Chester County Press 10-20-2021 Edition

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Chester CountyPRESS

www.chestercounty.com

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

Volume 155, No. 42

INSIDE

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Kennett School Board selects Kohler to fill unexpired position By Chris Barber Contributing Writer

Chadds Ford Life

The Kennett School Board selected Don Kohler to fill the Region B (New Garden) unexpired term of Joe Meola, who resigned in September. At their Oct. 11 meeting, the board voted 5-3 in favor of selecting Kohler to fill

the vacancy. Another candidate, Lynn Golden-Mirarchi, received the three other votes. Kohler is an attorney whose practice is in West Chester. Two of his children are currently students in the school district, and one is a graduate of Kennett High School. All his children, he said, have had positive

experiences there. Kohler, 54, grew up in Philadelphia and attended Archbishop Ryan High School for Boys. That high school later merged with Archbishop Ryan High School for Girls in 1989 to become one, according to its website. He is a graduate of Pennsylvania State

Blue Demons roll to big Homecoming win Help for seniors who have Medicare questions...3A

Photo by Chris Barber

Kennett High School celebrates Homecoming...1B

INDEX Opinion.......................5A

$1.00

Kennett High School celebrated its 2021 Homecoming last Friday night with a parade through town and then a win on the football field. Kennett quarterback Kalen Frazier ran the ball in for a touchdown as his team defeated Great Valley, 27-0. Please see Page 1B for the story and photos.

Photo by Chris Barber

Kennett School Board president Vicki Gehrt, right, swears in Don Kohler to fill the unexpired term created by the resignation of former board president Joe Meola.

University with a major in liberal arts and political science. He earned his law degree at Widener University School of Law. Kohler said he applied for the school board position because “I want to make a difference.” His term on the school board will expire in December of 2023. In total, there were six applicants for the unexpired board position, and several board members said they were impressed with the qualifications and passion of all who expressed an interest in the post. Kohler has lived in New Garden for 18 years, and prior to that he lived in Delaware. He said he enjoys outdoor activities.

In other business at the meeting, the board selected Breslin Architects to provide the designs for the coming renovations of New Garden and Greenwood elementary schools. Superintendent Dusty Blakey announced that the incidence of COVID-19 is up slightly in Chester County and the district. At last count were eight students and three staff in the district schools who had tested positive. Blakey added that he has no plans to ‘go backward” with precautions or closings of schools. He said he was encouraged to see that several outdoor activities had been scheduled for the Homecoming celebrations that took place on Oct. 15 and 16.

Aqua’s proposed rate increase for New Garden customers suspended for 7 months

Obituaries..............2B-3B

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Classifieds..................4B

© 2007 The Chester County Press

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer On Aug. 20, Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater, Inc. (Aqua) released a statement proclaiming that they had filed an application with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) requesting to increase water and sewer bills for their

customers that if approved would jack up monthly rates for its customers in New Garden Township well into the double figures, beginning in 2022. By the next day, the offices of New Garden Township were flooded with questions and opposition about the proposed rate hike, but township officials told resi-

dents that the proposal is just that – a request for increase, one that first needed to be reviewed and approved by the PUC before it would go into effect. In a letter posted by the township on its website on Sept. 17, officials assured residents that “typically, the PUC does not grant the full amount of an increase

sought by a public utility.” True to form – and by a vote of 3-0 – the PUC recently voted to suspend Aqua’s proposed water and wastewater rate increases for a period of seven months, in order to first investigate the utility company’s annual revenue and rate increase requests. The project will be assigned to the Office of

Administrative Law Judge for evidentiary hearings and the issuance of recommended decisions or settlements. Translated, those township residents who tap into the wastewater systems now owned by Aqua will not see any rate increase at least until May 2022. From the time the PUC Continued on page 2A

Police to study Avondale Firehouse to Willowdale Lane become new home for Garage traffic again Community & Youth Center By Monica Fragale Contributing Writer East Marlborough Township will ask its police department to conduct a second traffic study on Willowdale Lane to see if additional traffic calming measures could address residents’ speeding concerns. There are two speed humps on the road, but a number of Willowdale Lane residents are asking the township to install a third one near the intersection with Route 926. “Delivery trucks and non-Willowdale/Hickory residents routinely use Willowdale as a ‘cutthrough’ at speeds past our house that are simply too high for the children and pets that live here,” Casey Sclar wrote in an email to the township, saying at the meeting that it represented a safety issue. “We see a high volume of trucks and trailers using this as a cut-through.

We have no sidewalks, and the lighting is poor. It’s a dangerous situation.” The posted speed limit is 25 mph. Police surveyed traffic between Sept. 15 and 21 and analyzed more than 2,600 vehicles, according to a speed data analysis. Six percent of those vehicles, or 147, would qualify for enforceable violations. That means that cars would need to be going more than 10 mph for it to be considered enforceable, said township manager Neil Lovekin. Three percent of vehicles were speeding south on Willowdale Lane during the traffic study, with the highest numbers of speeders being clocked on Sept. 17. Five vehicles were going more than 15 mph during the study period. Eight percent of vehicles were speeding north on Willowdale Lane during Continued on page 2A

Photos by Richard L. Gaw

The historic Avondale Fire House is soon to become the newest home for the Garage Community & Youth Center, replacing its current location in West Grove and joining the Garage’s original home in Kennett Square.

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer Since its’ founding 20 years ago, The Garage Community & Youth Center has served as an after-school and youth development center for

thousands of middle school and high school students in Kennett Square and West Grove. Early on the morning of Oct. 2, a group of nearly one dozen hearty souls volunteering for The Garage entered the former Avondale

Firehouse intending to tear down a few of its interior walls and begin the next chapter of the organization’s history. For the next several hours, Garage Executive Director Kristin Proto Continued on page 3A


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