2003

The East Manchester Township supervisors have unanimously approved a subdivision plan for Leg Up Farm, 4248 N. Sherman St. Extended.

Issue: Leg Up Farm will provide individually tailored therapy programs for children with special needs. Services offered will include horse, physical, occupational, music, aqua, art, speech and recreational therapies. Also, family support will be provided.

Reaction: “Hard work and perseverance pay off dividends in bundles,” Lou Castriota, Jr. chairman of Leg Up Farm, said Dec. 9. “In one night, I received (a federal grant of) $175,000 and subdivision approval.”

“I hope this gets the governor’s attention and helps him to make a decision quickly to release funds,” Castriota said.

Background: Gov. Ed Rendell’s signature is needed to release $4.56 million of Capital Redevelopment Assistance Funds for the project, Castriota said. The state grant requires matching funds.

The project recently received a $25,000 donation from Highmark Blue Shield, Castriota said. Also, money has been raised through fund-raisers. Altogether, about $700,000 has been committed to the project.

Among the money that can be counted toward the state grant are the cost of the land, business and personal contributions, and federal grants.

The total cost of the project is $9.2 million.

Castriota will present a final land development plan to the supervisors in January.

E. Manchester Twp., The York Daily Record

U.S. Senators Arlen Specter, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Rick Santorum, Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today announced funding for projects in central Pennsylvania. This funding, part of the FY04 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, has been approved by the Appropriations Committees for both the House and Senate. Final approval of the Conference report is pending.

"I am pleased my colleagues in the House and Senate Appropriations committees have provided this important funding to communities in central Pennsylvania," said Senator Specter. "This funding is going to have a tremendous impact upon the daily lives of residents throughout the state, whether it be for educational programs, hospital construction and equipment or for stabilizing hospital staffs to ensure the highest quality of patient care."

"The funds that are included in the Conference report will help sustain compassionate communities and continue to grow the economy throughout central Pennsylvania," said Senator Santorum. "I believe these programs will continue to make Pennsylvania a great place to live, work and raise a family. I commend my colleagues in the House and Senate for recognizing the importance of these projects in the central region of the Commonwealth."

Projects expected to receive funding include:

$1,000,000 to the Geisinger Health System in Danville to construct the Center for Health Research.

$178,000 to the Divine Providence Hospital in Williamsport for stabilizing the workforce for patient care.

$4,000,000 to Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster for a new state of art life sciences building.

$500,000 to the Geisinger Health System in Danville for the catheterization lab at the Geisinger Wyoming Valley Heart Hospital.

$975,000 to the Penn State, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology for renovation and equipment.

$237,000 to the Hazleton General Hospital for stabilizing the workforce for patient care.

$200,000 to Intermediate Unit 17 Technology Improvement Project in Williamsport to support school districts and enhance their access to information technology.

$250,000 to the Lancaster General Women and Babies Hospital for equipment.

$175,000 to the Leg Up Farm in York to provide comprehensive therapy and rehabilitation for children.

$250,000 to the Pennsylvania Home Care Association in Lemoyne to investigate the impact of telehealth on the overall cost of patient healthcare.

$300,000 to the Shamokin Area Community Hospital in Coal Township.

$100,000 to the York College in Pennsylvania for technology upgrades in the Schmidt Library.

By WILLIAM REYNOLDS (Specter) and AMY HYBELS (Santorum), U.S. Senate Press Release

Lou Castriota, Jr. is convinced that success comes in bundles, especially when it comes to the project he’s worked on for the past six years, Leg Up Farm.

And if a few more bundles come his way, Castriota hopes to break ground next year on the comprehensive therapy child center in East Manchester Township,

“The momentum is moving forward in a big way right now. All of the hard work we put into this project is coming together,” he said.

Leg Up Farm will offer traditional therapies like occupational and physical therapy, as well as less traditional programs such as horseback riding. On Tuesday, the East Manchester Township Board of Supervisors approved a subdivision plan, and a land development plan is expected to be presented to the township planning commission later this month, Castriota said.

Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill that includes $175,000 for Leg Up Farm. If it’s passed in the Senate, Castriota hopes the president will sign it into law before the new year.

“I’m thrilled with this dollar amount, because I think it opens up the future for us to get even more federal funding,” he said.

Castriota said in the past few weeks, a health insurance company donated $25,000 to Leg Up Farm, and the second annual Matthew Allen Potter Memorial Golf Tournament raised $42,000 for the project.

