Years ago, The Village People sang the praises of staying at the YMCA. Now the YMCA of the Brandywine Valley is singing about coming to the Village of Chadds Ford — the entire township of Chadds Ford, really.
Members of the Chadds Ford Business Association learned about the possibility of a YMCA branch coming to the township during a breakfast meeting with Chadds Ford supervisors.
There’s no formal application yet, just some preliminary talks, according to Supervisor Keith Klaver. The Y wants to build in the Chadds Ford Business Campus on Henderson property. The building would be on Hillman Drive across from the Estates at Chadds Ford.
Denise L. Day, president and chief executive officer of the Brandywine group, said in a telephone interview that the Y approached the supervisors first to get some guidance on how to proceed, but that a formal plan and application could be coming shortly.
The plan would have to go through the Planning Commission first, but Day is uncertain whether they would have to go through the Zoning Hearing Board as well.
Regardless, Day likes the idea of having a branch in Chadds Ford Township. Her group already has six locations, including one in West Chester and another in Kennett Square. Another Y group has the Rocky Run facility in Middletown Town ship. Chadds Ford is roughly equidistant, about 10 miles, from each of those three sites.
“We see Chadds Ford as an un-served area for us. While we do pull from Chadds Ford to some extent, for some folks it’s inconvenient to drive into Kennett…We see that there is a real need, a huge un-served population that’s part of our service area. This would really round out our service area,” Day said. “There’s definitely a need for services right there for families.”
Day said the West Chester facility has about 23,000 members, with 2,000 in downtown West Chester. The Kennett facility will see a bump in membership when the expansion project there is finished sometime this summer.
The Y projected for Chadds Ford would be about the same size as the pre-expansion Kennett Y.
She said there would be no swim team at the Chadds Ford Y. A warm water family pool is planned, one with a lot of play elements, more than could be put into Kennett.
While the Kennett site will be getting a warm water pool, the one in Chadds Ford would be larger. An indoor playground is also projected and the gymnasium, she said, would be about the size of “a gym and a half.”
Though there’s no formal application yet, Day said her group would be approaching the Planning Commission soon.
“We’re getting set up to be able to do that,” she said.
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.
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