đź“° Our second printed paper of the year is out!!!đź“°
By Louis Speidel
As you may have heard, the Oakwell Estate will soon be destroyed along with 500 plants, trees and all the animals and insects that live there. Oakwell Estate is a historical preserve that is a 11 acre property. It is also only a couple of blocks away from Black Rock Middle School (BRMS), which is planning to use for sports fields.
According to the associated press this preserve was seized by eminent domain by Lower Merion School District (LMSD) in 2018. Eminent domain is when the government takes a private property by force and turns it into a property for public use. LMSD plans to use this property as baseball and softball fields for BRMS while in the process killing over 500 species of trees, animals and insects. LMSD initially planned to start construction in May 2023 but the date has been moved later to a still unknown time. The date was moved because of an agreement with Haverford township and Lower merion township that enabled BRMS to use the polo fields for baseball and softball. Oakwell is only a couple of blocks away from BRMS with the address 1835 County Line Rd, Villanova, PA 19085. The fields at BRMS were initially going to be a baseball and softball field, but they changed their minds and made it a soccer and a football field, making Oakwell so it will be a baseball and a softball field.
John Bennett is the former owner of the property. Bennett had a deal to sell it to villanova university before LMSD seized it by eminent domain. He is upset that LMSD seized the property by eminent domain. Before LMSD bought Oakwell they considered (and almost did) use Oakwell’s sister Stoneleigh. Oakwell used to be part of Stoneleigh until Edmund Smith (the man who owned Stoneleigh) gave 11 acres of Stoneleigh to his son.Â
The Oakwell Estate which was seized by LMSD using eminent domain in 2018 has over 500 species of plants, trees and animals. It is going to be used for baseball and softball fields at BRMS. LMSD was scheduled to break ground in May 2023 but the date has been moved to an unknown time.