Hoping for large payment: Castriota said most of the federal grant would go to pay for building design.

“We really want to create an environment that’s easy for children with special needs to move through and enjoy all of the things we have to offer,” he said, and to do that, extra care needs to be taken when designing the building.

Castriota hopes that support from state politicians will lead Gov. Ed Rendell to release $4.56 million in capital developmental assistance funds. If Rendell releases the money, Leg Up Farm will have to match that amount, to reach the projected start-up goal of slightly more than $9 million, he said.

In 2001, Barbara Warren offered a portion of her 200-acre property at 4248 North Sherman Street Extended. Leg Up Farm will be built on 15 acres.

By TED CZECH, The York Dispatch/Sunday News

York County agencies and organizations stand to gain more than $1 million in funding if Congress passes its major spending package this week.

Most of the groups, which include the York City Sewer Authority, Schmidt Library at York College and Springettsbury Township, said they were notified about the money earmarked for them in the last two weeks.

A $100,000 grant for Springettsbury Township would be a big help to the municipality’s replacement work but came as no surprise, said Mark Hodgkinson, director of wastewater treatment.

“We pursued it, so we’re very aware of it being there,” said Hodgkinson said. The project is the largest under way for the township, he said.

Spending projects are a common way for legislators to curry favor at home, Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rick Santorum, R-Pa, as well as Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County, each supported several items in the list of the area’s potential funds.

The spending package, which contains the seven unfinished appropriations bills for fiscal 2004, faces a number of hurdles next week in Congress. But if it passes with unanimous consent – as recent spending packages have – the funds would be assigned for the coming year.

The potential $100,000 grant at Schmidt Library would be a substantial help for technology upgrades, said Director Susan Campbell.

The 2004 funds, combined with a past grant of $350,000, would cover most of the technology expenses in the library’s $5.25 million renovation project, she said.

It would go toward the creation of a wireless Internet network, a media center and enhanced classrooms to allow students to work on group presentations, she said.

“There’s no place for them to put them together or practice or anything like that,” even though such projects often are required for classes, Campbell said.

The new resources also will help students learn proper research methods “so they’re not looking for needles in haystacks, which is what they’re typically doing when they’re Google-ing,” she said, referring to the name of a popular search engine, which is a device used to search for information on the Internet.

The Nurse-Family Partnership Program at York Health Corp. also is slated to receive $50,000 from the funding.

The program, which assigns one of its four full-time registered nurses to pregnant, at-risk women in the city, needs that funding, said Karen McCraw, director of social services at York Health Corp.

Its current funds, part of a diminishing grant, will soon run out, she said.

Julie Smith, supervisor of the Nurse-Family program, said the program serves women who lack resources, including money, transportation and child support, to take care of their families.

“The mothers in this program live incredibly complicated lives,” Smith said.

“The nurse’s job is to teach them how to access community services and to be self-sufficient.”

County’s Possible Funding

Earmarked funds for York County in the FY2004 omnibus:

York College of Pennsylvania, technology upgrades for the Schmidt Library, $100,000 (Specter, Santorum)

York County Transit Authority (YCTA), buses and bus facilities, $100,000 (Santorum, Platts)

Springettsbury Township, a Biosolids Treatment Facility Replacement project, $100,000 (Platts)

York City Sewer Authority, infiltration and inflow removal infrastructure improvements, $250,000 (Platts)

York County, a court records improvement program, $150,000 (Platts)

York County Human Life Services, Inc., abstinence education and related services, $50,000 (Specter, Santorum)

York Health Corp., expansion of services of the Nurse-Family Partnership program, $50,000 (Platts)

Leg Up Farm, York, provide comprehensive therapy and rehabilitation for children, $175,000 (Specter, Santorum, Platts)

Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center, $100,000 (Platts)

By BECKY BOWMAN, Medill News Service

After six years of planning, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for Leg Up Farm.

A subdivision plan for a 15-acre center that will provide virtually every form of therapy for children with special needs was approved last week by the East Manchester Planning Commission. The plan is now expected to go before the township supervisors Tuesday.

“Well, I guess it’s one more challenge overcome,” said Lou Castriota, Jr., who has spearheaded the project for six years. “I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

‘Quality of Life’: The proposed 77,000 square-foot facility at 4248 N. Sherman St. Extended will offer traditional physical, speech and occupational therapies, as well as nontraditional therapies, including horseback riding, aquatherapy, massage and sensory play.

