changed to Gress' corporate address in Conshohocken to facilitate the transition from the old business's customers to Jay Gress. So, although the business name may still be active (and per the State Corporation Commission, it is), it is no longer owned or operated by the Thomas family and as such, the business license taken out by Don Thomas in their former company's name could potentially be considered fraudulent and taken out in an effort to evade compliance with the ordinance and payment of the contracted trash fees - fees that the rest of us must pay. 

G&C trash container awaiting pickup at the Thomas residence

Whether or not you agree with the issue of a single hauler or not, it is the current law of the land, and it's only fair that if residents are subject to it, supervisors should be too unless there is a legitimate exception.  

As an elected official, supervisors take an oath to "serve with fidelity", which Webster's defines as "strict observance of promises and duties".  One would presume compliance with the Township's own ordinances would fall into that category, and that our elected officials would not try to get away with any 'funny business', as it's no laughing matter to the rest of us.