2024 in review part 1 - Chadds Ford Live

As with all years, some events and news were better than others. For Chadds Ford Township, the year began with a new township manager, a new supervisor, and the death of a supervisor.

January

Lacey Faber became the new full-time manager for the township. She replaced Matt Baumann. “What attracted me to coming to Chadds Ford is how entrenched it is with history and open space. These are things I absolutely love,” she said in an interview shortly after her hiring

Faber was not an unknown commodity. She had worked with Supervisors’ Chairman Samantha Reiner when Reiner was Edgmont Township’s manager. According to Reiner, “…Lacey brings her calmness, confidence, knowledge, experience and resources to Chadds Ford. We are confident she will ‘hit the ground running’ and not stop giving to our great community.”

Timotha Trigg was sworn in as a township supervisor, replacing Noelle Barbone who had decided not to seek reelection.
Chadds Ford Township Supervisors’ Vice Chairman Frank Murphy died from cancer. He had been battling the disease for several years. Murphy served as supervisor since January 2014. He was eventually replaced on the board by Kathleen Goodier.
Auctioneer William H. Bunch, of William Bunch Auctions & Appraisals, located in Chadds Ford also died
Kennett Township also saw some changes. Pay Muller became that township’s newest board member replacing Scudder Stevens. She joined supervisors Geoff Gamble and Richard Leff on the three-person board.
Also in Kennett Township, Eden Ratliff resigned as township manager. He was hired in 2019c to replace former Manager Lisa Moore who was fired and convicted of embezzling more than $3 million from the township.

February

Kennett Township supervisors approved a conditional land development plan to build a new 105,000-square-foot building for Greenwood Elementary School.

March

Concord Township won a Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society award for Excellence in Recreation and Parks for its Race for the Watershed event held in 2023. Steve Jacobs, Concord’s Parks and Recreation director, said the event, which included a rubber duck race, raised $10,000 for the Newlin Grist Mill for water monitoring equipment.
It was announced in March that the Chaddsford Winery was up for sale. The winery stayed open, and the sale became a reality in September.
The restaurant Taste & Sea opened in Keystone Plaza where Pescatore’s had been located. Owners John and Chrissy Talbot described the cuisine as “fine dining with white tablecloths. A lot of seafood and a lot of steaks.”

April

After a five-year hiatus, fishing returned to Newlin Grist Mill Park in Concord Township. The return coincided with the opening day of trout season. Fishing at the park’s ponds was curtailed when the widening of Conchester Highway led to silt buildup in the ponds fed by Chester Creek. The silting even shut down the millrace that powers the mill. Work to remove the silt was completed in the fall and the ponds were refilled in March.
Long-time restaurateur Peter Skiadas died on April 17. Skiadas and his wife Voula owned Hank’s Place from 1991 to 2017.
Kennett Township hired a new full-time manager. Alison Dobbins began the job on April 22 after supervisors approved the hiring five days earlier.
The Chadds Ford Township Republican Party sent a message Monday saying an “official ethics inquiry” has been launched into conduct by Board of Supervisors Chairman Samantha Reiner. The message came from GOP leader Mary Kot, who declined to comment when Chadds Ford Live contacted her. Resident Mark Stookey also discussed the matter during a Chadds Ford Township supervisors’ work session. However, Pennsylvania Ethics Commission Executive Director Mary Fox said she could neither confirm nor deny the matter because of privacy issues.
State police said five people were killed in a one-car crash on the Conchester Highway after what might have been an attempted shoplifting in the Shoppes at Brinton Lake. According to the police, the car fled the shopping center, drove to Conchester, and sped down the road, eventually using the right shoulder to pass another car when the driver lost control, ran off the road, and caught on fire.
Twin Bridges, the span over the Brandywine between Chadds Ford and Pennsbury Townships was closed for a rebuild after years of discussion. Work is scheduled to conclude sometime during the latter part of 2025.

May

The Chadds Ford Township Residents Association’s 2024 Scholarship Award winner is Melissa Griswold, a senior at Unionville High School. She received a certificate and a $1,500 award on May 2 at an event held at the Chadds Ford Township Pavilion.
Pennsbury Township supervisors reversed their approval of a Bed & Breakfast for The Gables restaurant. The board had approved the B&B request in April but, according to township solicitor Tom Oeste, the approval granted on April 17 was reversed because the applicants filed an appeal of the 30 conditions initially agreed to at the conditional use hearing.
Birmingham Township’s Chad Williams filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Department of Education against Unionville-Chadds Ford District Superintendent John Sanville. He said Sanville has refused to address his concerns about what Williams calls an illegal survey conducted at the high school. At issue was a survey given to ninth-grade students about their sexual activity without first getting parental consent for the survey. The survey itself was part of a health class on safe dating given by the Crime Victim Center of Chester County.

June

Concord Township held its second annual Race for the Watershed in June. As said earlier, the 2023 event raised$10,000 for water monitoring equipment, and Brenda Orso, said the monitoring equipment is important to the park because water is essential for everything they do. The newer monitoring equipment uses digital readouts instead of testing the water chemically. Orso said the newer digital gives results in minutes instead of hours.
It was announced in June that the place where N.C. Wyeth worked on the illustrations for “Treasure Island” is being preserved. NALT President Steven Carter said the nonprofit conservation organization plans to preserve the historic property forever and open it to visitors as a public preserve.
Concord Township buried a time capsule at the old Spring Valley African Methodist Episcopal Church on Spring Valley Road. This was a follow-up to the ribbon cutting at the church in February and coincided with the Juneteenth celebration, the day in 1865 when the former slaves in Galveston, Texas learned that they were now free and that slavery had ended. “It’s a profound honor to recognize the importance of the Spring Valley AME Church in our community,” said Concord Council Co-Vice President John Gillespie. “Today, as we celebrate Juneteenth, we also commemorate the remarkable history embodied by this community gem through the burial of a time capsule.”
Kathy Howley, the longtime manager of Pennsbury Township announced her retirement in June. She had been a township employee for 46 years, beginning in 1978. She became manager in 1994.

Part 2 next week.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.