The Summit Hill apartment project in Jenkintown has caused no small controversy from the day one. This week, Scabby the Rat came for a visit.

When Roizman Development presented this project to Jenkintown Borough Council, it almost immediately prompted an organized opposition from the immediate neighborhood. However, their concerns with the building’s height, design, and impact to the school district and the parking supply did not deter Council from granting the variances and permits needed to begin construction.

The specter of Scabby the Rat looming over the work site represents the concerns of the Keystone Mountain Lakes Regional Council of Carpenters and their goal of getting more local residents hired for these projects.

According to a spokesman going by the name of J.T., they direct their ire at one of the subcontractors Cavan Construction of Aston, Pennsylvania, not at Roizman, claiming that the Cavan’s failure to hire more residents from Jenkintown, Abington, or Cheltenham is a form of “tax fraud” against those communities, because non-resident workers do not pay taxes into the community where the project takes place.

J.T. also claims this is not a union/non-union issue, but that Keystone works to uphold area wages and standards for everyone.

We’re told that negotiations are underway.