Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 158, No. 33
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
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Former property owner criticizes township for lack of action on easement By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer On Dec. 16, 2021, after several years of negotiations, the New Garden Township’s Open Space Review Board (OSRB) reached an agreement with then Landenberg resident Cindy Hiles on the purchase of the Hiles’ family’s 7.8acre property along Penn
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Green Road. For the Hiles family – Cindy, her husband Wyn and their two sons – the property was a pristine sanctuary of thick forest, echoed with the persistent chorus of the White Clay Creek and accented by a home and several small cottages. Following Wyn’s passing in 2016, Cindy set out to preserve the property as a living memory for her husband and began discussions with the OSRB and Natural Lands to determine how it could be best saved – and perhaps redefined – in perpetuity. One of the ideas discussed was to fold the Hiles property into the township’s Greenways Plan as part of a trail system in order to create an important link in the township’s vision to create an open space corridor to the White Clay Creek Preserve. “In the memory of my husband Wyn, we are leaving this legacy behind so that the entire community can access and use it for
lack of activity on a place that had once occupied a large part of her heart. “Throughout the process, I was told I would be involved in the future plans for the property, and I was also told that I could build and place a bench on the property in memory of my late husband,” Hiles told the board. “I would think that the township would
recognize that I am a valuable and free resource with extensive knowledge of the structures, the physical plant and the land, but they have chosen to exclude me for the last two years and eight months.” On March 20, 2023, Hiles said that she spoke at a board meeting to request progress on the property Continued on Page 2A
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The former owner of a 7.8-acre property on Penn Green Road in Landenberg that was purchased by New Garden Township in 2021 criticized the municipality at an Aug. 19 meeting for its delays in establishing a vision for the property.
hiking, fishing and birding,” Hiles said during a township meeting to announce the agreement in January 2022. “It just felt like the right thing to do. We say that we are ‘the owners of the land,’ and while we pay taxes on our properties, I believe in my heart that we are all stewards of the land, and we need to protect it and do what we can regardless of who we are.” To date, however, the only
visible initiative from the township has been the placement of a “No Trespassing” sign that is tethered to a chain link fence across the property’s front driveway, encouraging potential visitors to keep out. At the Aug. 19 New Garden Township Board of Supervisors meeting, Hiles, now a resident of Newark, Del., put the township on notice that she was less than enthused by the township’s
FROM OUR LENS A forgotten oasis, rediscovered
Kennett schools to permit cell phones in classes By Chris Barber Contributing Writer
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The Kennett Consolidated School District Board unanimously approved a policy Local resident celebrates at the Aug. 12 meeting that 100th birthday...1B would permit students to have cell phones in class in spite of parental comments urging the board to reject the idea. The policy also tasks the teachers with policing phone use in their classrooms to avoid possible disruptions. Ryan Costa, who identified himself as a parent, said he sent petitions from dozens of parents asking for phone-free classes, independence and free play. He said he was under the
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impression that the board would not be voting on the technology policy until the fall, but he became aware the issue was on the August agenda. The board announced a request in the July meeting for parental comment on the use of electronic devices. However, the Policy Committee presented the question for vote at this August meeting without having reported a meeting or a discussion of public response since then. Costa quoted the statement in the technology usage policy that states, “The board recognizes that mobile phones and electronic devices are now an integral part of the daily
lives and culture of many of the district’s students.” “Fifty years ago, that’s what they said about smoking,” he said. He cited statements by the U.S. Surgeon General that, just as cigarettes have health warnings, so should mobile phones in light of the harms that social media can cause. He added that the district policy states that there are instructional benefits individual technical devices serve. “I think that is wrong and open to debate,” he said. He also said he believes it is unfair to place the teachers in positions of policing mobile phone usage. He Continued on Page 4A
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“NVF: Not Very Far,” an exhibit of paintings by Lou Florence currently on display at the Kennett Library, will be extended through September. Florence’s work is an exploration of the 22-acre footprint of the former National Vulcanized Fiber factory in Kennett Square which, in the artist’s words, “remains as any/all/more of the following: a wasteland, a blight, contaminated (though relieved of its Superfund status), a development opportunity waiting to happen, a danger, a forgotten corner, off-limits, a refuge, a wild-place. It is, for me, a place to observe nature’s resilience and ingenuity.”
Editorial Oxford Area School Board discusses An editorial from the Chester County Press An open letter to new policies, the Pennsylvania Public initiatives for Utility Commission upcoming year By Gabbie Burton Contributing Writer The Oxford Area School Board held policy committee and work session meetings on Aug. 13 that provided a broad overview of the district’s important policy changes and initiatives for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year, including who will determine whether a book will be removed from a school library, student classifications and policies regarding the school district’s use of social media. The policy committee’s meeting primarily focused on policy 6300 -- “Materials Selection Policy Library,”
that began receiving attention last spring when the school board was involved in several books being contested for removal from one of the district’s libraries. Primarily, the committee focused on who would be on the advisory committee when a book is proposed for removal. Although School Board President Jenifer Warren and member Tenille Dewees agreed that there should only be one board member on the review committee, board member Mike Blessington said that the committee should be made up of two members. The committee then voted in favor of having the Continued on Page 4A
Chairman DeFrank, Vice Chair Barrow and commissioners-at-large Coleman, Yanora and Zerfuss:
On May 24, Aqua Pennsylvania Inc. (Aqua Water) and Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater Inc. (Aqua Wastewater) submitted a proposal to increase the company’s annual operating revenues for water services by $112 million and its wastewater services by an additional $14.6 million – a potential windfall for the company that could amount to $126.7 million. In response, you voted
5-0 to suspend these proposed increases as part of an investigation that has for the moment held back a cost flooding that could financially drown a sizable chunk of the 1.5 million Aqua Water customers who live in portions of the more than 200 municipalities the water giant serves throughout 32 Pennsylvania counties, and the approximately 56,000 Aqua wastewater customers in portions of more than 40 municipalities throughout 16 counties in the commonwealth. If the deal goes through, the average monthly bill for an Aqua residential water customer using 3,870 gal-
lons per month would increase by $16.10 (19.9 percent) from $80.91 to $97.01. Additionally, the average monthly bill for a residential wastewater customer would increase $14.92 (18.4 percent) from $81.18 to $96.10. In a company statement, Aqua wrote that the additional revenue generated from a fee hike would recover the $953 million in infrastructure investments the company plans to make through the end of 2025. It includes the replacement of approximately 200 miles of aging water main, as well as associated valves and Continued on Page 5A