Highlights from tonight's Borough Council Meeting 8.3.2020.
104-106 Baltimore Pike:
Darin Kapanjie presented his plan to bring an Extreme Express Carwash to Chester Heights at the corner of Valleybrook Road and Baltimore Pike. This “Green & Clean” Car Wash will be based on a monthly subscription model with free vacuums. It will address the limited sewer situation of the site with an extremely efficient system by reclaiming and recycling 97% of the water used. The proposed business hours 7 AM -9 PM. Vacuums will close with the site. The hope is the site’s current zoning will translate to carwash some of the images presented can be seen here. The main concerns raised by residents, council and borough staff included light pollution and traffic. The proposal will be reviewed by borough solicitor and zoning to see if the proposal meets the current zoning of the lot.
Possible Development for 103 Valleybrook:
Nicholas Kheny asked if the council will be amenable to allow a zoning overlay to build 32 townhomes instead of the 8 single homes that it’s zoned for because it’s not financially feasible to do the improvements needed if developed as zoned. The homes would be built in clusters of 4 with prices starting at $450K. The development is contingent on getting the zoning overlay, which must be approved by the council. Council asked to first see the plan for securing a right of way onto Mattson Road.
DELCORA Sale to Aqua
Per Act 537 the DELCORA sale to Aqua will require approval by all municipalities that are in their service area. Chester Heights is one of those municipalities. The municipalities are asked to provide comments on the sale and the deadline of September 2nd was mentioned in the meeting.
The period for public comment for individual residents is now open as part of Act 537 and is separate from this request of municipal approval. This public comment period runs from July 6th – August 6th. For more information on how to submit your comments to Delcora go to https://www.delcora.org/delcora-preparing-an-act-537-plan-update/
State Police Report Trooper Jessica Tobin:
The tropical storm is coming if you have issues with down power lines and down trees call the State Troopers directly at 484-840-1000.
78 incidents in July – mostly domestic security checks plus community complaints about speeding on Lenni Rd. Trooper Tobin noted that if the borough has concerns about commercial vehicles the council is invited to ask the state troopers to bring the concerns up to the Motor Carrier Enforcement Team.
If folks are not complying with local and state health mandates like NOT WEARING MASKS contact Chester County Health Department 610-344-6225, not the police.
New larger barracks are being built with a September 2020 move-in date.
New Hires – received 8 new troopers in the Media with one retirement coming soon.
Exciting News for our Park
The Park Committee is looking to expand the walking trail that will be installed in the Chester Heights Park to include the part of the park that reaches further into the wooded area. This trail is part of the agreement made between the developer, Steve Conrad, to install the trail in return for the Quarry Knoll development road transitioning to a dedicated borough road once the development is built.
The parks committee is also reviewing costs to improve the current playground space by including an ADA swing, and a section for children ages 2-5. The process will begin with a survey that will be completed by GD Houtmann which will provide an ADA compliant topographic survey of the playground. This motion for the survey was approved not to exceed $3K.
Ever tried to get a permit for a renovation on the borough website?
Councilwoman Clarke took the opportunity during the committee report to address the poor layout of the borough website and asked for specific improvements including updates to broken links and an update to the borough code that was obsolete and needs to be revised to reflect the current code in a more streamlined way.
Recycling Day is still set for September 26th, 2020 2pm-4pm Resolutions 8-20A.
