Vet cemetery a done deal
By THERESA KATALINAS
Bucks County Courier Times
Jacquelyn Volk is sure her late husband, Harvey, got the news long before she did.
She said the World War II veteran must have known that on Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs will pay $10.5 million to buy 205 acres of Upper Makefield farmland from Toll Brothers, finally ending the more than two years of wrangling over a national veterans cemetery for Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Nearly two years after her husband's May 2006 death, Volk said Tuesday that she finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of laying his cremated remains to rest.
“You're acting as if Harvey doesn't know about this, but he does know,” said Volk of Bristol. “I think he does know that there might be a finality to this.”
By 2009, when the first phase of burials begins, the yet-to-be-named veterans cemetery could be Harvey Volk's final resting place. In addition to Volk, the cemetery could serve the 580,000 veterans, including about 60,000 in Bucks County, living within a 75-mile radius of the cemetery.
The bittersweet news had Jacquelyn Volk sobbing uncontrollably Tuesday.
“These are cries of joy. These are sobs of thankfulness,” she said. “These tears are cleansing tears. They're warming my whole face.”
Despite litigation from neighbors of the farmland, controversies surrounding land rezoning and housing development concessions for Toll Brothers, guys like Harvey Volk have kept Bill Tuerk leading the charge.
“I don't think so much of me and I don't think so much of my generation of veterans. I've been thinking about my dad — WWII veterans,” said Tuerk, VA undersecretary for memorial affairs. “That's the thing that's been pushing me to get this thing done ... while we still have some WWII guys left. We're building it for that demographic. We need new cemeteries because 900 WWII veterans are dying every day.”
As of Thursday, without a doubt, two-thirds of the 311-acre Dolington property, situated on Old Dolington and Washington Crossing roads, will be officially in the hands of the federal government, Tuerk said.
“By God, that's where we're going to build this cemetery,” Tuerk said. “We are going to break ground this year. We're going to have an event. We're going to dedicate the place.”
Cemetery designs are being devised and public meetings could come within about six weeks, he said. VA officials will explain the cemetery's build-out phases, where the entrance will be situated and how historic structures will be built around or torn down, Tuerk said.
Toll and the VA signed an agreement of sale for the land transfer in the fall. The contract specified that the deal would close on March 3, following a review by the Justice Department. But, because of surveying and “bureaucratic stuff,” the closing took a little longer than expected, Tuerk said.
In an e-mail, Toll Brothers spokeswoman Linda Cohen said, “Toll Brothers is very pleased that the agreement of sale with the VA is finally coming to fruition.”
Several challenges remain for Toll's housing, which is planned in conjunction with the cemetery, but officials have said that nothing — including litigation aimed at limiting Toll's houses — can stop the cemetery now.
Bucks County Veterans Affairs Director Dan Fraley, a tireless veterans cemetery advocate, said Tuesday that he never doubted the cemetery's future.
“[The land transfer] now sends a message to all supporters and others that the national veterans cemetery in Bucks County is a reality,” Fraley said.
Congressman Patrick Murphy, D-8, followed in predecessor Mike Fitzpatrick's footsteps by pushing for the veterans cemetery in his district.
“I'm proud that we've made this long overdue honor a reality through hard work and by bringing Democrats and Republicans together on behalf of our veterans,” Murphy said.
Vietnam veteran Tony Albano, president of the Guardians of the National Veterans Cemetery Bucks County, said the cemetery is long overdue.
“It's about time,” Albano said upon hearing that the land would be transferred Thursday.
Next for the 134-member group is to secure nonprofit status so it can fundraise for memorials, veterans' services and to assist with funeral services for those unable to afford the expense, Albano said.
“We will work and do our duty to advance the mission of the local cemetery,” Albano said.
Theresa Katalinas can be reached at 215-269-5081 or tkatalinas@phillyBurbs.com.
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2 comments:
I am imagining 500 students living at the sale barn property. If they extend a bus route to pick up those students plus the students at Hill Place, aren't we talking about significant increases in density in the "urban" college core with the potential to significantly increase the percentage of student travel done on mass transit?
Casey, the UA recently decreased bus service here and told some people that they will NOT increase coverage. The UA, like the Hill Place developers, consider this new proposed project as a needless source of competition. They likely would nor support it.
Did you listen to the video clip? This isn't about infill or making transportation efficient. It is about incompatibility with the single-family neighborhood and the National Shrine.
As Wanda Peterson saidk, "It is an abomination."
It won't fill as much wetland as the Aspen Ridge/Hill Place project did, but it will be bad for the environment in many ways.
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