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OVER 1,000 CONCERNED CITIZENS  CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF PATTERSON FARM.
JOIN THEM.  SIGN THE PETITION TO PRESERVE PATTERSON FARM   here
IMPORTANT ZONING MEETING MONDAY MAY 20TH AT 7:30 PM.  LOWER MAKEFIELD TOWNSHP  MUNICIPAL BLDG, 1100 EDGEWOOD ROAD, YARDLEY, PA 19067.  ATTEND AND OPPOSE ZONING CHANGES. NO COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT ON PATTERSON FARM.  SAVE HISTORIC SATTERTHWAITE HOUSE (C. 1760).
Dedicated to perpetually preserving the Thomas S. & Alice E. Patterson Farm in Yardley, Bucks County, PA.
 An historic treasure. A sustainable resource for locally grown food. A place of pristine natural beauty.
 Celebrating and continuing the Patterson Farms' agrarian heritage of over 325 years.

Save our community farm!
Support for the proper preservation and management of Patterson Farm is strong. 

Here's what YOU can do to SAVE Patterson Farm from the impending development that's being endorsed by township officials:
SIGN THE PETITION TO SUPPORT PRESERVATION, click the link below:
http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-officials-of-lower-makefield-township-bucks-county-pa-preserve-patterson-farm-now

  • OPPOSE zoning changes that spoil our farm and diminish our quality of life! If the Satterthwaite parcel zoning is changed it will mean the END of Patterson Farm as we know it. Commercial development will bring increased traffic, noise, carbon emissions, light pollution, and end tillage of the land for food growth. Our preserved farm property should not be sold off to a start-up business venture. The historic property will be ruined and what comes after a failed business attempt??
  • ATTEND the zoning hearing board's meeting Monday May 20th and SPEAK UP for preservation.
  • WRITE letters and emails to the editors of publications throughout the region expressing your support for the preservation of Patterson Farm. They need not be lengthy just express your support for preservation and your concern for loss of farmland and history.
  • WRITE a letter of support to us at: Patterson Farm Preservation Group, 668 Stony Hill Road, #303, Yardley, PA  19067.  
  • EMAIL a letter of support  for preservation to Admin@PattersonFarmPreservation.com. 
  • SHARE this website and our Facebook Page (Facebook/PattersonFarmPreservation) with others. Help spread the word that our community farm is at risk!  Blog about farmland preservation.
  • FOLLOW our Tweets @PattersonFarmPA.

                   By working together we WILL achieve preservation of Patterson Farm in 2013.

"They'll ruin the farm."
- Alice Patterson, former land-owner, speaking about Lower Makefield Township officials after they condemned the  historic landmark farm where she and husband Tom grew crops for nearly 50 years. 

LIKE us at "Friends of Patterson Farm Preservation" on Facebook. WATCH THIS WEBSITE AND OUR FACEBOOK PAGE FOR ANNOUNCEMENT OF ZONING BOARD MEETING DATE. PLAN TO ATTEND AND SPEAK AGAINST ZONING CHANGES.
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Your participation is needed to PRESERVE PATTERSON FARM AND SAVE SATTERTHWAITE HOUSE. 

Lower Makefield Township supervisors have ignored hours of  public comment, emails from the public and offers of help to restore the farm. They voted 4-1 to sell the Satterthwaite parcel to a buyer who intends to Commerically develop the property and deny our local farmer access to the farmland via the parcels' shared driveway. 
 
The proposed buyer plans to convert the historic home into office space,  demolish half of the recently restored historic barn, raze the other agricultural structures,  build a new house and  medical complex composed of numerous modern structures and  pave a significant area of the 5.1 acre parcel.

The fate of the Patterson Farm lies in the hands of the Zoning Hearing Board. Their decision will determine whether tillage of the land for food crop production will continue, or whether the farms' future will be lost to Commercial development that is not in the best interest of the our community.

Please OPPOSE zoning changes. SPEAK NOW to preserve Patterson Farm before it's too late.

(Above Left) The beautiful Satterthwaite farmhouse, a landmark in Bucks County.

(Below Left) The recently restored Satterthwaite Barn. The proposed buyer of the Satterthwaite parcel claims the barn is "unsafe" and plans to tear off the hay house section shown on the right side of the photo!

Your comments for preservation are welcome in our Guest Book. Click the GUEST BOOK tab at the top of this page to access the comment submission form. (Comments are moderated and will not post immediately).

