Chester CountyPRESS
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas Volume 149, No. 32
INSIDE
Melissa Etheridge coming to Longwood Gardens...1B
The New Garden Township Board of Supervisors issued a statement at their Aug. 10 meeting that supported a request by The Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust – commonly referred to as PREIT – that effectively lifts the age restriction of the planned 55-and-over residential component of PREIT’s planned White Clay Point project. The board action was in response to a request made by PREIT representative Chris Mrosinksi at its July 20 meeting, asking the board to erase the age restriction, which had originally been written in the settlement agreement the township finalized with PREIT in 2007. Mrosinski told the supervisors that if the township lifts the age restriction on future development, it would facilitate a quicker discussion with four real
estate developers who have expressed interest to PREIT about developing the property. Mrosinski said that three of the four developers told him that unless the township lifts the age restriction ban, they would not be “the right people to talk to right now.” Lifting the age restriction, he said, would free PREIT up to a broader base of potential developers, who would be able to market the residences to a larger audience. The board’s decision, which was reached during an executive session held on July 29, agrees with PREIT’s request. Reading from a prepared statement, Township Manager Tony Scheivert said that the board reached its decision after weighing two options that the board had in lifting the age restriction of the proposed residences: either to amend the zoning ordinance to permit non age-restricted development; or to amend the settlement agreement, subject
to court approval. “The board has indicated its support of removing the age restriction based upon PREIT’s request, by a courtapproved amendment to the settlement agreement,” the statement read. “Prior to making any decision or taking any vote, the board has asked PREIT for assurances that with the restriction lifted, there would be compliance with all of the terms of the settlement agreement including road and sewer improvements, and agreement on changes to the plans that must be made if the community is no longer age-restricted. In addition, the board agreed that it would not make a final motion until it hears from PREIT representatives. To date, PREIT has not responded to the board’s decision." Still in the negotiation and planning phase, White Clay Point is projected to be a 187acre mixed-use project in the Continued on Page 5A
School renovations discussed by U-CF School Board Galer Winery wins national award..............................5B
New Garden officer marks 30 years of service..........6A
INDEX Calendar of Events.......3B Opinion..........................7A Obituaries.......................8A Classified......................7B
By John Chambless Staff Writer The Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board began gearing up for the rapidly approaching school year on Aug. 10 at a work session. Rick Hostetler, the supervisor of building and grounds, updated the board on a very busy summer that has made big changes to the district’s school buildings. “At Hillendale Elementary School, we’ve completed carpeting in one-third of the building,” Hostetler said, “with the intention to do more next year and the year after that. All
60 Cents
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Supervisors vote to lift age restrictions in residential portion of PREIT project By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Education Guide
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the lighting has been replaced, and all the ceiling tiles have been replaced. At Patton Middle School, the window installation has been completed. We’ve repaved about 80 percent of the parking lot, and replaced all the parking lot light fixtures with LED fixtures. We’ve recoated the gym floors throughout the district, and at Pocopson Elementary, we’ve refinished and repainted, like we did at Unionville Elementary last summer. “At Pocopson and Unionville Elementary, carpeting has been replaced in five classrooms, and with PTO help, we’ve finished a rock-climbing wall at Unionville
Elementary,” Hostetler added. At Patton Middle School, two health rooms, a trainer’s room, the band and music rooms and a strings room are scheduled to be completed before the beginning of school. “They are a little behind,” Hostetler admitted, “but I have every reason to believe they will be ready for the start of school.” The big news wasn’t as happy. “We did have a leak at the high school, during which a couple of toilets ran for an entire weekend,” Hostetler said. “As a result, water splashed out of the bowls over a long weekend, flooding the third floor, which
A new way of looking at Wyeth’s work
‘Things Beyond Resemblance’ features photos of places that appear in the works of Andrew Wyeth. The major exhibit opened last weekend at the Brandywine River Museum of Art. For a review, see Page 2A.
