VA antes up for cemetery in Bucks County

Philadelphia Inquirer, The, November, 2007 by Nancy Petersen Inquirer Staff Writer

A battle over the fate of a proposed national veterans cemetery in Bucks County may be coming to an end, and money appears to be the key. In exchange for $10.5 million, luxury-home builder Toll Bros. Inc. is poised to sell 200 acres of prime Upper Makefield Township farmland to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to members of Congress briefed on the deal.

That is $3.5 million more than the $7 million that the VA has maintained was its highest offer. Toll in return will agree not to seek "unappealable" approval to build 170 homes on nearby land. Toll is facing lawsuits filed by residents who are unhappy with the development's planned density. The company has maintained it was selling the cemetery land at a discount, and needed to build that many homes to make up the loss. Neither Toll nor the VA would confirm the terms of ...