Email us at Admin@PattersonFarm
Preservation.com

Contact us by mail:
Patterson Farm Preservation Group
668 Stony Hill Rd, #303
Yardley  PA  19067

Less than a dozen years after the death of a lifelong Bucks County farmer and  hiswife,  the township that condemned the beautiful farm the couple sought to preserve, has subdivided it and plans to sell off a parcel and bring development to its fertile farm fields.

Please help stop the senseless dismantling of the Patterson Farm.

Please tell Lower Makefield township supervisors and the township manager 
that you  SUPPORT PERMANENT FARMLAND PRESERVATION AND OPPOSE SELLING OR 
DEVELOPING ANY PART OF THE FARM.  

Call the township at:
267-274-1100


Supervisor Benedetto is the only supervisor  to SUPPORT the Patterson Farm Preservation effort. 
Please THANK him!
jbenedetto@lmt.org

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I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world. - George Washington.
 
On August 23, 1785 THOMAS JEFFERSON, our Founding Father and an avid farmer, stated to John Jay,

"Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independant, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands. As long, therefore, as they can find employment in this line, I would not convert them into mariners, artisans, or anything else."

The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land. 
 - Abraham Lincoln.

Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man.  Where tillage begins, other arts will follow.  The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization. - Daniel Webster

I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries, as long as they are chiefly agricultural. - Thomas Jefferson

We do not inherit the land from our forefathers, we borrow it from our grandchildren. - Chief Seattle

As each of you has received a gift (a gracious divine endowment), employ it for one another as (befits) good trustee's of God's many sided grace. - 1 Peter 4:10

The opinions expressed within this website are my own opinions, not the opinions of my family members who are employed by Lower Makefield Township.  I hope their employment is not jeopardized by my words here.  I am compelled to speak out before the Patterson Farm is divided up and sold off in pieces, irreparably damaging it's future agricultural use. It is time to permanently preserve the magnificent and irreplaceable Patterson Farm. America loses nearly 2 acres of farm and ranchland per minute. A staggering loss to our nation's food security. 


Email me at
Admin@pattersonfarmpreservation.com   Thank you for visiting the  website.                                                                                                                          Donna Doan



SAVE SATTERTHWAITE HOUSE
SAVE SATTERTHWAITE BARN.
SAVE PATTERSON FARM.

  Bucks County residents paid $7.2 million to preserve the beautiful Patterson Farm. Lower Makefield township has subdivided the farm and has allowed development on our preserved farmland. Without PROPER farmland preservation our farm will be whittled away and destroyed.

             WE DEMAND RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT OF OUR PRESERVED FARM!

  • Reject subdivision or sale of any part of Patterson Farm.
  • Apply for Conservation Easement protection that would raise nearly $2 million to preserve farm.
  • Designate all farm related revenue be set aside for continued restoration & maintenance.
  • Preserve all homes & buildings on Patterson Farm to support active farming.
  • Maintain farm as a productve source for growing food, employing tillage of the land.
  • Enroll Patterson Farm's historic homes and buildings on the National Register.
  • Pursue grant funding for preservation.
  • Obtain responsible tenants for Patterson Farm houses who will pay market rent, respect the historic structures and co-exist without hindering the active farming of the land.
  • Establish separate accounting for Patterson Farm.
  • Receive tax deductible donations from community members with a Patterson Farm Preservation Fund 501(c)3.
  • Form Patterson Farm Preservation Land Trust.
  • Organize community volunteerism to restore and enhance the farm.
  • Responsibly steward our fragile wildlife habitat, fertile open spaces, peaceful woodlands & placid wetlands on Patterson Farm.

    The Patterson Farm, whose superlative soil quality is classified by the USDA as being of "statewide importance" was obtained by the township in 1998 in a controversial Eminent Domain condemnation/sale using preservation funds. Former owners Thomas and Alice Patterson reluctantly agreed to the sale proposal, believing the township would preserve their beloved farm. Recently, without public discussion, the township applied for Farmland Preservation funding for only a small portion of the farm.  
  
 "IT'S A LIE".
MISLEADING SIGN - If Patterson Farm is preserved, residents wondered, why dismantle it and build on productive farm fields? At the Oct 17, 2012 Board of Supervisors meeting residents pressed township officials to respond to the question. Township Supervisor Tyler replied, [the sign] "It's a lie." 


Tell Lower Makefield Township:
NO CONSTRUCTION on Patterson Farm! NO SALE!  