Lamborn Hunt residents continue criticism of delays
Board gives builder 30 days to finish work in development, reluctantly By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer At its Aug. 5 meeting, the London Grove Board of Supervisors agreed – albeit with severe reservations – to allow Willow Creek, LLC, the contractor for the second phase of construction at the Lamborn Hunt development in West Grove, to finish what remains on a long overdue list of projects in the development. Speaking on behalf of Keystone Builders, the primary developer of Lamborn Hunt, attorney Gregg Adelman responded to the township’s April 22 notice, which claimed that Keystone had defaulted on their promise to finish the work, consistent with the Lamborn Hunt-Plan B Subdivision and Land Development Improvement Agreement. In subsequent board meetings, the supervisors have threatened to pull the security bond it established with Keystone, and hire contractors on its own in order to complete these long-delayed projects. Making reference to an Aug. 5 letter to Township Manager Steve Brown that detailed the work that has been completed recently, Adelman encouraged the supervisors not to pull the security bond. In the letter, Adelman said that additional inlets and doghouse inlets have been installed along Conrey Trail and Lamborn Ridge Drive; work has been completed on the installation of topsoil along roadsides throughout the development; and that dead trees in front of homes will be replaced during the fall growing season. In addition, the letter said that 39 items on the to-do punch list at Lamborn Hunt have have either been completed or are underway. “Keystone has been on site and they have been doing on a majority of these items, many of which have been resolved,” he said. “Work is Continued on Page 3A
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Red Rose Inn now ready for restoration and addition By Nancy Johnson Correspondent Anyone who drives by the Baltimore Pike and Jennersville Road (Route 796) intersection will attest that the Red Rose Inn site looks better than it did just a few short weeks ago. “The entire tear-down is finished and next week they will start cleaning the bricks,” explained Curtis Mason, the chairman of the Penn Township Board of Supervisors, at the Aug. 5 meeting. “It looks a thousand times better,” Mason
said, “and you’re going to be so impressed when it is all done.” Mason expressed sincere praise for a local company, G.& A. Clanton, Inc., which did the demolition work. “They cleaned up the site every day,” Mason said. “It looks beautiful. Plus, they re-purposed nearly everything.” Block and unusable brick were ground up to make concrete, steel will be reused elsewhere, and even wood will be used to make pellets for wood stoves. Mason explained that lifts will
be employed and a high-power “soda gun” will be used to clean each original brick with a component that is similar to baking soda. “Soda blasting does a great job cleaning everything off the bricks, but is all-natural and won’t hurt the bricks or the environment,” Mason explained. After the bricks are cleaned, they will undergo a process where each individual brick is re-seamed. The next step after that will be a new roof – either cedar shake or metal – and replacing the windows. Special windows will be used that
Mason said, look almost identical to the originals. “They even have the bubbles,” he said. While the demolition work went quickly, Mason told the audience that he expects the restoration and addition process to take three to four years. The plan is to construct a 6,000-square-foot addition straight back from the original structure to serve as a large community center. The original building will house various artifacts that tell the history of Penn Township.
© 2007 The Chester County Press
Tex Bumsteer liked his steak with mushrooms, so the billionaire oil tycoon from Texas decided that he wanted to start a new semi-pro football team in Kennett Square, the Mushroom Capital of the World. But not everyone was in favor of Bumsteer’s plan to build a massive state-of-the-art football stadium on the beautiful King Ranch property. Bumsteer, it turned out, had opponents aplenty—including his wife,
his mistress, his sister, a disgruntled ex-football player who wanted to coach the Kennett Shiitakes, and the town council member who helped push the stadium project through the planning process. At approximately 6:45 p.m. on Aug. 7, Bumsteer’s dead body was discovered near the Genesis walkway. Chief Detective Joe Tuesday immediately enlisted the help of hundreds of amateur sleuths to interview the long list of suspects in The Mystery of the Kennett Shiitakes, and the Kennett Amateur Theatrical Society’s annual Murder
who was holding court outside the Kennett General Store, brashly touted his accomplishments as a former football player. He wanted Continued on Page 5A
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Photo by Steven Hoffman
Billionaire oil tycoon Tex Bumsteer upset many people with his efforts to bring a semi-pro football team and a new stadium to the Kennett Square area.
Mystery Art Stroll was underway. As always, the murder mystery involved an interesting cast of characters. Keeshaun, Nosean Marshon,
By Uncle Irvin In the 1970s, when Uncle Irvin published the Chester County Press, we were invited to bid on the composition and printing of the Lincolnian, the monthly student newspaper at The Lincoln University. I handled the matter personally and, along with the facility adviser, I made every attempt to make the project as reallife as possible. The kids set type, wrote headlines, edited copy and produced eight-page tab newspapers ready for the press. The Lincoln kids had full access to our production facility and equipment. Everyone seemed happy about the project, and the school renewed our contract every year. One year, the school changed the Lincolnian adviser to a tenured English professor, Dr. Kaubab Siddique, a Pakistanborn, Muslim fanatic. The relationship between Irvin Lieberman, who is Jewishborn, and Dr. Siddique, a
The Mystery of the Kennett Shiitakes By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
Jihad still in our midst