“It’s important that we give everyone in our community an opportunity to have a great quality of life,” Castriota said.

Once the subdivision plans are approved, the next step would be for the planning commission to consider Leg Up Farm’s land development plans, which cover such things as driveways and storm-water retention. If the commission approves land development plans Nov. 25, they would then go to the supervisors for final approval, said planning commission secretary Robert Nace.

Castriota said he hopes to break ground next year, and the center could open in 2005.

Garnering support: Castriota, 33, who is general sales manager for Fox 45 in Baltimore, says he knows of no other facility quite like Leg Up Farm.

For more than a year, Castriota has been lobbying in Harrisburg and has gained the support of local legislators. They’ve urged Gov. Ed Rendell to release $4.56 million in capital redevelopment assistance funds for the project. If those grants are approved, Leg Up Farm will roll out a capital campaign to match those funds, to reach the start-up goal of slightly more than $9 million.

In addition, in a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County, has requested a $1 million grant for Leg Up Farm.

Inspired by daughter: Castriota began working on Leg Up Farm more than five years ago, inspired by his now 7-year-old daughter, Brooke, who has mitochondrial disease, similar to cerebral palsy.

As he began to seek various therapies for Brooke, Castriota realized it would be less stressful for patients and their families if treatments could be found at a single, child-oriented site.

In 2001, landowner Barbara Warren gave 18.5 acres of her 200-acre property on North Sherman Street Extended as a home for Leg Up Farm.

In March, the East Manchester Township Zoning Hearing Board approved a special exception to the township zoning ordinance, allowing plans for Leg Up Farm to more forward.

By TED CZECH, The York Dispatch/Sunday News

After six years of planning, Leg Up Farm is seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Issue: East Manchester Township Planning Commission unanimously agreed to recommend a subdivision plan to the township supervisors for Leg Up Farm, 4248 N. Sherman St. Extended.

Reaction: “It will be a first-of-its-kind therapy center in this country for kids with special needs,” said Lou Castriota, Jr., chairman of Leg Up Farm.

Background: Castriota and the board of directors are planning a center that will provide an individually tailored therapy program for children with special needs. Services offered will include horse, physical, psychological, occupational, music, aqua, art, speech and recreational therapies, Castriota said. Also, family support will be provided.

Castriota, who lives with his family in Shrewsbury Township, was motivated to develop a one-stop therapy facility for children with special needs after his daughter Brooke, who is seven, was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease about six years ago.

Since then, Barbara Warren agreed to allow the facility to be built on her East Manchester Township eco-farm, which provides wildlife habitat and affords opportunities for environmental and agricultural education.

Of the 188-acre farm that Warren owns, she has given 18.5 acres to Leg Up Farm. Of the 18.5 acres, only about eight acres will be developed and 10 acres will be left in its natural state, said Michael Takas of First Capital Engineering.

“We don’t want kids to feel like they are in school or hospital,” Castriota said. “We want kids to feel like they are at a farm.”

Children will not stay overnight at the farm. Instead, children will come for 45-minute therapy sessions. A child may attend one or several therapy sessions and could stay from between 1.5 hours to four or five hours, Castriota said. Insurance benefits would apply to the accredited therapies.

Also, the facility will offer recreational activities that the community can participate in. Meeting space will be provided for groups such as the Girl and Boy Scouts and Future Farmers of America so that children with disabilities can have access to them, he said.

Legislators from York County and Pennsylvania have been supportive of the project.

U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County, has requested that the House Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education set aside $1 million for the project. Sen. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum are supporting this request for federal dollars, Castriota said.

“We haven’t hears anything yet,” Castriota said. “It’s the last piece of the federal budget.”

The project received a $60,000 grant from Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Other funds have been raised by donors and two golf tournaments that benefited the farm. The tournaments raised $75,000, Castriota said.

Gov. Ed Rendell has signed a bill for $4.56 million of Capital Redevelopment Assistance Funds to go toward the project. However, the money has not yet been released.

State Sen. Mike Waugh was instrumental in requested the money, Castriota said. Letters of support for the farm to get this state grant money have been sent by representatives Stan Saylor, Keith Gillespie, Stephen Stetler, Bruce Smith, Ron Miller, Bev Mackereth, and Steve Nichol.

Approval for a final land development plan for the farm is ready and will follow the subdivision plan approval process, Castriota said. Once Rendell releases the Capital Redevelopment Assistance Funds, groundbreaking could occur next year and 12 months later the doors would open, he said. For more information about Leg Up Farm, call 266-9294.

