Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 157, No. 11
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
$1.50
Kennett Square residents protest plan to sell borough-owned parking lot By Chris Barber Contributing Writer Citizen comments concerning a proposed sale of the Church Alley parking lot dominated the first hour of Kennett Square Borough Council’s March 8 meeting. Many of those comments centered on the council’s announced intention to vote on the selling of the property at 108 Church Alley to the prospective buyers of the current Kennett Library building. The news broke after the Monday, March 6 meeting
INSIDE
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Longhorns’ fine season ends during state tourney...1B
that the council intended to vote on Wednesday to put it up for sale, accommodating the desire of the potential buyers of the present library building. The Church Alley lot is adjacent to the about-to-beabandoned library as well at the U.S. Post Office, the former borough building and the American Legion. A positive vote by the council would enable the borough to put the lot up for sale, particularly to the potential buyers of the present library building. It was clear, however, that
as the word spread around the borough, many residents and business owners were not happy with that proposal. In fact, the opposition was so loud that council member Bob Norris proposed, and had approved, a motion to remove the vote from the evening’s agenda. Still, residents had their say as they lined up to give their opinions. Kennett Square American Legion Post 491 spokeswoman Vicki Dash-Slesinski led the procession to the podium, making the case for keeping the parking lot pub-
Oxford Borough officials discuss Active Transportation Plan
lic and open. She spoke on behalf of the post members, many of them elderly and partially disabled who use the parking lot for meetings. “They would have to park in the garage and walk down the hill,” she said. Slesinski added that taking away the parking lot for members could actually lead to decreased membership and lessen the services the legion provides to the borough. Photo by Chris Barber Holly Peters, whose store, The Church Alley parking lot in Kennett Square is Holly Peters Oriental Rugs, adjacent to the U.S. Post Office, the American Legion also sits adjacent to the building, Holly Peters Oriental Rugs, the current Continued on page 3A
Kennett Library and the former borough building.
FROM OUR LENS In fellowship
By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer The official kick-off meeting for the Active Transportation Plan (ATP) was held on March 6 before the Borough Council meeting. The ATP is a supplement to Oxford’s soon-tobe completed Comprehensive Plan. The two documents, combined, will shape policy and identify strategies for implementing infrastructure improvements to enhance sidewalk and trail connectivity, ADA accessibility, public transportation and the borough’s overall multimodal transportation network. Between March and September of this year, the Borough of Oxford will work with McMahon, a transportation engineering, planning and design firm, to assess existing conditions in the borough and identify ways to improve their multimodal infrastructure. This project is funded in large part by a $25,000 WalkWorks grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center. Anthony Valencia and Brian Donovan from McMahon
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
An audience of more than 300 attended the 13th Annual Sportsman’s Event, held on March 11 at the Christian Life Center in London Township. The banquet, which included door prizes and raffles, was highlighted by an address from the groups’ founder Steve Shuster, titled, “Success to Significance.”
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Penn Township officials discuss a new driveway entrance for Jenner’s Commons By Marcella Peyre-Ferry Contributing Writer The Penn Township Board of Supervisors met on March 1, and on the agenda was a plan for a new driveway entrance at Jenner’s Commons. The land development plan submitted for Jenner’s Commons would add a new driveway accessing onto Waltman Way. The additional access point would
Avon Grove School District, which owns Waltman Way, an access road to the new Avon Grove High School. Final plan approval will still be needed, after the school district has approved the easement. This approval does not include any other changes to the existing shopping center or currently vacant pad sites. The board denied a waiver request to combine preliminary and final plans into
one submission to speed the approval process. “There is no such thing as a preliminary-final plan in Penn Township,” said Victor Mantegna, the chair of the board of supervisors. The board is also cautious about conditioning approval on the easement agreement when there has not been official approval from the school board. “No one knows how the board will act until that
(March 23 school board) meeting,” Mantegna explained. In other business, the township is now advertising for bids for the next phase of the Penn Township Sports Park. May 18 is tentatively set as the date for groundbreaking ceremonies for both the sports park and a new emergency services building at 863 W. Baltimore Pike. Looking at the upcoming Continued on page 2A
From checkers to chess: HYIQ Basketball taking root Through personal and group training and a successful recreation league, former Kennett High School star has already helped develop nearly 300 young players, from kindergarten to college By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
© 2007 The Chester County Press
be in line with the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru lane so that cars at the drive-thru could go straight ahead onto Waltman Way. A ‘no right turn’ proposed by the township would stop cars from turning to drive through the parking lot, passing stores and a day care center. The board approved the preliminary plan, conditioned on an acceptable easement agreement between the shopping center and the
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” ― John Wooden, legendary basketball coach
For most young athletes, being the youngest in a family of other athletes is a burden of deficiency, a constant but fruitless climb up an invisible ladder that forever falls a rung beneath those who have come before them. In the early life of Jackson Hyland, now 26, having two older brothers served as an advantage and a privilege.
On the small but full basketball court that stood just outside Hyland’s boyhood bedroom in Avondale, he spent endless hours as the beneficiary of an automatic two-on-two family game – the three Hyland brothers and their father, Steven. “Being the youngest, it was more about fitting into my brothers’ activities, rather than trying to be
them,” Hyland said. “It was focused on trying to beat my brother Spencer and be able to compete with his friends and not feel like the outcast or the younger brother because he has to be, but to be valued in the competition. I tried to remain on the same level as them, with no handouts.” It was on that court that Hyland began to love the
game of basketball – a journey that led him from CYO and recreational leagues, and then to success at the high school and college levels. Using this same infectious admiration for the sport, Hyland has rolled that emotion into HYIQ, a basketball training company he launched in 2020 that has already attracted nearly 300 Continued on page 2A