Chester County Press 05-10-17 Edition

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Chester CountyPRESS

www.chestercounty.com

Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas

Volume 151, No. 19

INSIDE

60 Cents

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Colors, scents, tastes Proposed medical marijuana facility and heritage is facing last round of questions Decision will be announced by East Marlborough in July By John Chambless Staff Writer

Newark Life Magazine

Photo by Richard L. Gaw

Kennett Run 2017

Norma Medina of Artesanias Medina displayed her floral designs at the Cinco de Mayo Festival on May 7 in Kennett Square. To see more photos of the event, see Page 8A.

There may someday be a medical marijuana growing facility in East Marlborough Township, but the process of getting the first one built is being rigorously examined. At the third of three meetings to discuss the proposed building, which is slated to be put on a now-vacant piece of land

at 532 N. Walnut Road, attorney Randy Schauer answered questions raised at previous zoning hearings. In front of the East Marlborough Board of Supervisors and a large audience of neighbors on May 3, Schauer called Jim Fritsch, a civil engineer with Regester Associates in Kennett Square, to testify about the proposed plans. The property is just over Continued on Page 5A

Kennett School Board approves $84.2 million proposed final budget By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

The Kennett School Board unanimously approved a proposed final budget of $84.2 million at its meeting on May 8. Projected expenditures for the 2017-2018 school year Walking through the for- declined by about $300,000 mer Red Rose Inn...1B in the three months since the board adopted a preliminary budget. “It’s been going down,

which is good,” said school board member Michael Finnegan. Finnegan, who serves on the district’s finance and budget committee, explained that projected medical and prescription costs are lower than initially expected. The proposed spending plan will now be available for review by the public. Comments about the budget can be made until Monday,

June 12, the day when the board is expected to approve the final budget. Finnegan said that a tax increase of 2.19 percent will be necessary to balance the budget. That amounts to a $116 increase in the tax bill per the average residential property in the district. The maximum that the district could raise taxes under this year’s Act 1 Index limit is 2.9 percent.

The budget for the current school year is $81.7 million. The item having the biggest impact on the budget is once again the school district’s state-mandated contribution to the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS). PSERS costs have been spiraling upward for Pennsylvania school districts for most of the last decade. For 2017-

2018, PSERS costs are going up by 9 percent. During a previous budget presentation, Finnegan explained that the Kennett Consolidated School District has been hindered by the fact that the total assessment of all the properties in the district still is not back to the 2007 values— and consequently the school district’s revenues are not Continued on Page 2A

Tales of courage from a champion Paralympian

Amanda McGrory traces her challenges and triumphs Penn Township slates upcoming events...6A

INDEX Opinion........................7A Obituaries...................9A Calendar of Events......2B

To Subscribe call 610.869.5553

Classifieds..................3B

© 2007 The Chester County Press

By John Chambless Staff Writer For the Third Annual Inspirational Breakfast sponsored by the southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce, the keynote speaker, Amanda McGrory, could hardly have been more inspirational. On the morning of May 4 in a crowded banquet room at Hartefeld National Golf Club, she succinctly traced a life story that started with an early tragedy but has now placed McGrory on the world

stage as a Paralympics medalist, most recently in Rio de Janeiro. She has won the 2011 New York City Marathon, breaking the event record by more than two and a half minutes. She won the London and Paris Marathons a week apart in 2011. She won her first New York City Marathon in 2006, and has placed in the top four in New York seven times. She has competed in three Paralympic Games since 2008, won seven medals, and broken several world records. She won the Tokyo Marathon

in February, and finished second at the most recent Boston Marathon and London Marathon. She is training for one more Paralympic Games, Tokyo 2020. Beaming brightly from the stage, McGrory, 30, pointed out her father in the audience, who was celebrating a birthday. Her father is Tim McGrory, the owner of McGrory Inc., and Amanda grew up in Kennett Square. At the age of 5 in 1991, McGrory recalled, “I woke in the morning with tingling in my legs.

Twin gateway islands planned for Chatham Village, board learns By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

Courtesy Photo

McGrory, left, on the podium at the Rio Paralympics.

Within an hour, I wasn’t able to stand.” She had been stricken with a disorder called transverse myelitis, which affects no more than one in 5 million people. “It’s

essentially an autoimmune disease,” McGrory said. “An external stimulus triggered my immune system to attack the myelin sheaths surrounding the Continued on Page 4A

County Commissioners hiding reassessment By Uncle Irvin

Two gateway traffic islands with signage will soon welcome visitors on the north and south of Route 41 to historic Chatham Village, it was announced at the London Grove Board of Supervisors meeting on May 3. Stephen Fallon, a PennDOT project manager for the Route 41 Chatham Gateway Project, introduced Rob Nuss of Erdman Anthony, who is serving as the consultant engineer on the project. Referring to an overhead view of the village, Nuss said that the north gateway island will be placed just south of the former Chatham Diner,

and be completed by Thanksgiving, with all clean-up work slated to be completed by the end of the year. Route 41 will remain

Last month, Uncle Irvin wrote a column about a court-mandated property reassessment in Delaware County. A Delaware County Common Pleas judge is upholding a plaintiff’s contention that Delaware County’s property tax is unconstitutional because it has not been reassessed in 20 years, and is not fair and uniform. Uncle Irvin pointed out that Chester County had not conducted a county-wide reassessment since 1998, and would also have to conduct one imminently. The three elected County Commissioners are solely responsible for county-wide property reassessment. Two are Republicans – Terence Farrell and Michelle Kichline – and the other is Democrat Kathi Cozzone. Thus far, they have not talked about the county-wide property reassessment issue. At least one-third of Chester County’s residential and commercial assessments are way too high, putting undue pressure on these property owners to pay

Continued on Page 2A

Continued on Page 4A

Photo by Richard L. Gaw

Rob Nuss of Erdman Anthony, who is serving as a consultant on the Route 41 Chatham Gateway Project, discusses plans that will include the addition of two gateway islands near the historic village.

and that the south gateway island will be placed just before the Chatham Methodist Church. The project is scheduled to begin in July-August


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