E. MANCHESTER TWP., The York Daily Record

The quest to build Leg Up Farm, a proposed comprehensive child therapy center in East Manchester Township, has gained the support of a nationally recognized psychiatrist and several lawmakers.

Dr. Stanley Greenspan of Bethesda, Md., said he will integrate his child development system with Leg Up Farm’s traditional and nontraditional therapies once the facility is built.

The system, called DIR – developmental, individualized and relationship-based – is a series of techniques taught to all who come in contact with a child who has learning difficulties, with the goal of improving all aspects of the child’s life.

“Every opportunity in life is a learning experience,” said Ruby Salazar, a social worker and associate of Greenspan’s who will train Leg Up Farm staff in the techniques.

Greenspan is a Harvard- and Yale-educated child psychiatrist who has written 15 books and is a professor of psychiatry at George Washington University Medical School.

“You have these goals in helping children become engaged, attentive, interactive,” Greenspan said. “The goal is to simultaneously strengthen their problem areas . . . and at the same time master . . . problem-solving interaction.”

Proposed facility: Leg Up Farm would be a 77,000 square-foot facility offering such traditional physical, speech and occupational therapies, as well as nontraditional therapies, including hippotherapy (horseback riding), aquatherapy, massage and sensory play.

Lou Castriota, Jr., Leg Up Farm’s board chairman, is enthusiastic about the projected union with Greenspan.

“It’s tremendous that somebody of his caliber sees so much potential in Leg Up Farm,” Castriota said. “From a medical standpoint, I think it’ll really help people feel confident with the credibility of the facility and what benefits it will have to the children.”

In addition, Castriota has convinced numerous state senators and representatives of Leg Up Farm’s importance. They have in turn sent letters to Gov. Ed Rendell, who Castriota hopes will release $4.56 million in capital redevelopment assistance funds for the project.

Lawmakers on board: Castriota said Greenspan became aware of Leg Up Farm through Salazar, who knows board member Margaret Gryczko-Bogovic.

Although Leg Up Farm has not been build yet, Greenspan, Salazar and associate Serena Wieder, a psychologist, have started their work.

In an Aug. 18 letter to Rendell, the three explained the DIR model, stating that marrying it with Leg Up Farm “will not only enhance its children, but offer a replication model and research center for Pennsylvania’s children and families.”

Several months before that letter, local legislators wrote to Rendell.

“We wholeheartedly support funding of the Leg Up Farm and urge you to give it every possible consideration,” reads a May 8 letter signed by Reps. Stan Saylor, Keith Gillespie, Stephen Stetler, Bruce Smith, Ronald Miller, Bev Mackereth and Steven Nickol.

State Sens. Gibson Armstrong, Harold Mowery, Jeffrey Piccola, Terry Punt and Mike Waugh sent an equally supportive letter.

U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County, asked in an April 11 letter to Rep. Ralph Regula, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, that the committee set aside $1 million for Leg Up Farm.

“Leg Up Farm will improve the quality of life, provide an opportunity for community involvement and integration, and create a new ‘best practices’ model for children’s therapy,” wrote Platts.

Through fundraising, Leg Up Farm plans to match the amount released by Rendell, to reach the start-up goal of slightly more than $9 million, Castriota said.

Minimizing stress: Castriota began work on the project more than five years ago, inspired by his 7 year-old daughter, Brooke, who has been diagnosed with mitochondrial disease, a disease similar to cerebral palsy.

Castriota developed the idea for Leg Up Farm after he began seeking various therapies for Brooke and realized it would be less stressful on patients and their families if multiple therapies were consolidated in one location.

In 2001, Barbara Warren offered a portion of her 200-acre property on North Sherman Street Extended as a home for Leg Up Farm.

In March, the East Manchester Township Zoning Hearing Board approved a special exception to the township zoning ordinance, allowing Leg Up Farm to be built on 15 acres at 4248 N. Sherman St. Ext.

Castriota is hoping the land development plan will be ready for East Manchester Township and York County Planning Commission officials to examine by the end of the month.

By TED CZECH, The York Dispatch/Sunday News

Dear Achiever Colleagues,

What does it mean to be an Achiever?

What are the characteristics of the members of this group? Or, the characteristics of the people who have achieved great things in their lives, their relationships, or their careers?

