Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 150, No. 51
60 Cents
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
INSIDE Avon Grove School
Board approves new contract with teachers By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer The Avon Grove School Board approved a new, five-year collective barThe trip of a lifetime, and gaining agreement with you’re invited...1B the Avon Grove Education Association at a meeting on Dec. 15. The new teachers’ contract, which is effective July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2022, was approved by the school board by a vote of 8-0. The current collective bargaining agreement will expire on
Avon Grove tops Kennett, 65-30...2B
June 30, 2017. School board president Bonnie Wolff thanked the Avon Grove Education Association for working with the district on the “early bird” contract. Wolff said that she thought the negotiations were very collegial between the two sides. “The board is very excited to enter into a long-term agreement with the teachers’ association,” Wolff said. “This agreement is beneficial for the Continued on Page 4A
c from the
Chester County Press
Oxford receives a second Families receive warm wishes at La major grant for proposed Comunidad Hispana parking garage By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Bomb threat at Unionville High School prompts evacuation...5A
INDEX
La Comunidad Hispana outreach and education coordinator Norma Diego-Flores and director of development LeeAnn Riloff attend the organization’s second annual winter coat distribution, held on Dec. 16 in Kennett Square. More than 400 brand new winter coats were collected for area families.
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Police Blotter..............5A
La Comunidad Hispana’s second annual winter coat Calendar of Events......3B distribution, held on Dec. 16 that collected nearly Obituaries....................5B 400 coats for local famiClassifieds..................7B lies – could not have been
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Opinion........................7A
© 2007 The Chester County Press
scheduled any more perfectly. As family after family entered the Cypress Street facility last Friday afternoon, the weather outside was, appropriately enough, below freezing. More than 150 brand new Continued on Page 2A
For the second time in less than a month, Oxford Borough received some very good news—significant grant funding for a proposed parking garage is coming the borough’s way. State Sen. Andy Dinniman and State Rep. John Lawrence announced on Dec. 8 that Oxford will receive $540,000 in state funding for the construction of a transportation facility that will increase parking and improve public transit and multimodal circulation in the borough’s downtown. The state funding was approved by the Commonwealth Finance Authority (CFA). This grant comes just a few weeks after the borough
was approved for approximately $578,000 in funding through the Chester County Community Revitalization Program. Overall, the borough has now secured more than $1 million in funding for a project that is estimated to have a price tag of about $5.75 million. “Today is a good day for Oxford Borough, its residents, and businesses,” council president Ron Hershey said in a statement. “With the additional grant award from the CFA of $540,000 for the Oxford Transit Center, Oxford is one step closer to realizing a 20-year-old dream that has the potential of propelling the borough into a major hub of opportunity in Chester County. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Representative John
Lawrence and Senator Andy Dinniman for all of their support and belief in a greater vision for the Borough of Oxford.” The parking garage project is considered by local officials as a way to not only resolve Oxford’s longstanding parking issues, but also as a way to increase economic development in the business district. It would be easier to attract an anchor business to the borough’s downtown if there was ample parking in the vicinity. The proposed parking structure has been designed as a multimodal transit hub, with integrated bus station and loop road, in anticipation of expanding public transportation options for borough residents and visitors. “Convenient parking Continued on Page 4A
Revised lawsuit filed against Hillendale Elementary principal and PTO By John Chambless Staff Writer The bad blood between Chadds Ford resident Kathleen Tobia and the principal and PTO of Hillendale Elementary School is continuing after Tobia filed an amended complaint on Dec. 12. Tobia, a former member
of the Hillendale Parent Teacher Organization, initially filed a suit in July in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas. That suit was dismissed, but she filed another civil action complaint on Dec. 12 through Exton attorney Kevin Connors. The complaint names the Hillendale PTO,
Principal Steve Dissinger and Jennifer Scattolino as defendants. Tobia was a member of the executive board of the Hillendale PTO, and served as covice president during the 2015-16 school year. She maintains she “was instrumental in securing a grant to support the Hillendale Trail Project, although the grant
was accepted by Dissinger.” The Trail Project involved paving a path around the school grounds as part of the school’s ongoing commitment to promoting exercise and environmental responsibility. The project was recently completed. In the complaint, Tobia maintains that after she was snubbed over the $30,000
New Garden sets 2017 budget at $15.3 million By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer After spending three sessions loosening here and tightening there, the New Garden Township Board of Supervisors signed off on the township’s 2017 preliminary budget, which anticipates budget expenditures totaling $15,359,230. The board agreed to the numbers at its Dec. 19 meeting. Of the 12 separate funds, the township’s general fund is highest, with $5.5 million earmarked for 2017, while $3.2 million is reserved for the sewer fund. Rounding
out the largest funds are the open space fund, which will have $1.9 million to spend next year, and the airport capital fund for the New Garden Flying Field, which will be set at $1.5 million. The $15.3 million expenditure figure figure represents a significant drop over the 2016 preliminary budget, which allocated expenditures at slightly more than $21.5 million. In other township business, the board approved Ord. 2016 – R-4 Zoning -- establishing the Zoning District R-4 for the residential communities in the vicinity of the Hartefeld
National Golf Club, in order to regulate setbacks, on-property building variances, and to create standards for subdivisions in the community. The goal of the ordinance is to establish a new residential zoning district intended to convert existing non-conforming residential uses within the Hartefeld subdivision; provide for higher densities, a variety of housing types and community recreational facilities to meet the current and future housing needs of the township; direct high density residential uses to locations with direct access to major
grant, she “became the subject of continuous and persistent verbal abuse and umbrage by the Board and Dissinger” after Tobia pointed out that the PTO had incorrectly collected sales tax at a PTO book sale, without utilizing the state tax exemption available to the school. Continued on Page 3A
Five percent is a hold up!
highways and commercials areas; and encourage the preservation of open space through the use of cluster housing options. The residents of these communities recently received a letter notifying them of the township’s intention to create the new zoning district, and 25 were in attendance at the township building on Dec. 5 to hear more about the new regulations. The board also approved Resolution #759, in order to dissolve the New Garden Township Police Department on Dec. 31, at 11:59 p.m. The
A year after reelection, Chester County’s Board of Commissioners Terence Farrell (R), Michelle Kichline (R) and Kathi Cozzone (D) jacked up the county real estate millage nearly five percent. This is an old political trick to raise taxes right after you are re-elected, hoping the voters will forget about it when you run again in 2020.
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By Uncle Irvin