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Newtown Vet Memorial Will Be On The Pike

by Kenn Stark
Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Steve Neri, chairman of the Newtown Township Veterans Memorial committee, recently announced that the proposed location of the memorial has been moved to the westernmost intersection of Alice Grim Boulevard and West Chester Pike, near the Newtown/Edgmont border. The Prime front-corner space was donated by developer Claude de Botton, who has also submitted preliminary sketch plans for a 56-acre “lifestyle village” at the site.

A fundraising campaign with a goal of $400,000 was kicked off last Veterans Day at the municipal building, not the originally proposed memorial site of Brookside Park, off Bryn Mawr Avenue. Even then, negotiations with de Botton were underway to provide a more accessible venue. “This location gives us more visibility and better security, is easier to find and easier to see,” Newtown Township Veterans Memorial Committee Chair Steve Neri said. “I don’t think there’s going to be another community in the country that’s going to have anything as beautiful as this,” he added.

The concrete memorial will include flags of every service branch. A carved marble eagle will serve as the centerpiece, positioned under the inscription: We Will Never Forget. Former Newtown Police Chief Stan Short has already collected the names of 650 Newtown servicemen, dating back to the American Revolution. In fact, the first name on the engraved list of honorees will be General ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne, who was a Newtown resident. All American wars and all branches of the armed forces will be represented, with proof of service and township residence being the only requirements to have a name included on the memorial.

Botton’s plan for the area is to combine four different zones on seven contiguous parcels into a single commercial-zoned lot. Luxury townhouses and condos on the hillside would overlook Marville at Newtown Township – a pedestrian-friendly shopping plaza linked to restaurants, a 220-room hotel, and a 42,000-square foot arts conservatory. Newtown planners gave a preliminary nod to the project last week, but full development of de Botton’s dream will take several years. The only suggestion made by the planning commission was the addition of a tree line buffer along West Chester Pike, to reduce the view of parking lots from the highway.