One characteristic has to be the relentless pursuit of knowledge. But, not for knowledge’s sake. Achievers want knowledge so they can get an edge. Something that will help them be just a little better. In fact mega consultant, Dan Kennedy, says that there are a group of people who can’t stand the idea that there might be something out there that they don’t know, that could be the difference maker in their business or lives.

That’s why Achievers tend to be readers and tape junkies. (Zig calls this our University on Wheels. I am always excited when I get into an AE’s car and they have some CD or tape series in the player. And really excited when it’s one of mine.) I also find that Achievers will also return again and again to material they think is valuable.

Another ingredient of the Achiever is a vision. They have a clear idea of where they are headed. I actually believe that many Achievers visualize their achievements long before they have actually happened. Denis Waitely (whose book the Psychology of Winning changed my life) says that, “we are always moving in the direction of the things we are thinking about most.” Think things will be bad? They become bad. Think things will be good? Guess what. Self-fulfilling prophecies. I should write a whole article on this subject someday.

But having a vision means little if that vision isn’t reduced to the action steps you need to take today. Writing down your goals. Or, as Marshall Sylver says, “write down your plans.” He says that plans are more powerful than goals. Think about it. What is more powerful? If I say, “my goal is to have dinner with you on Saturday” OR “my PLAN is to have dinner with you on Saturday?” Which do you think is more likely to happen?

Achievers take their longer term vision and put in writing what they need to do next to accomplish that. I think that writing down goals may be the most critical step because it starts you to be committed to action.

I’m writing this today because of a conversation at lunch Saturday with Lou Castriota, Jr. Lou is the Local Sales Manager at a TV station in Harrisburg, PA. He was part of the audience for a speech I did Saturday in San Antonio. So when he sat down at my table, asking questions about what I thought were the best sales organizations in our business, I was impressed. Certainly exhibiting achiever characteristics, don’t you think?

I didn’t know the half of it. You see, Lou had moved to Harrisburg from a job at a TV station in Baltimore because he has a vision. His vision is to build a center for Special Needs children that will serve as a model for the entire country. A place where multiple disciplines of treatment can be practiced. He calls his center Leg Up Farm. And moving to Harrisburg was critical because it allowed him more access to state decision makers since Harrisburg is Pennsylvania’s state capital.

Lou had a dream. A dream to create a program where horses could be used for a therapeutic riding program. He started planning. And then, six months later, his daughter Brooke was diagnosed with special needs. From his experience with Brooke came the vision for Leg Up Farm.

The farm hasn’t been built yet. But it will be. I have no doubt of that. Because of how determined Lou is to see that it is built. In the past few years, there have been setbacks. Three separate times the grant money to do just the plan was turned down. But then it got ok’d. A woman donated the land, a part of her farm, to build the center. The state approved the use of tax credits for donors. Just six weeks ago, the town approved a change in the zoning to allow Leg Up Farm to be built. Now Lou and his supporters wait (and lobby) for a major appropriation from this year’s state budget. And if it comes, Leg Up Farm will be built in the next year.

It has taken years from Lou’s original vision to get to this point. Years. And the center is still not built. They’ve experienced setbacks. And may again. But Lou was very clear when he talked about how they have been able to get from the dream to where they are today.

“Stay totally focused on accomplishing just the very next step.” Lou said that it would have been impossible if all he thought of was how was he going to get the farm built. So he stayed focused on the next step. Get the first grant . . . incorporate . . . get charitable IRS status . . . find the land . . . get the zoning. Take the next step.

I hope as you read this that you can feel my emotion. Here is a guy just like you and I. He’s even in our business doing exactly what we do. He and his wife got dealt a real challenge with Brooke’s condition. But he turns that, one step at a time, into a program that will make a huge difference for other children like Brooke.

What is your bet? Will Leg Up Farm be built? I’d bet huge money that it will be.

A dream . . . a vision . . . the next step always . . . action. An Achiever.

By JIM DOYLE, The Achiever's Circle

As last night’s East Manchester Township Zoning Hearing Board meeting ended, Charles Rurick approached Lou Castriota, Jr. and shook his hand.

“If I was 30 years younger, I’d be your farmer,” said Rurick, 74.

Moments before, the board had unanimously approved a special exception to the township zoning ordinance, allowing Castriota’s project, Leg Up Farm, to be built on roughly 15 acres at 4248 N. Sherman St. Extended. The farm is an R-2, or medium-density residential zone.

