In what some observers are calling a stunning about-face, the Milton Hershey School today announced it “will seek township approval to build additional student homes as part of its long-planned North Campus expansion on the site of the Hershey Links Golf Course and Pumpkin World properties.”
As NewsLanc reported last week, Hershey activists are calling for a renewed emphasis on kids, including the expansion of the school to serve more needy children, and an end to controversial land and golf course deals at the trust started by Milton Hershey
Today’s announcement from the school acknowledges both of these priorities.
“The announcement means the end of the controversial Wren Dale/Hershey Links golf course, which be closed at the end of the 2013 season,” one Hershey observer reports.
The full text of the school’s announcement reads as follows:
Hershey School Takes Next Step in Developing MHS North Campus School plans additional student homes on Hershey Links property
Hershey, PA – The Milton Hershey School® announced today that it will seek township approval to build additional student homes as part of its long-planned North Campus expansion on the site of the Hershey Links Golf Course and Pumpkin World properties.
This is the next step in the School’s efforts to increase the number of students it serves now and in perpetuity. The property was purchased in 2006 with the goal of building additional student homes for middle school students.
“This is an exciting time for the Milton Hershey School as we continue our efforts to serve more children consistent with our Deed of Trust,” said MHS President Dr. Anthony Colistra ’59. “For nearly a decade, we have been focused on expanding our campus for that purpose.”
“We purchased this property as part of our plan to one day build additional student housing on it,” he said. “It is located immediately adjacent to our existing campus, and as we have said from the start, it provides an ideal opportunity to expand the campus so that we can serve more students.
With the Milton Hershey School now ready to move forward with its plans to construct new student housing, Hershey Links will close at the end of the 2013 season. A master plan for the site, first developed nearly a decade ago by the Washington, DC-based architectural firm of Bowie Gridley, has long envisioned the development of new homes for the School’s middle school students on the Venice tract located along Rte. 39 in South Hanover Township. Thirty-two student homes have been added to the North Campus, and with today’s announcement, the School will seek approval to build additional homes.
Milton Hershey School, founded in 1909 by chocolate magnate Milton Hershey and his wife Catherine, provides a home and an education to more than 1,800 children from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade who come from families in poverty.
The announcement above by the Milton Hershey School quotes Anthony Colistra, School President, saying:
” ‘We purchased this property as part of our plan to one day build additional student housing on it,” he said. ‘It is located immediately adjacent to our existing campus, and as we have said from the start, it provides an ideal opportunity to expand the campus so that we can serve more students.’ ”
The reason given for the purchase of the Wren Dale Golf Course does not agree with the reason given at the time the Golf Course was purchased . The following excerpts are from the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER article written at the time the Golf Course was purchased. The excerpts follow:
“Sun, Oct. 3, 2010
Hershey school’s purchase of golf course helped investors
By Bob Fernandez
Inquirer Staff Writer
“The Milton S. Hershey School, the nation’s largest residential school for impoverished children, purchased a money-losing golf course at the inflated price of $12 million in 2006, saying it needed the course as ‘buffer land’ for student safety.
“The price for the Wren Dale Golf Club, which had opened in 2003, was two to three times Hershey’s own appraisal and the fair-market value calculated by the Dauphin County tax office. One club investor acknowledged the deal helped ‘bail us out.’
“After acquiring the private course, the board members who administer the charitable school spent an additional $5 million to build a clubhouse, billed as Scottish-themed, with a restaurant and bar, and opened it to the public.”
When the Golf Course was purchased in 2010 at an inflated price you can read in the INQUIRER article that it states, ” — saying it needed the course as “buffer land” for student safety.” Second, the INQUIRER states, “One club investor acknowledged the deal helped ‘bail us out.’ “
From these quotes it can be seen that this is not what the School spokesperson is quoted as now, “We purchased this property as part of our plan to one day build additional student housing on it,” he said. “It is located immediately adjacent to our existing campus, and as we have said from the start, it provides an ideal opportunity to expand the campus so that we can serve more students.”
How can persons in high positions in Hershey make so conflicting statements? Another question that needs an answer is why did the School purchase more land when there are thousands of acres of farm land sitting idle in Derry Township where children homes used to be located? It’s not like they NEEDED the Wren Dale Golf Course. The truth has to come out in this whole mess.