Matt Watson and the Truth

It appears someone from the "Trusted Team" is reading this blog in Trappe. We noticed that Matthew Watson, a current member of Trappe Borough Council, has removed his name as one of the representative agents at 1st Patriot Realty, his last known employer.

Now I would venture to guess that Mr. Watson wants to distance himself from Drew Bycoskie, a realtor and principal with 1st Patriot Realty, Mr. Watson's last known employer and his boss. In his bio on the 1st Patriot Web Site, Mr. Bycoskie describes himself as "In his continued pursuit to offer his clients additional services, Mr. Bycoskie became heavy involved in both Land Development and investment properties opportunities for both himself and his clients. During this time, Mr. Bycoskie began to work with Ted Laskowski on several real estate and land development projects. As Ted and Drew began to talk and work with one another, they could see the positive synergies that they had together.

With that, both Ted and Drew have merged their real estate and mortgage companies to offer their clients a full service organization that can handle all aspects of an individual’s real estate transaction. Mr. Laskowski’s 30 plus year experience as a real estate broker in both commercial and residential real estate combined with Drew’s analytical and financial capabilities offer a wealth of knowledge, expertise and diversity to their clients".

What is interesting here is Mr. Bycoskie owns land at 437, 438, and 439 Main Street in Trappe that was brought before Trappe Council for land development for housing and was rejected due to "numerous required waivers" to ordinances and other considerations. Mr. Stu Strauss was very vocal in his opposition to the numerous waivers ... but not Mr. Watson. In other words Mr. Bycoskie wanted to squeeze more into his land development so he could make more money. And Mr. Watson, along with the majority of the last Trappe Borough Council, was going to let this go through giving it special treatment until Mr. Strauss and Mr. Scholl brought this to light. Why? Well for starters, Mr. Bycoskie was a big contributor to most of the Council's election as well as lending support to their campaign by posting campaign signs on his various properties. But the real "quid pro quo" for Mr. Watson was a "job" with 1st Patriot Realty when he left Harvard Realty Exchange in Trappe.

Now enter another developer, Andre DiPrinzio, whose last land development was Carriage Ridge in Trappe, who it appears has joined up with Mr. Bycoskie to develop the land development at 437, 438, and 439 Main Street in Trappe. Mr. DiPrinzio was not a good business partner with the folks who purchased homes at Carriage Ridge until the currently seated Council put Mr. DiPrinzio on notice ... then the residents of Carriage Ridge got treated fairly. I was able to cull this from the Trappe Borough Council meeting minutes posted here.

I believe that the land development for 437, 438, and 439 Main Street will be presented to the "new" Trappe Council should the "Trusted Team" win the general election next month. The only problem for them is Mr. Watson would need to recuse himself due to the conflict of Mr. Bycoskie being his last known employer. My guess is that they will attempt to get around this "conflict of interest" by having Mr. DiPrinzio lead the land development with Trappe Borough Council. I do believe that both Mr. DiPrinzio as well as Mr. Bycoskie have contributed financially to the "Trusted Team" but that needs to be confirmed from the financial statements they are required by law to file.

Stay tuned on this one and we will continue to monitor the "Trusted Team" and will update you when we have new information.