Leg Up Farm, which Castriota’s been working on for five years, will offer traditional and non-traditional therapy in a farm environment to children with disabilities.

The 77,000 square-foot building will offer physical, speech and occupational therapies, as well as hippotherapy (horseback riding), aquatherapy, massage therapy and sensory play.

Besides Rurick, several other residents who live near the proposed site – and who voiced concern about the project during the meeting – pledged their support.

Castriota said he was “extremely excited” about the board’s decision.

“One hurdle down,” he said, taking a deep breath.

The next move is to submit a land development plan to the township within the next six months, said Michael Takacs, landscape architect with First Capital Engineering, a company hired by Leg Up Farm.

His motivation: Addressing the board and audience, Castriota told why he wants to build Leg Up Farm. His voice slightly wavering, he showed a photo of his 7 year-old daughter, Brooke.

“This is my little girl; this is my motivation,” he said.

Brooke suffers from mitochondrial disease, a disease similar to cerebral palsy. Castriota developed the idea for Leg Up Farm when he began seeking various therapies for Brooke and realized it would be a lot simpler if they were all available in one location.

Castriota said he knows of no other facility quite like Leg Up Farm. There are hippotherapy programs, but they don’t offer other therapies; and there are facilities with several kinds of therapies, but in a hospital setting.

“I’ve traveled to Oklahoma City, I’ve traveled to New York to do research to build the ultimate therapy center our children,” he said.

The natural, farm environment will relax and motivate disabled children, he said.

Two years ago, Barbara Warren offered a portion of her 200-acre property on North Sherman Street Extended as a home for Leg Up Farm. Castriota had wanted to open the farm in 2004, but said it might take an additional year, with the country involved in the second Gulf War and a lukewarm economy.

He hopes to raise $4.5 million in a capital campaign and receive a match from the state.

Neighbors wonder: Several neighbors asked Castriota if any of Leg Up Farm’s clients would be able to wander from Warren’s property to theirs.

While Castriota said there were no immediate plans to build a fence around Warren’s property, he didn’t believe that any of the clients – the majority of whom will have physical disabilities – would be able to leave the property, even if they wanted. Besides, the clients will always be with a therapist, he said.

Brenda Culbert of the 100 block of Poplar Lane, Mount Wolf, asked about traffic. Castriota said there would be a maximum of eight to 10 clients at the facility per hour and the state Department of Transportation classified the number of trips in and out of the farm per day as “low-volume.”

Rurick asked Castriota if there would be lighting at the farm’s entrance at night.

“That road had 50 to 60 cars going by in one hour’s time,” he said.

Takacs said there probably would be some lighting that would “extend out of the drive.”

Castriota said he would consider building a lighted entrance sign to illuminate the drive.

By TED CZECH, The York Dispatch/Sunday News

Lou Castriota, Jr. is optimistic his Leg Up Farm project eventually will receive $4.5 million from the state to help pay for construction.

Until then, he plans to move forward in other ways, such as requesting a zoning special exception from the East Manchester Zoning Hearing Board on Thursday.

"Since our project is unique, there's really no specific zoning that fits us, because we're an outpatient facility in a farm environment," said Castriota. "So we have to go before them and ask for an exception."

The area is zoned for residential use, and Castriota needs a special exception for the facility, which is considered a health and welfare institution.

Leg Up Farm will offer traditional therapies -- physical, speech and occupational -- as well as such less-traditional therapies as hippotherapy (horseback riding), aquatherapy, massage therapy and sensory play.

In 2001, landowner Barbara Warren offered a portion of her 200-acre property on North Sherman Street Extended as a home for the proposed 77,000 square-foot facility.,/p>

Castriota, chairman of Leg Up Farm's board of directors, has said the facility was inspired by his 7 year-old daughter, Brooke, who has mitochondrial disease, similar to cerebral palsy. As he sought various therapies for Brooke, he realized how much easier it would be if the various types of therapy were available in the same location.

Castriota hopes to open the facility in 2004, after raising $4.5 million in a capital campaign and receiving a $4.5 million match from the state.

Leg Up Farm had been slated to receive the money through the previous state administration, but with newly elected Gov. Ed Rendell in office, "We have to present our case to the new administration to get the money released," Castriota said.

"It's in a sense reacquainting Leg Up Farm with new people," he said. "I've already started that process with key people in the governor's office."

By TED CZECH, The York Dispatch/Sunday News