Sprankle Woods moving along with development despite concerns
JEFFERSON TWP — As a local business owner prepares to host the first event at his new event space on Riemer Road, one township planning commission member expressed concern about the public debut of Sprankle Woods.
Doug Sprankle and his wife, Lindsay, purchased the 39.4-acre property earlier this year with intentions to turn the property — situated between Jefferson, Winfield, Clinton and Buffalo townships — into the next major event space in Butler County.
Sprankle has announced plans to move his popular Octoberfest event there — previously a Saxonburg tradition — this September, after a number of other new events are introduced this summer. The first, the Dream Foundation Adventure Raffle, is set for May 4.
“Mr. Sprankle has not made any effort whatsoever to come in and apprise the planning commission of what he is doing,” said Evelyn Gross, a longtime member of Jefferson Township’s planning commission, at the Monday supervisors meeting.
Gross publicly questioned the way Sprankle was communicating with public officials while developing the site and expressed doubt Sprankle would be able to navigate all the legal hoops required before he is set to host the first event at Sprankle Woods.
“In Pennsylvania, if you’re going to have a bunch of people come on your property, you need handicap accessibility,” Gross said. “You need restrooms. You need places to park cars. You need to go by the guidelines of Pennsylvania and the township.”
Sprankle said he is confident he’s doing his best to be transparent with all four townships in which the property intersects. He says he’s provided a site map and information about events that are planned to be held on the grounds.
On Feb. 22, supervisors from four Butler County townships held an information-gathering meeting at the Jefferson Township municipal building regarding the plans for the Riemer Road property. Sprankle was present at the meeting, along with his wife, brother Ryan, and their attorney.
“We gathered this meeting to talk about the plans in general and what ordinances they would fall under,” Sprankle said. “They're fully aware of what I'm doing and how I'm doing it, and everything they've requested up until now I've delivered on.”
One of Sprankle’s points of concern is that all four townships — especially Jefferson Township — have expressed such interest in the property to begin with. According to Sprankle, under the property’s previous ownership, Winfield Township collected all of its taxes. While most of the land is in Jefferson Township, the access road is located in Winfield Township.
As such, Sprankle says he’s obtained a permit from Winfield Township for the driveway of Sprankle Woods. This was corroborated by both Winfield Township supervisor Matthew Klabnik and Jefferson Township supervisor John Cypher.
“Historically, that property has had dealings directly with Winfield Township,” Sprankle said. “And so we continued that process and got all the required permits we felt we needed.”
Neither of the two Jefferson Township planning commission meetings held so far this year have featured Sprankle Woods as a topic on the agenda.
“I’m not a hard-nosed person,” Gross said. “I just believe in this case Mr. Sprankle should be in here advising our township and the other townships about what he is doing, and he should go through the process like everybody else.”
Sprankle has repeatedly said the reason he has declined to show up at public meetings is because he has nothing to show. In addition to making Sprankle Woods a showplace for local events, he says he and his family also intend to maintain the property’s original purpose as a farm.
“At this point, I've had no plans to develop structures or change the use of the farm,” Sprankle said. “Our number-one focus is to develop the farm aspect of the property and then use the events to help promote it.”
Jefferson Township supervisors and township manager declined to comment on the issue after Monday night’s meeting.
