A housing boom is ready to be sown into the fertile rolling hills of Westtown Township’s Crebilly Farm, but neighbors are fighting to keep Toll Brothers from plowing under open space that may have been tread upon by Revolutionary soldiers.

An important hearing is slated for Thursday night.

The Horsham developer is applying for a conditional-use permit to build up to a maximum of 397 houses on a portion of Crebilly Farm’s 322 acres, though 60 percent of the land would not be developed, according to a Daily Local News report by Adam Farence.

Its implications are sizeable: If fully built out, the development would grow the township’s residence count by 10 percent.

But it comes at a cost.

Neighbors contend that it eliminates precious open space — and not just any open space, but land that may have been part of the historic Battle of the Brandywine during the Revolutionary War.

Crebilly Farm is owned by David M., Laurie S., and David G. Robinson, the article stated. The 6:30 PM hearing on Thursday at Stetson Middle School is another step toward a Westtown Township Planning Commission recommendation to the board of supervisors, which will ultimately decide the fate of the application.

Read more about the proposed Crebilly Farm development in the Daily Local News here, and check out previous VISTA Today coverage of the issue here.