Unanswered questions:

*After being subjected to numerous uninvited visits over a period of many years by township officials who repeatedly asked them to sell their farm to the township, why were the elderly Pattersons given just 6 days to decide on the townships "offer" to purchase the farm the Pattersons had owned for nearly 50 years? Was it coercion that finally made the Pattersons agree to give up their farm for far less than it's market value?

*Why did the township solicitor, in a letter dated Dec 16, 1997, encourage one of the Pattersons relatives to "prevail upon the Pattersons to seriously consider the Township's offer in the hopes that we can bring this matter to a conclusion expeditiously." (If the Pattersons wanted to sell their farm, as the township claims, why would they have needed anyone to "prevail upon" them to accept an offer? If the Pattersons had refused, would the township have condemned anyway, as they had already done with the Dalgewicz farm a couple of years earlier? (See the Timeline page)

*When asked, through the Right To Know Law, to release "All correspondence between Lower Makefield Township & their legal representatives, and Thomas & Alice Patterson & their legal representatives, pertaining to the township's acquistion of the Patterson Farm. This includes all correspondence prior to, during and after condemnation" why did the township release just 9 letters and one lease, a total of 32 sheets of paper? Why was there a nearly 5-month gap in the information released that pertained to the time period between Dec 16, 1997 and May 13, 1998? What happened during that 5 month period that the township does not want the public to know?

*Why did the township condemn Patterson Farm, a farm within an Agricultural Security District, without the approval of the state Agricultural Lands Condemnation Approval Board? Was it a "rush" to condemnation that made the township avoid this important opportunity for third party review?

*Why did the former Chairman of the Board of Supervisors publicly deny at a Board of Supervisors meeting that the township used Eminent Domain to obtain Patterson Farm? After the Eminent Domain condemnation documents were obtained by citizens through the Right To Know Law, why is the township now "spinning" their story with the ridiculous claim that Eminent Domain was used merely to avoid taxes? 

*Citizens voted by ballot referendum in favor of preservation, why are township officials dismantling the farm by subdividing off the Satterthwaite farmhouse, barn and agricultural outbuildings that support the lands' continuing use for growing food crops? 

*How did township officials get away with subdividing the Act 319-enrolled Patterson Farm without the proper notification to the County Tax Assessor as stipulated in the rules of Act 319?

*Of the 3 tenants who lease Patterson Farm property, why is the farmer the only tenant who pays market-rate rent, and who was required to submit a sealed bid to obtain the use of the land? Why do the two other tenants pay no rent or less than market rent? Is it because those tenants were shown favor by township officials? Why did InYourPrimeOnline.com report "the supervisors gave their blessing for the group [tenants] to creep in through the back door?"

* Why is the township violating its' own zoning by allowing a Commercial use in the rental of the Patterson residence and stone cottage?

*Why have township officials neglected the maintenance of Patterson Farm, despite "harvesting" nearly a million dollars in revenue from the farm? 


FARM STATISTICS

$483,581.09 revenue received by Lower Makefield Township for Patterson acreage from PennDot for construction of I-95 exit loop. If managed wisely those funds could have preserved Patterson Farm buildings for a very long time.

$271,000+ rent from farmland.

$100,000+ rent from residences on the farm. 

234 - Number of acres of Patterson farm when Lower Makefield township took posession from farmers Thomas & Alice Patterson.

213 - Acres remaining of Patterson Farm today, with more scheduled to be sold off for Commercial development.

15 - Number of years Lower Makefield Township delayed applying for a conservation easement that would fund the perpetual preservation of the farm. Earlier this year, after years of prodding from members of the public, township officials deceitfully applied for a conservation easement for just a fraction of the farm instead of attemtping to preserve the entire farm.

6- Percent of farms within a 100 mile radius of Philadelphia that grow vegetables.

2 - Acres of American farm & ranchland lost to development every minute. 

1 - Percent of the American population are the farmers who feed us.

NOW is the time to permanently preserve Patterson Farm, NOT subdivide or crowd the farm with uses that impede the farms' use for food production!  
 

"Few people have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder." - George Washington

Will township officials resist the temptation to develop Patterson Farm?

   
 

 
Let's continue Mr. and Mrs. Patterson's legacy of agricultural excellence, and pass on something meaningful to benefit future generations.   

 Visitors to this site are encouraged to browse the website, read about the history and importance of the Patterson Farm, and leave your comments about, or remembrances of, the Pattersons and their farm in the Guestbook.

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