A harvest of peace on E. Vincent farm

Under what was then a new East Vincent zoning ordinance, TDRs were one of the options Cutler could have originally pursued for the 154-acre Reiff Farm. The other choices were 20 houses on large lots, or 72 clustered on small lots, keeping the bulk of the farm in open space.

When Cutler chose the latter, residents objected. They didn't want that many houses or public water lines on a property zoned for agricultural use.

"I got the zoning ordinance out and I figured out the rules," said township resident Elaine Milito, a professor of math and computer science at West Chester University. "Then, I wrote a big flyer and sent it out to all the neighbors."

It worked.

Hundreds of residents turned out for the first township hearing on Cutler's proposal.

Residents organized themselves into the Concerned Citizens of East Vincent Township. They paid dues. They hired a lawyer. They consulted land-use and wetlands experts. They even conducted their own traffic study.

When the supervisors finally said no to Cutler, the builder went to court. After a split decision by Commonwealth Court and a refusal by the Supreme Court to hear the case, Cutler made an offer: 30 houses and transfer the remaining development rights to another tract Cutler owned in the township.

Sellers, then executive director of the French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust, countered with six houses, 36.5 acres for a township park, and the transfer of 40 development rights.

They had the makings of a deal.

Officials and Cutler are working out the final details of the settlement now, said Township Manager Mary Flagg, adding that East Vincent has already received $1.2 million in grants to buy the land for the park.

Neither township officials nor the builder's attorneys would comment for this article, but Milito is pleased with the citizen group's efforts.

"Everybody is making out here," she said.

Especially the Twins Days Festival, which is expected to receive the bulk of the Reiffs' $4 million estate.

Forrest Norman, the festival's lawyer, said the Reiffs loved Twins Days and they were in turn beloved by everybody.

"For otherwise quiet and subdued people, when they came to the festival they just lit up," said Norman. "It's been a wonderful blessing for the Twins Days to have this bequest."