A real estate agent and a 14-year-old Boy Scout each gave Pennsbury Township supervisors something to think about during the township’s April 15 supervisors’ meeting. Those thoughts, however, ran in different directions.

Bradley Heacock, of Boy Scout Troop 31, wants to build a footbridge across the pond on the west side of the Pennsbury Township Park. He made his proposal to the supervisors, saying the bridge would improve walking conditions in general and make it safer to walk by the pond. It would also be easier for maintenance crews when they mow the area, he said.

The project would include removing an old cattle fence and an existing walkway, and then building and installing the bridge using locust planks and old telephone poles.

As an Eagle Scout project, Heacock is responsible for securing funding and materials for the project. He said Rob King, of Chadds Ford Tree Service and a leader of Troop 31, has offered to help with materials.

While the supervisors were pleased with Heacock’s presentation and goal, they were more concerned by a request from a real estate agent who was asking for some changes regarding use of the former Mendenhall property on Hillendale Road.

In 2007, Pennsbury paid the family more than $900,000 for development rights to 53 acres of the 60-acre property. That easement would keep the area as open space while allowing the Mendenhalls to continue using the land as a horse farm.

The family later filed for bankruptcy and sold the property. CBF Associates is the current owner and CBF’s real estate agent, Carl Meister, asked the board whether there could be some changes made that would make the farm easier to sell to an as-yet-unnamed prospective buyer.

The changes requested include increasing the number of horses kept on the farm from 39 to 50 and allowing about a dozen horse shows during the warmer months. He said the prospective buyer is in the show horse business and needs 50 horses.

Meister wasn’t certain about the exact number of shows to be held, but said he thought there would be approximately 12 and none during the winter. He said most of the show horse owners keep their animals in Florida during the winter.

He was also uncertain about the number of fenced acres on the property, saying he thought it was 35 or 40.

According to Supervisor Charles “Scotty” Scottoline, township code allows only one horse per fenced acre and that 12 horse shows within a six-month period sounded “like a commercial endeavor.”

Solicitor Tom Oeste said the horse shows might not be permitted at all and that it would be up to the Zoning Hearing Board, not the supervisors, to grant a variance to allow for more horses.

Oeste said the supervisors would need specifics, not uncertainties and guesses, before deciding on how to proceed.

Supervisor Wendell Fenton agreed, telling Meister, “We’d like a specific proposal.”

Other business

Supervisors voted to adopt an updated Emergency Management Plan proposed by Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Hochaus. State law requires the plan to be updated every other year, Hochaus said.

He added that Chester County would be beta testing this summer a new emergency notification system called Everbridge. The system combines and replaces previous systems. Once tested, residents would be able to go online to opt in for a variety of notifications.

(Photo: Bradley Heacock, of Boy Scout Troop 31, makes a proposal to Pennsbury Township supervisors regarding a possible Eagle Scout project. Heacock wants to build a footbridge across the pond at the township park.)