Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas Volume 149, No. 5
INSIDE
Artesian claims ‘interveners’ don’t have ‘standing’ to protest
Dinniman accuses Artesian of attempting to steamroll well application process By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Jamie Wyeth retrospective offers works for sale..........1B
Golden Gala raises funds to help U-CF schools.................2B
Kennett girls’ basketball team tops Oxford....................5B
INDEX Calendar of Events..........6B Opinion..........................9A Obituaries.......................8A Police Blotter.................8A Classified.....................10B
60 Cents
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
other properties set for development. Dinniman claimed that Artesian’s attorneys recently In the latest salvo in the filed preliminary objections to application of Artesian Water the standing of Dinniman and Pennsylvania, Inc. to activate the more than 100 individuals who Broad Run well in Landenberg, have filed for “official party of State Sen. Andy Dinniman record” or “intervener” status in recently issued a press release the upcoming PUC proceedings that claimed Artesian Water on the application. Included in Resources and its attorneys are those numbers are several memtrying to subvert local residents’ bers of the Save Our Water rights to protest its application Committee, a citizens action to expand service to an addi- group of more than 2,000 resitional portion of New Garden dents of New Garden Township Township. who have opposed the presence Artesian has applied to the of Artesian in the township. Public Utilities Commission Dinniman said that the [PUC] to expand its public water Delaware-based water compaservice to several properties on ny’s legal objections were just Buttonwood, Broad Run and the latest ploy in an ongoing Newark roads, as well as nine effort to undermine the public’s
right to voice their protest with the PUC. “This looks like the latest tactic in Artesian’s attempts to crush discussion on this issue,” Dinniman said. “Basically, their attorneys are trying to push us out of the case before it even goes forward. If Artesian wanted to be a good neighbor, its representatives would sit down for an honest discussion with local residents about their valid concerns regarding this project. Instead, they’ve employed legal muscle to try to silence us.” In a company statement made available to the Chester County Press, Artesian attempted to clarify their stance, stating Continued on Page 2A
Billboard issue sidestepped by East Marlborough ordinance By John Chambless Staff Writer The public outrage after the Lower Oxford Township Board of Supervisors cleared the way for electronic billboards of up to 960 square feet along Route 1 is the kind of issue that East Marlborough Township quietly avoided back in August. The township’s billboard ordinance was amended to block construction of the kind of twosided digital billboards that are seen on Route 202 near West Chester, and near the Delaware state line. The signs, built into brick or stone structures, display changing advertisements 24 hours a day. In a township that dutifully pursues even companies that put up temporary yard signs, that sort of monumental structure was not going to be welcome. “The issue was brought up by our solicitor, Frone Crawford,”
Photo by John Chambless
This digital billboard on Route 202, near the Delaware border, is the kind of structure that’s being hotly debated in Lower Oxford Township.
said East Marlborough Township manager Jane Laslo during a phone call on Jan. 23. “He advised us that the Pennsylvania law had changed, and a court decision had made it possible for those types of signs to be used. He recognized that loophole.”
Without an ordinance specifically prohibiting the large outdoor digital signs, townships leave themselves open to companies who want to build them along heavily trafficked roads. In East Marlborough, Ordinance 1707, which was Continued on Page 2A
County water authority finds leaks in Artesian well application By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer The Chester County Water Resources Authority has raised several conflicting points in its review of Artesian Water Pennsylvania, Inc.’s application to expand its water system to include the Broad Run Well in Landenberg. In a letter dated Jan. 23 and addressed to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] and the Delaware River Basin Commission [DRBC], Janet Bowers, executive director of the Chester County Water Resources Authority [CWA], made reference to Artesian’s application – currently under consideration with
the Public Utilities Commission – which stated there is no evidence to support Artesian’s claim that an additional 200 customers are expected to move into the area in the future and thus require water service that would come from the Broad Run well. Bowers’ letter was sent to Bob Damiani of the DRBC and Ben Greeley of the DEP. “Without such analysis, it is difficult under current zoning to estimate a future customer base,” Bowers wrote. “Thus, no basis has yet been provided to support the need for expansion of the public water service territory in the requested area at this time.” Bowers further wrote that Artesian’s application, which Continued on Page 4A
Simpson named Law Enforcement Officer of the Year By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer Gerald Simpson, police chief of the New Garden Township Police Department, was named 2014 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year, in ceremonies held Jan. 20 at the Chester County Courthouse. Simpson was honored for his work by District Attorney Tom Hogan, specifically, for Simpson’s development of the county’s model Active Shooter Response Training Program. Developed in collaboration with fellow law enforcement officials and a team of community volunteers, the program is a blueprint plan that allows officers and emergency responders to react to such incidents as school shootings and other large-scale shootings. Simpson worked with representatives from 40 law enforcement agencies, as well as first responders from the medical emergency, ambulatory and fire fighting fields. To date, the program has conducted nearly two dozen
Courtesy photo
New Garden Township Police Chief Gerald Simpson
training sessions that have provided education to nearly 400 Chester County law enforcement officials. During his acceptance speech, Simpson said that in the days following the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, he and many of his colleagues in law enforcement found themselves wondering whether or not their departments were properly prepared to handle a similar incident, were it to occur in their coverage areas. Continued on Page 4A
Local historian eager to share West Grove collection By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
© 2007 The Chester County Press
R. Scott Steele has been collecting pieces of West Grove’s history for most of his adult life. He owns a sign from the train station, which is long gone. He has the popcorn machine that was saved by a friend when the much-loved Roselyn Theatre was torn down. He has a framed borough ordinance from the 1890s, and a book that West Grove produced touting business opportunities in the town from that same time period. He has an envelope addressed to Mr. William T. Dantz, a prominent West Grove citizen, that was sent by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907. He has binders filled with newspaper clippings, movie tickets from the Roselyn Theatre, postcards, and other
memorabilia. Steele wants to share what he affectionately refers to as his “West Grove Collection” with the public. Late last year, construction was completed on a heated and air-conditioned 16-footby-18-foot building next to his home on Paschall Mill Road. Steele is working on moving his memorabilia into the building, and plans to open it to the public later this year, most likely in the spring. “I’m going to make it so that people can come and look at the collection,” explained Steele, a retired accountant who has made local history a hobby for more than three decades. Each piece in his collection hints at a part of the story of West Grove, a town that flourished when the Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad went through in the1860s. “Collecting these items helps
Another Route 1 development group? By Uncle Irvin
of their way of life, their contributions, and key events. It’s important to preserve this past.” Steele’s roots run deep in Chester County. His family has resided in the county since the
It seems like there are more groups working on building business presence on the Route 1 corridor than there are businesses to recruit. A couple of weeks ago, a group called Economic Development Partners made a pitch to the London Grove Township supervisors about the need for clean businesses with good jobs to relocate in the Route 1 corridor in Southern Chester County. Now we read of two other groups, called Vista 2025 and the Route 1 Corridor
Continued on Page 6A
Continued on Page 4A
Photo by Steven Hoffman
Scott Steele in the building that he had constructed to display the West Grove Collection. He plans to open the collection to the public this year.
us understand the past at a local level,” Steele explained. “It’s important to me because it reminds me of my youth. It also tells the story of people. My collection tells the story of people who came before us, the story
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